Research Guides: Political Science: Article Databases

Article Databases

PAIS Index This link opens in a new window
Index to public policy, social policy, and social science documents from journals, books, government publications and other resources.
Worldwide Political Science Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Access to the international serials literature in political science and its complementary fields, including international relations, law, and public administration / policy. Can be cross searched with PAIS. 1975-present.
CQ Researcher Online This link opens in a new window
Provides in-depth coverage of the most important issues of the day. A wide range of topics are covered, from social and political issues to environment, health, education, crime, climate change, public policy, and science and technology.
Congressional Publications This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive access to U.S. legislative information, including laws, proposed bills and statutes, hearings, legislative histories, congressional committee information, campaign contributions and PAC activities, the "Congressional Record", the historical "Congressional Index", and the "Serial Set", as well as articles from the "National Journal". Right-hand column has tips on how to use the Congressional interface.Note: Email yourself a copy of the article instead of a link.
Historical Abstracts with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Index to journal articles, book and media reviews, and dissertations covering world history from 1450 - present.
Opposing Viewpoints This link opens in a new window
Presents both sides of difficult "hot topic" issues using articles, essays, primary documents, biographies of social activists and reformers, statistics, court case overviews, profiles of government and special interest groups, web-sites, and podcasts.
America: History and Life with Full Text This link opens in a new window
An index to journal articles, book reviews, and dissertations on North American historical topics from prehistory to the present. See Historical Abstracts for historical coverage beyond the US and Canada.

Roll Call
News and analysis about U.S. domestic & foreign policy, including coverage of election issues and candidates. Formerly called CQ Politics.

Tips for Searching Article Databases

Learning to use databases can be challenging...but fortunately, once you learn to use one database, your skills will help you use other databases. Use the tips below to search article databases effectively. Start by entering keywords into the search boxes and see what pops up!

First, organize your research topic into concepts. Concepts are typically nouns or noun phrases. For example, if you are researching socialism in East Asia, your concepts might be:
- socialism
- East Asia
Using the article databases listed on this page, enter each concept (and its synonyms) into a separate search line. Remember, you can search multiple databases at the same time, by clicking on "Choose Databases" in EBSCO databases OR "Seaching: 1 database" in ProQuest databases and selecting additional databases.
- socialism OR socialist
- "East Asia" OR Japan* OR China OR Chinese OR Korea*
Use quotes around phrases
Use * for truncation
- Japan* will find Japan, Japanese
Limit to peer-reviewed articles.
Limit by date if needed.
Too many or too few results?
- Search the thesaurus or Subject Index to find related, broader, narrower, and similar terms OR specific terms that the databases uses to describe a topic.
- Run a new search using different terms. Try anything - you never know what might work!
Find an article that looks interesting?
- Click on the article's title.
- Look at the subjects given to an article to find related terms used in the database's thesaurus/index and run additional searches using these terms.
- Click on the references, cited by, and see similar documents links in the article’s entry to find related articles.
Find the full text of an article by clicking on the HTML Full-Text, PDF Full-Text, or the 360 Link Check for Full Text button. The 360 Link may...
- Take you directly to the full text.
- Take you to a page that indicates we have online full-text in a different database. Click the database link to access the article.
- Take you to a page that says Auraria Library does not have online access to this journal volume/issue. On this page...
  - Click "Search Skyline by Journal Title" to determine if Auraria Library has the journal in PRINT form. This will search the library catalog for the JOURNAL title (not article title). You will need to determine if Auraria Library owns the year and volume of the journal that contains your article.

Interlibrary Loan
No print holdings? On the previous page, click "Request article via online Interlibrary Loan" and a PDF copy of the article will be emailed to you. You will need to create an account before requesting material ILL, so click "First Time User Registration."