LibGuides: Political Science: Catalogs and Databases

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JSTOR's Security Studies Database! - as of 8/23, wehave permanent access to this database

"Explore a wide range of journals, ebooks, and research reports in the field of security studies. This content looks at security studies through a broad lens, encompassing research on international security and peace and conflict studies from all corners of the globe."

Off-Campus Access: Open Athens and LibKey Nomad
Open Athens is the invisible way you can access library resources after logging in with your WSU NetID. The WSU Libraries' LibKey Nomad extension can be used to provide instant access to PDFs available through the WSU Libraries - it will follow you around (and NOT collect any data!) and will show a green logo in the lower left corner of your screen if you are on the landing page of an article WSU has access to. Click it and it will take you to Search It for access.

Library Catalogs

Library of Congress Classification: Political Science
A good resource for browsing, but books related to political science and public affairs can be shelved all around the library (i.e. psychology, military studies, law)
Search It
The WSU Libraries catalog - includes books, journals, articles, media and more available through the WSU Libraries, as well as books available through the regional Summit borrowing system that allows you to order books from OSU, UW, the University of Idaho, and 35 other academic libraries.
WSU WorldCat Discovery
Use for finding books not available at WSU or through Summit. You can get to it directly from search results in Search It. The Libraries' upgraded interlibrary loan system is integrated into the database.
Directory of Open Access Books
"DOAB is a discovery service for peer reviewed open access books and book publishers that indexes and provides access to high quality, open access, peer-reviewed books."

HathiTrust Digital Library
HathiTrust is a partnership of academic & research institutions, offering a collection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world. Includes books, magazine articles, government publications and more.

E-books and texts: Internet Archive
Fully accessible books and texts
Google Books

Political Science-Related Databases

A full list of Political Science-related databases and Online Reference Works is available at the WSU libraries databases search page.

Not sure how to start reading disciplinary literature? Try this short piece: How to Read (and Understand) a Social Science Journal Article

Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
This database provides access to citations and abstracts for articles in political science and related disciplines. Use the "Find it@WSU" button to see if we have an article fulltext or in print. Covers 1975 - present; updated monthly.
CIAO
International and comparative politics, includes scholarly journals as well as content from think tanks and research institutes.
JSTOR
Covers full-text of many journals back to first issue (but often not most recent 3-5 years). Note that if you scroll down you can limit by discipline.
JSTOR Security Studies (along with access to ALL JSTOR journal content, as well as Jstor ebooks WSU has purchased)
"Explore a wide range of journals, ebooks, and research/policy reports in the field of security studies. This content looks at security studies through a broad lens, encompassing research on international security and peace and conflict studies from all corners of the globe. "
Gathers academic and policy research on international and national security problems and foreign policy issues from a global perspective.
Web of Science
"Includes Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences and Science Citation indexes, Journal Citation Reports, BIOSIS Previews, BIOSIS Citation Index, Derwent Innovations patent searching, MEDLINE, and Zoological Record. Updated weekly."
Use to find articles, as well as identify citation networks.
Social Sciences Abstracts
Broad-based social science database. Covers 1984-current. See Humanities and Social Science Retrospective database for access to earlier social science and humanities literature going back to 1907.
ProQuest Congressional (formerly Congressional Lexis-Nexis)
Access to publications by and about the U.S. Congress, including hearings, bill texts, legislative histories, voting records, congressional calendars, hot topics and more.
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Coverage is from 1789 to present and there is some full text. (See also the U.S. Congressional Serial Set database for additional fulltext.)
Congress.gov
Current and former congresses. Track legislation, locate bills and votes, and more. Official US government resource.
CQ Almanac (online) 1945- current
“Authoritative analysis on the major legislation and actions of congress for each year since 1945. Unique data on the voting patterns of Congress members provide insight into the legislative process and history of the institution. Users can follow the history of a policy issue with the Policy Tracker tool which links reports on the same issue for almost 70 years.”
No longer being published after 2021.
CQ Researcher
In-depth weekly reports focussing on a particular political or social topic each issue. Excellent overviews with multiple viewpoints. Look here for a short video tutorial, look here for a slightly longer overview video.
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CQ Researcher provides award winning in-depth coverage of the most important issues of the day. Our reports are written by experienced journalists, footnoted and professionally fact-checked. Full-length articles include an overview, historical background, chronology, pro/con feature, plus resources for additional research. Graphics, photos and short "sidebar" features round out the reports. Shorter "Hot Topics" articles provide a solid introduction to subjects most in demand by students.
An index covering 1991 up to about two months ago is available at http://www.cqpress.com/docs/cqrindex.pdf
GreenFile
GreenFILE covers all aspects of human impact to the environment. It includes content on global warming, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling, and more.
Homeland Security Digital Library
"The HSDL is the nation's premier collection of homeland security policy and strategy related documents. It supports local, state and federal analysis and decision-making needs and assists academics of all disciplines in homeland defense and security related research. The HSDL provides quick access to important U.S. policy documents, presidential directives, and national strategy documents as well as specialized resources such as theses and research reports from various universities and local and state agencies."

