Library Guides: Political Science: Books, Scholarly Articles, & Gray Literature

Getting Started: Political Encyclopedias, Bibliographies & Handbooks

It's possible that someone already has started your research for you! Use these resources to find bibliographies, handbook chapters, and encyclopedia entires on political topics. These resources will include an overview of the literature on that particular topic, which can kick-start your literature review process.

Oxford research encyclopedias: Politics This link opens in a new window
Find peer-reviewed encyclopedia entries on political topics, which include reviews of relevant literature.
Oxford bibliographies online This link opens in a new window
Offers peer-reviewed annotated bibliographies on many subjects. Bibliographies are browseable by subject area and keyword searchable.
Oxford handbooks online This link opens in a new window
Find chapters written by scholars about the state of research on a given political topic.

Books

Books at Notre Dame and Partner Libraries

Hesburgh Libraries Online Catalog (ND Catalog)
ND Catalog lets you search the holdings of the Hesburgh Libraries, Kresge Law, and Holy Cross libraries' catalogs separately or together. It includes content from the University Archives, the Center for Research Libraries, and working papers from the Institute for Latino Studies.
Catalog Classic
The predecessor to ND Catalog, Catalog Classic lacks facets but includes more nuanced and granular browse and search capabilities.

Books Elsewhere

WorldCat This link opens in a new window
A worldwide union catalog created and maintained collectively by more than 9,000 OCLC member institutions. With millions of online records built from the bibliographic and ownership information of contributing libraries, it is the largest and most comprehensive database of its kind.

Center for Research Libraries (CRL)

HathiTrust Digital Library This link opens in a new window
A digital repository for the nation's great research libraries.

Articles: Politics & Public Policy

Political Science Database This link opens in a new window
Find scholarly literature on topics such as law and legislation, comparative politics, political theory, international relations, humanitarian issues, and non-governmental organizations.
Social Science Database This link opens in a new window
Citations and abstracts with some full text, covering such topics as anthropology, sociology, political science, communication, education, criminology, demography, economics and more.
PAIS Index This link opens in a new window
Contains citations and abstracts of articles, books, government publications, research reports and conference papers on issues of social and public policies. PAIS (originally, the Public Affairs Information Service) includes content from two databases: PAIS International and PAIS Archive.
Worldwide political science abstracts This link opens in a new window
Search the international serials literature in political science and its complementary fields, including international relations, law, and public administration/policy.
International political science abstracts This link opens in a new window
Search articles on political science published in scholarly journals and yearbooks worldwide. Usage info: Licensed for 4 simultaneous user.
Left index This link opens in a new window
Provides citations and abstracts, with some full text, to publications from leftist and radical media worldwide since 1982, covering topics such as the labor movement, ecology and the environment, race and ethnicity, social and cultural theory, sociology, art and aesthetics, philosophy, history, education, law, and globalization. Usage info: Licensed for 1 simultaneous user.

Gray Literature / Unpublished Scholarship: Politics & International Relations

Harvard Kennedy School Think Tank Search
Provides a custom Google search of over 690 think tank websites; links users to research by various think tanks on the search topic; also see Related Links provided on page

Policy File Index This link opens in a new window
Find reports on public policy issues from the top think tanks.
Ciao : Columbia International Affairs Online This link opens in a new window
Contains searchable full text of international affairs working papers from university research institutes, conference proceedings, policy briefs, economic indicators, foundation-funded research projects and links to international affairs centers, institutes, and further resources.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
The same JSTOR that we all know and love has a less well-known collection of think tank reports. Limit search results to "Research Reports" to access gray literature from think tanks.

Additional Article Databases

Databases are multidisciplinary collections of scholarly resources. Most databases gather links to and citations for scholarly articles, although some contain additional information on books and other resources. The print versions of the databases were often called "indexes."

