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.
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Worldwide Political Science Abstracts This link opens in a new windowThis 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.
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Annual Reviews This link opens in a new windowArticles 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.
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JSTOR This link opens in a new windowOnline 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.
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PAIS: Public Affairs Information Service This link opens in a new windowArticles, books, conference proceedings, government documents, book chapters, and statistical directories about public affairs.
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CIAO: Columbia International Affairs Online This link opens in a new windowCovers theory and research in international affairs. CIAO is a good place to find informally published articles like working papers, military briefings, nongovernmental organization policy briefs, etc.
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ProQuest Politics Collection This link opens in a new window(Searches through citations, subject indexing, and some full text)
Search across several individual databases at once: PAIS Index, Policy File Index, ProQuest Political Science Database, and Worldwide Political Science Abstracts. -
Policy File Index This link opens in a new window(Searches through citations, subject indexing, and abstracts)
Find reports on public policy topics from major think tanks, research organizations, and advocacy groups including the Hoover Institution, International Monetary Fund, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, RAND Corporation, and the World Bank. Covers 1990-current.
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.
Interdisciplinary
Search broad, interdisciplinary databases in order to find articles from areas in which you might not have thought to look.
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Google Scholar This link opens in a new windowUse 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.
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Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new window(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(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 windowUse 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.
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Project MUSE This link opens in a new windowFull 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.
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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.
Social Sciences
Your topic may be covered in other disciplinary databases.
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EconLit This link opens in a new window(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 windowInternational. Indexes many political science and international relations journals.
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Sociological Abstracts This link opens in a new window(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.
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World Bank Open Knowledge RepositoryThe 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.
Working Papers and Dissertations
Turn to these databases and websites to locate pre-published papers.
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ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global This link opens in a new windowProvides 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.
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National Bureau of Economic Research Working Papers This link opens in a new windowCarleton subscribes as an institution to the NBER (National Bureau of Economic) working papers and publications. NBER is the nation's leading nonprofit research
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SSRN: Social Science Research NetworkAbstracts of working and forthcoming papers plus hundreds of thousands of downloadable papers.
Newspapers
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Carleton online newspapersWe collect a variety of news sources online, historical and current.
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Nexis Uni This link opens in a new windowFull-text news articles from over 5,500 international sources.
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Access World News This link opens in a new window(Searches through citations and the full text)
A comprehensive current news database, contains hundreds of local, regional, national, and international news sources (including the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Minneapolis Star Tribune). -
Factiva This link opens in a new window(Searches through citations and the full text)
Access to the full text of major business publications as well as other newspapers and magazines. -
ProQuest Newsstream This link opens in a new window(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. -
Ethnic NewsWatch This link opens in a new windowComprehensive full-text database of the newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press.
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FBIS: Foreign Broadcast Information Service This link opens in a new windowTranslated broadcasts, news agency transmissions, newspapers, periodicals and government statements from around the world.
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World News Connection This link opens in a new windowTranslated and English-language news and local information such as transcribed speeches. Particularly effective in its coverage of local media sources from around the world. Continues FBIS reports. Coverage: 1996-2013.
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MideastWire.com This link opens in a new windowTranslated briefs covering news from 22 Middle Eastern countries.
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Global Press Archive -- Middle East and North African NewspapersHistorical Newspapers. Key topics include the decline of colonialism, the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the Suez Crisis, the Cold War, the rise of the petroleum industry, twentieth-century pan-Arab movements, both World Wars, and the establishment of the state of Israel.
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Wikipedia: List of online newspaper archivesOnline newspaper archives, organized by country around the world.
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JPRS: Joint Publications Research Service Reports This link opens in a new window(Searches through citations and the full text)
Includes translated books, reports, serials, journal and newspaper articles, radio and television broadcasts from nations around the globe with an emphasis on communist and third-world countries. Covers 1957 - 1994. -
Newspapers.com This link opens in a new windowNewspapers dating from the early 1700s into the 2000s. Contains full runs and portions of runs of well-known, regional, and state titles as well as small local newspapers in the United States and other countries.