EBSCOhost. Military & Government Collection This link opens in a new window
Designed to offer current news pertaining to all branches of the military, this database offers a thorough collection of periodicals, academic journals and other content pertinent to the increasing needs of those sites.
Left Index (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
The Left Index is a complete guide to the diverse literature of the left, with an emphasis on political, economic, social and culturally engaged scholarship inside and outside academia. Coverage includes more than 247,500 citations and abstracts (with some full text) and spans from 1982 and earlier to present.
Bibliography of Data-Related Literature (ICPSR)
"a continuously-updated database of thousands of citations of works using data held in the ICPSR archive." Includes DOI, WorldCat, and Google Scholar options for access are provided for most citations; the WorldCat link will provide a Find It @ WSU option.
Philosopher's Index (EBSCO)
Want more philosophy resources? Look here

Social Science Research Network (SSRN)
"Social Science Research Network (SSRN) is devoted to the rapid worldwide dissemination of social science research and is composed of a number of specialized research networks in each of the social sciences. " Most papers are free; some are fee.
APSA PrePrints (Open access)
"APSA Preprints is a free-to-submit, free-to-access, pre-publication platform dedicated to early research outputs in political science and related disciplines, developed through the collaboration of the American Political Science Association and Cambridge University Press."
Note: Pre-prints have not yet been through the peer review process.
Political Handbook of the World
"The Political Handbook of the World contains entries on countries and territories around the world. It covers each country's political parties and includes names of key ambassadors, international memberships, and profiles intergovernmental organizations."
Via CQ Press Library
Handbook of Latin American Studies
"The Handbook of Latin American Studies is a bibliography on Latin America consisting of works selected and annotated by scholars. Edited by the Hispanic Division of the Library of Congress, the multidisciplinary Handbook alternates annually between the social sciences and the humanities"
Center for Security Studies
"Established in 1994, our mission is to facilitate security-related dialogue and cooperation within a high-quality network of international relations organizations, professionals and experts, and to provide open-source international relations and security-related tools and materials in accessible ways." From the Center for Security Studies.
NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research
NBER: National Bureau of Economic Research. Provides full text access to NBER research and publications. NBER covers social sciences fields beyond economics.
"The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is a private, nonpartisan organization that facilitates cutting-edge investigation and analysis of major economic issues. It disseminates research findings to academics, public and private-sector decision-makers, and the public by posting more than 1,200 working papers and convening more than 120 scholarly conferences, each year."
Encyclopedia of U.S. Political History
Avalon Project
Digital documents relevant to the fields of Law, History, Economics, Politics, Diplomacy and Government.
AfricaBib
"AfricaBib is a collection of Africana social science titles, presented in one easily accessible location on the internet. It is the culmination of over forty years of Africana research. The site consists of two bibliographic databases covering Africana periodical literature (Africana Periodical Literature) and African Women's literature (African Women). "
African Arguments.org (Royal African Society)

General Interest Databases

Academic Search Complete
An excellent interdisciplinary article database. Includes scholarly, trade/professional, and popular sources.
Multidisciplinary index to popular, professional and academic magazine and journal articles, often with full text.

HathiTrust Home | www.hathitrust.org
Digital library of [older] journals, books, and more. Be sure to sign in with your WSU NetID - gives you more functionality and access.
Annual Reviews
See also the annual review-type publication, Living Reviews in Democracy (2009-2013) (focused on research in...democracy)
Humanities & Social Sciences Index Retrospective (1907-1984)
"Humanities & Social Sciences Index Retrospective: 1907-1984 offers a broad range of subject coverage in the humanities and social sciences with high-quality indexing of nearly 1,100 periodicals, dating as far back as 1907, as well as citations of over 240,000 book reviews."
America: History and Life (U.S. and Canada)
Citations and abstracts to publications on the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. Includes journals, books, reviews, and dissertations. Covers 1964-present.
Historical Abstracts
Citations and abstracts to publications covering the history of the world (excluding the United States and Canada) from 1450 to the present.
ECO: Electronic Collections Online
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Multidisciplinary database that includes considerable full-text.
Article First
No abstracts or indexing terms, but covers a huge number of journals going back to 1990. Interdisciplinary.
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Multidisciplinary database of scholarly articles from over 12,000 journals going back to 1990.
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (Dissertation Abstracts)
Citations for U.S. (and some Canadian) dissertations 1861- present. Includes abstracts for dissertations published from 1980-present (some recent dissertations offer a 24-page preview). Also includes citations and abstracts for (some) master's theses from 1988-present.
WSU Dissertations - ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (Dissertation Abstracts)
WSU dissertations (and some theses). Many are fulltext.
See the Libraries' institutional repository, Research Exchange, for full-text access to recent theses and dissertations (and more!)