Scholarly Social Science Databases

Applied social sciences index and abstracts (ASSIA) This link opens in a new window
ASSIA database abstracts and indexes the literature of health, social services, psychology, sociology, economics, politics, race relations and education dating back to 1987.
International bibliography of the social sciences This link opens in a new window
IBSS database covers international social science literature in disciplines of anthropology, economics, political science and sociology, as well as a wide range of interdisciplinary fields.

Other Scholarly Multidisciplinary Databases

OneSearch
OneSearch is the most comprehensive database the Libraries have.

JSTOR This link opens in a new window
JSTOR is a digital library for scholars, researchers, and students. Contains digitized current and many back issues of academic journals, books, and primary sources.
Web of Science This link opens in a new window
A similar product to Scopus, Web of Science keeps track of the articles published in the top ~20,000 journals. Its greatest strength is showing who has cited whom, which lets you unearth all the research on a given topic.

Select Single-Discipline Databases Relevant to Political Science

Criminology

ProQuest criminal justice periodicals This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive database of U.S. and international criminal justice journals, including abstracts and indexes, and full text of some titles. Subject coverage: criminology, corrections, law enforcement, criminal law, criminal justice, rehabilitation, drug enforcement, addictions, alcohol, gambling, child abuse, industrial crime, industrial security, and family law.

Economics & Business

EconLit This link opens in a new window
The American Economic Association's comprehensive indexed bibliography of the world's economic literature, encompassing journal articles, books, collective volume articles, dissertations, working papers, and book reviews, classified by JEL classification codes. Usage info: Licensed for 4 simultaneous users.
ABI/Inform global This link opens in a new window
Article citations and abstracts (some full text and image) for 1600+ U.S. and international business publications, covering business and economic conditions, management techniques, theory and practice of business, advertising, marketing, economics, human resources, finance, taxation, etc. Includes access to the Wall Street Journal.

Gender / Women's Studies

GenderWatch This link opens in a new window
"GenderWatch is a full text database of unique and diverse publications that focus on how gender impacts a broad spectrum of subject areas. With its archival material, dating back to 1970 in some cases, GenderWatch is a repository of important historical perspectives on the evolution of the women's movement, men's studies, the transgendered community, and the changes in gender roles over the years. Publications include scholarly journals, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, regional publications, books, and NGO, government and special reports." --Publisher's description.
Gale OneFile. Contemporary women's issues. This link opens in a new window
Full-text access to more than 1500 sources (including some 150 periodicals, newsletters, and research reports from non-profit groups and government and international agencies) on a broad range of women's issues worldwide. Usage info: Licensed for 4 simultaneous users.

History

America, history and life This link opens in a new window
Search the literature on the history and culture of the United States and Canada from prehistoric times to the present.
Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Search scholarly articles, books, and essays on European and world history from 1450 to the present.

Law

HeinOnline This link opens in a new window
In particular, use its Law Journal Library to search the legal literature on a topic.

Military

Military & government collection This link opens in a new window
Search the literature on issues of military and public affairs. Its strengths are magazine and trade journal coverage.

Sociology

Sociology Database This link opens in a new window
Covers the international literature of sociology and social work, including culture and social structure, history and theory of sociology, social psychology, and substance abuse and addiction. Provides full-text coverage of scholarly journals and doctoral dissertations on sociology.
Sociological abstracts This link opens in a new window
Covers the international literature of sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. It provides abstracting and indexing of articles and book reviews drawn from thousands of serials publications, plus books, book chapters, dissertations, conference papers, and working papers.

Theses and Dissertations

These resources will help you find unpublished theses and dissertations, which present an author's research and findings as part of their degree candidacy or professional qualification.

ProQuest Digital Dissertations This link opens in a new window
Provides information about doctoral dissertations and master's theses, with subject, title, and author access to almost all American dissertations accepted at an accredited institution since 1861. Offers full text for most dissertations (Notre Dame and other) added since 1997. Access info: Access to full text (PDF) of Notre Dame dissertations since 1997, restricted to users with valid Notre Dame NetIDs.

CurateND
Collect your work in CurateND and share it with a worldwide audience.