Research Hub: Political Science and Public Administration: Research Guide: Introduction

Research Help

When you have a question about the library or about research during this class, please contact me. Use the "Schedule Appointment" button or send me an email . You can also contact the Reference/Research Help Desk (lower right corner of library home page).

Explore Political Science Journals

Future Scholarly Journal Slideshow goes here. Work in Progress.

Newer Resources

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics
Substantive, peer-reviewed, and regularly updated, the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics combines the speed and flexibility of digital with the rigorous standards of academic publishing.
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education
A dynamic, peer-reviewed digital encyclopedia continuously updated by the world’s leading scholars and researchers (Oxford University Press)
Encyclopedia of Social Work (Oxford)
A continuously updated online collaboration between the National Association of Social Workers (NASW Press) and Oxford University Press (OUP). Over 800 articles and 200 biographies.

Political Science Research Databases

To search for articles, select one of the databases listed below, or return to the Research Hub and browse the Databases by Subject to select the most appropriate subject database for your topic.

Before using a databases make sure you understand the type of content a database provides. For example CQ Researcher provides in-depth reports on current topics written by professional journalists; these reports can be great for topic development and understanding an issue in more depth (and they have some nice bibliographies of sources). However the reports are not scholarly articles. Academic Search has a mix of scholarly articles along with newspapers and magazines and professional publications. JSTOR is a database of primarily all scholar journals (with a spattering of books) and it's great for finding book reviews.

CQ Researcher
In-depth, non-biased coverage of the most important and controversial issues of the day, with regular reports on topics in health, international affairs, education, the environment, technology, and the U.S. economy.
Topic overviews for political, social, and cultural issues.
JSTOR
Access to thousands of academic journals, books, and primary sources covering the social sciences, humanities, and arts. Some journal issues extend back to the 19th century. Full text.
WestlawNext
Full text of court opinions, statutes, and regulations from state and federal governments. In excess of 800 law reviews and journals. Access to a legal encyclopedia, American Jurisprudence, and Black's Law Dictionary. Includes West's KeyCite feature for verification of the status of a case, statute, administrative decision, or regulation. Laws, regulations, reports, and related European Union material is also included. Wondering how to access an article? Check out the FAQ!
U.S. Newsstream (Proquest)
Content and archives (1980s-) from national and regional news sources including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Newsday, Chicago Tribune, and Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Academic Search Premier
Broad database with both academic and general articles. Many are full text, but some are citation only.
ScienceDirect
Scholarly articles, mostly in the sciences, though some social sciences. Citations from 1980. Some full text starting in 1993, more full text from 1997.
Communication & Mass Media Complete
The major database for mass communications, communication studies, marketing, and related fields. Combined coverage of over 770 titles. Some full text.
Criminal Justice Abstracts
Contains hundreds of in-depth abstracts of recent books, book chapters, journal articles, government reports, and dissertations published worldwide. Also offers extensive coverage of new books from scholarly and commercial publishers and valuable reports from public and private agencies in many nations. Some full text.
Project Muse
Full text journals from Johns Hopkins University Press, emphasizing the humanities and social sciences.