Librarian
Essential Databases
Databases are really great when you want to find something specific to your discipline, or you want to be sure that you are getting the best resources available! These are your best bets for political science.
Here are tips for using databases:
- Remember that if you are off-grounds when you want to access these databases, be sure to go through a library website so you are prompted for your NetBadge computing ID. You will then be able to view the articles without having to pay for them.
- Use the the "Find @ UVA" button to get the full text.
- Limit your search results to "peer-reviewed" articles to get articles evaluated by experts.
- Political Science Complete This link opens in a new windowPolitical Science Complete provides nearly 340 full-text reference books and monographs and more than 44,000 full-text conference papers, which includes those from the International Political Science Association. The database also provides a subject-specific thesaurus with more than 23,500 terms to provide subject searching guidance to researchers.Subject coverage includes comparative politics, humanitarian issues, international relations, law and legislation, non-governmental organizations and political theory.
- Policy File Index This link opens in a new windowPolicy File Index is a unique resource for U.S. public policy research in that it grants users access to timely, updated information from over 350 public policy think tanks, nongovernmental organizations, research institutes, university centers, advocacy groups, and other entities. Over 75 public policy topics are covered, from foreign policy to domestic policy. The majority of Policy File Index records link directly to the full-text report, paper, document, or other source.
Congressional Quarterly
- CQ Political Reference Suite This link opens in a new windowCongressional Quarterly publications on the U.S. government and politics and on world affairs. Emphasis is on recent information, but US document coverage begins in 1972 and legislative histories in 1945.
- CQ Researcher This link opens in a new windowIn depth reports on selected issues in the news with lists of recommended books and articles.
Additional Resources
- Communication & Mass Media Complete This link opens in a new windowCommunication & Mass Media Complete provides coverage of journals in communication, mass media, and other closely-related fields of study. It provides indexing and abstracts for more than 570 journals, and selected coverage of nearly 200 more, for a combined coverage of more than 770 titles. Furthermore, this database includes full text for over 450 journals.
- Public Administration Abstracts This link opens in a new windowProviding up-to-date bibliographic records covering essential areas related to public administration, including public administration theory, administration and economy, administration and politics, administration and society, administrative structures and organization, public and social services, public service personnel and theory and methods.
- CIAO: Columbia International Affairs Online This link opens in a new windowIncludes working papers from research institutes, occasional papers series from NGO's, conference proceedings, current tables of contents and article abstracts from selected journals, and full-text of selected books.
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new windowLarge general database of articles from scholarly journals, magazines, and newspapers on many topics. Also includes reference books (World Almanac, American Heritage Dictionary), biographies, speeches, images, and other primary source documents.