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A comprehensive and systematic literature search is a fundamental aspect of the review process. It uncovers all relevant knowledge and research methods related to a topic or research question (McCabe & Timmins, "How to Conduct an Effective Literature Search").
Initial topic exploration can provide background information, point to core sources and experts, and/or be a springboard for more in-depth research. In addition, what you learn from the literature may help you broaden or narrow your research topic. The following multidisciplinary resources are good places to being exploring your topic.
Provides full-text coverage of magazine, newspaper, and scholarly journal articles for most academic disciplines.
This multi-disciplinary database provides full-text for more than 4,500 journals, including full text for more than 3,700 peer-reviewed titles. PDF backfiles to 1975 or further are available for well over one hundred journals, and searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,000 titles.
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.
oogle Scholar enables you to search specifically for scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports from all broad areas of research. Use Google Scholar to find articles from a wide variety of academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories and universities, as well as scholarly articles available across the web.
Connecting to Google Scholar from off-campus? The IUB Libraries already provide access to many of the journal articles indexed in Google Scholar. Look for IU-Link, which will lead you to information about full-text content you can access via the Libraries' subscriptions.
Provides searchable full-text of historical runs of important scholarly journals in the humanities, arts, sciences, ecology, and business.
JSTOR, a not-for-profit organization established with the assistance of The Mellon Foundation, provides complete runs of hundreds of important journal titles in more than 30 arts, humanities, and social science disciplines. These scholarly journals can be browsed online and searched, and the page images can be printed for those available in full-text. The IUB Libraries subscribe to current content for only some titles available through JSTOR.
All journals in JSTOR start with the first volume. Many include content up to a "moving wall" of 3-5 years ago, although some journals have a fixed ending date for their content in JSTOR. Please check individual journals for exact dates of coverage.
For information about access to this resource for IU alumni, contact the Indiana University Alumni Association.
Citation database of peer-reviewed literature: scientific journals, books and conference proceedings.
Covers the fields of science, technology, medicine, social sciences, and arts and humanities. Comprised of 21,000 titles from more than 5,000 international publishers. Exporting data to Reference Managers such as Mendeley, RefWorks and EndNote, tracking citations with Citation Overview/Tracker, analyzing journal performance with Journal Analyzer and alternative journal impact metrics SNIP and SJR are some of its unique features.
Explore a research question or topic by locating and reading review articles. Use the "Document or Publication Type" field available in most databases to limit your search to review articles or add the phrase "literature review" or "review article" to a search.
Below are some general resources that provide public policy/affairs specific information; however, you topics most likely will be interdisciplinary and you may need to consult the Research tab on the IUB Libraries' website.
We are focusing on scholarly journal literature here, but policy literature encompasses many types of sources.
A comprehensive source for theory and research in international affairs, offering fulltext of working papers from research organizations, abstracts of foreign policy journal articles, etc.
CIAO provides the full texts of working papers from research organizations such as the Cato Institute, the Center for Studies of Social Change, the Brookings Institution, the University of California Center for German and European Studies, the Oxford University Centre for International Studies. An interactive feature allows colleagues to offer comments. CIAO also includes abstracts of articles from foreign policy journals; conference proceedings; some full-text online books from Columbia University Press; links to other related sites; and a weekly calendar of meetings, conferences, seminars and research projects.
PAIS (Public Affairs Information Service) indexes articles, books, studies, selected official documents and other resources on public policy issues, public administration, law, politics and government.
Includes journal articles, books, government documents, pamphlets and the reports of public and private bodies. Also indexes publications in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.
Print source: PAIS bulletin (1915-1990), PAIS Foreign Language Index (1968-1990), PAIS International in Print (1991-)
Access to political science, public policy, and international relations journals. Also includes thousands of recent full-text doctoral dissertations on political science topics, together with working papers, conference proceedings, country reports, policy papers and other sources.
IU libraries have access to Wiley e-books from published 2005-2010 in addition to an assortment of titles from other publication years.
Citation involves properly crediting the authors of information sources used in a paper or presentation. You will need to cite if sources are directly quoted and/or paraphrased or if reading a source contributed to the ideas presented. Citation can also be used to follow the scholarly conversation or progression of an idea through the literature. Use the works cited/bibliography (works cited within a paper) and cited references (publications that have cited the original) for assistance.
Trying to locate an identified publication from a citation? Find Online Journals link to determine what database(s) index or house the full-text of a journal. If electronic access is not available, search IUCAT to see if there is a print subscription. If there is no print or electronic subscription currently available, individual articles can be requested through InterLibrary Loan.