Looking for Articles
Tip: Usually, it's helpful to start a search trying out lots of synonyms for your topic. Then, narrow your search using the precise classifications (or subject headings) each database uses to sort its articles into categories.
Political Science and International Relations
The following are core databases (electronic indexes) of political science journal articles.
- Worldwide Political Science Abstracts This link opens in a new window
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This is the core disciplinary index to political science journal articles, so you should include WPSA in your search. Broad coverage of political science along with complementary fields, including international relations, law, and public administration / policy. - Annual Reviews This link opens in a new window
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Articles in this collection offer comprehensive summaries of the state of research on topics from many disciplines in the sciences and social sciences, including Anthropology, Sociology and Political Science. Covers 1997 - current.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new window
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Online archive of 100+ full-text Political Science journals. Remember that when you search JSTOR, you're searching the full text of the articles in the archive not just the abstracts and titles. Also remember that most publishers do not provide access to the most recent 3-5 years of the journals deposited here. - PAIS: Public Affairs Information Service This link opens in a new window
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Articles, books, conference proceedings, government documents, book chapters, and statistical directories about public affairs.
Social Sciences
Your topic may be covered in other disciplinary databases so here are some suggested places to look.
- EconLit This link opens in a new window
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(Searches through citations, subject indexing, and some full text)
Key index to economics journal articles, books, dissertations and working papers. Content includes both economic theory and application. Covers 1969 - current. - Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new window
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International. Indexes many political science and international relations journals. - Sociological Abstracts This link opens in a new window
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(Searches through citations, subject indexing, and some full text)
Main index to research in sociology, anthropology, and related fields in the social and behavioral sciences. Covers 1963 - current.
- World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
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The World Banks has opened access to its many important articles and books. Many of these are excellent resources for Political Science topics. Be sure to check it out.
Interdisciplinary
Search broad, interdisciplinary databases in order to find articles from areas in which you might not have thought to look.
- Google Scholar This link opens in a new window
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Use Google's special academic search to locate scholarly articles from across disciplines. On campus, the preferences are set to indicate the Library's full-text access to what you find (links on the right). Use the "cited by" hyperlink to observe trends and uncover more scholarship relevant to your topic. - Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new window
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(Searches through citations, subject indexing, and some full text)
Contains scholarly journals, trade publications, and magazines from across the disciplines and from popular culture. Much of the content is available in full text. An ELM Database. - ProQuest Research Library This link opens in a new window
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(Searches through citations, subject indexing, and some full text)
A broad, multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary search tool. Covers 1973 - current. - Web of Science This link opens in a new window
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Use SSCI to do *cited reference searching* -- to track the number of times an article or author has been cited or referenced in other works. SSCI indexes 2,700 journals across 50 social science disciplines. - Project MUSE This link opens in a new window
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Full text of over 400 humanities and social sciences titles. Limit by title or discipline. This index and archive is a good place to search across disciplines and for theory titles, as well.
- Bibliography of Data-Related Literature (ICPSR)Continuously updated bibliography of scholarly articles that use ICPSR data. If you are using one of their datasets, look here for literature you should know about.
Journals
These are some of the core Political Science journals you might find relevant to your search. Keep in mind, however, that this list is simply to get you started and the important journals will vary depending on your topic.
Locate the full text of a journal using the Gould Library A-Z List.
General American Politics Journals
Political Behavior & Electoral Studies Journals
Newspapers
These indexes provide excellent coverage of topical media, such as newspapers and magazines.
- Ethnic NewsWatch This link opens in a new window
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Comprehensive full-text database of the newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press. - ProQuest Newsstream This link opens in a new window
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(Searches through citations, subject indexing, and some full text)
A broad collection of newspaper articles published across the U.S.. Covers 1995 - current for most newspapers. An ELM Database.
- Wikipedia: List of online newspaper archives
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Online newspaper archives, organized by country around the world.
- Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
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(Searches through citations and the full text)
Access to the full text of newspapers (foreign and domestic), as well as business, legal, medical, and reference publications.
Working Papers and Dissertations
Turn to these databases and websites to locate pre-published papers.
- ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global This link opens in a new window
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Provides access to thousands of dissertations and thesis (U.S. only). Dissertations published 1997 to the present are available in full text. Several dissertations prior to 1997 are also available in full text, but not all of them. - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Papers This link opens in a new window
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Carleton subscribes as an institution to the NBER (National Bureau of Economic) working papers and publications. NBER is the nation's leading nonprofit research
- SSRN: Social Science Research Network
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Abstracts of working and forthcoming papers plus hundreds of thousands of downloadable papers.
