Research Guides: POL 300: Introduction to Political Analysis: Article Databases

Article Databases

Focus on individual databases like these. Don't waste your time using Google or megasearch databases producing a lot of irrelevant information!

ComAbstracts
ComAbstracts database contains abstracts of articles published in the primary professional literature of the communication(s) field. Coverage varies according to journal -- some dating back to 1966. Media studies, mass communication, journalism, personal and interpersonal, rhetoric are included.
iPoll Databank at the Roper Center
Over 800,000 questions and answers from US public opinion polls. The polls originate from major news organizations (CNN, Fox News, etc.), public opinion research centers (Gallup, Harris, Pew, etc.), and major academic and commercial pollsters. Questions can be searched by keyword, topic, date, or source. Coverage 1935-present.
JSTOR
Full-text digital archive of over 2600 scholarly journals, especially strong in Social Sciences, Humanities, Economics, and Mathematics.
NexisUni This link opens in a new window
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Features more than 15,000 news, business and legal sources from LexisNexis -- including US Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1790.
OECD iLibrary
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Produced by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, this resource includes books, papers, and statistics providing access to OECD analysis and data. Includes content published by the International Energy Agency (IEA), the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), the OECD Development Centre, PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment), and the International Transport Forum (ITF).

Coverage 1998-present.
OmniFile Full Text Mega
Provides invaluable support for research in all core undergraduate subjects and for cross-disciplinary work.
PAIS International
Bibliographic index with abstracts covering issues in the public debate through selective coverage of a wide variety of international sources including journal articles, books, government documents, statistical directories, grey literature, research reports, conference papers, web content, and more.

Coverage 1972-present.
Policy Commons This link opens in a new window
Collection of research from policy experts, nonpartisan think tanks, intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
Social Sciences Citation Index
Provides bibliographic data, citations and abstracts of English-language authors to significant articles from over 3,000 journals across 55 social science disciplines. Also covers individually selected, relevant items from over 3,500 of the world's leading scientific and technical journals.
Sociological Abstracts
This database abstracts and indexes the international literature of sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. The database provides abstracts of journal articles and citations to book reviews drawn from thousands of serials publications and also provides abstracts of books, book chapters, dissertations, conference papers and working papers. Cited references are included for many journal articles.
Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
Provides citations, abstracts, and indexing of the international serials literature in political science and its complementary fields, including international relations, law, and public administration / policy. The database is building on the merged backfiles of Political Science Abstracts, 1975-2000, and ABC POL SCI, 1984-2000. Thesaurus of over 3,000 terms used to index records also available.

Database Comparison

A brief comparison of some of the databases listed above can be found below.

JSTOR: Well organized journal archive with links to full text articles. Advantages include having scholarly articles in mainstream journals. Disadvantages include a moving wall preventing access to articles newer than five years old. (Use the Libraries online catalog or e-journals database to find more recent articles.) Doesn't link to websites.

PAIS International: Provides some full-text links to web documents. Searchable in many ways. Advantages include being able to combine searches and covering a large number of journals. Disadvantages include possibly needing to look for articles in the Libraries catalog or e-journals database.

Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI): Provides no full text articles. Tells who used whose publications for their research. Advantages include speeding up tracing of the root system used in endnotes and bibliographies. Disadvantages include the possible need to look up all journals in a field and the database not covering all journals.

Worldwide Political Science Abstracts: Provides some full text web documents and articles and databases with multi-search options to journal articles and vetted websites. Advantages include permitting combined searches by narrowing topics and covering a large number of journals. Disadvantages include the potential need to look up journals in the Libraries online catalog and e-journals database.