National Security History Digital Libraries

Digital National Security Archive ($, ProQuest)
We have seven modules and maybe more in the future (you can see all available modules here)
National Security Archive: 35+ Years of Freedom of Information Action
Free; covers some of the same ground, but much smaller:
"Founded in 1985 by journalists and scholars to check rising government secrecy, the National Security Archive combines a unique range of functions: investigative journalism center, research institute on international affairs, library and archive of declassified U.S. documents ("the world's largest nongovernmental collection" according to the Los Angeles Times), leading non-profit user of the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, public interest law firm defending and expanding public access to government information, global advocate of open government, and indexer and publisher of former secrets."

See also: Jstor's Security Studies module

"Explore a wide range of journals, ebooks, and approximately 20,000 Open Access research reports in the field of security studies. This content looks at security studies through a broad lens, encompassing research on international security and peace and conflict studies from all corners of the globe."

Social Science Methods

SAGE Research Methods
Designed to guide users to the content they need to learn a little or a lot about their method, SAGE Research Methods includes more than 1000 books, reference works, journal articles, and instructional videos by world-leading academics from across the social sciences, including the largest collection of qualitative methods books available online from any scholarly publisher. The Methods Map can help those less familiar with research methods to find the best technique to use in their research.
“Not all vendors are able to use OpenAthens Federated Access to authenticate users. If you need to access resources from this vendor, please do not use the OpenAthens institutional login on their website. Instead, start from the WSU Libraries Search It tool or Datbases AZ list. Once we move completely to OpenAthens, sign in will be possible directly through the vendor website."
ICPSR (Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research )
Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research provides access to over 5000 datasets, includes Census, Crime, Aging, Health Care, Politics, etc.

Bibliography of Data-Related Literature (ICPSR)
"a continuously-updated database of thousands of citations of works using data held in the ICPSR archive." Includes DOI, WorldCat, and Google Scholar options for access are provided for most citations; the WorldCat link will provide a Find It @ WSU option.
Bibliography of Publications Using Roper Center Data
"This is a bibliography of publications that use data from the Roper Center. Some cite information on overall responses obtained from iPOLL; some are based on individual-level analyses of datasets held by the Roper Center, and others use our Presidential approval series or other indexes constructed from Roper Center data." Research articles only.
Note: We don't have access to Roper/iPoll, but the database is helpful for locating research articles using polling data.

Think Tanks, Research Institutes, and Advocacy Organizations

Think Tank Search (Harvard Kennedy School)
Rand Corporation
link goes to topics but be sure to go to the home page and look around other links, etc.
"Establishment," but can surprise you
Brookings Institute
Center-liberal
Cato Institute
Libertarian
American Enterprise Institute
Conservative
On Think Tanks
Includes the Open Think Tank Directory
Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program (UPenn)
"The TTCSP programs are designed to increase the profile, capacity, and performance of think tanks at the national, regional, and global levels, so they can better serve policy makers and the public. TTCSP conducts research on the relationship between think tanks, politics, and public policy, produces the annual Global Go To Think Tank Index, develops capacity-building resources and programs, supports a global network of close to 7,000 think tanks, and trains future think tank scholars and executives."

Policy Journals / Journals of Ideas

Under construction...

Foreign Affairs (Council on Foreign Relations (US))
"Foreign Affairs is the leading magazine for in-depth analysis and debate of foreign policy, geopolitics and international affairs"
Older issues available in print
Foreign Policy
Older issues available in print
"Foreign Policy is the award-winning, bimonthly magazine of global politics, economics, and ideas. Our mission is to explain how the world works - in particular, how the process of global integration is reshaping nations, institutions, cultures, and, more fundamentally, our daily lives. Equal parts scout and translator, FP draws on the world's leading journalists, thinkers, and professionals to analyze the most significant international trends and events of our times, without regard to ideology or political bias." via JSTOR
Orbis: A Journal of World Affairs
"Orbis®, the Foreign Policy Research Institute‘s quarterly journal of world affairs, was founded in 1957 as a forum for policymakers, scholars, and the informed public who sought an engaging, thought-provoking debate beyond the predictable, conventional journals of that time. Nearly half a century later, Orbis continues to offer informative, insightful, and lively discourse on the full range of topics relating to American foreign policy and national security, as well as in-depth analysis on important international developments."

International/Nongovernmental Organizations

IGO Search
""This unique free service allows you to search the websites of all intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), comprising over 3000 bodies including the United Nations, the European Commission, the World Bank, etc.""
Worldwide NGO Directory
"The Worldwide NGO Directory is a leading source of information on and resource for connecting with NGOs globally. It includes over 54,000 organizations in all fields of activity in more than 190 countries."
via WANGO - The World Association of Non-overnmental Organizations

Country Research
by Lorena O'English Last Updated Aug 16, 2024 131 views this year

Libraries

Political Science

Types of Journals

Zotero ;-)