Library Research Guides: SPEA V491 Honors Research in Public and Environmental Affairs: Literature Search

Conducting a Literature Search

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").

Step 1: Initial Exploration

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 begin exploring your topic.

Academic Search (EBSCO)
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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.
CQ Researcher
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Full-text discussion of current, controversial public policy issues; coverage of newsworthy global affairs and issues from a variety of international viewpoints.
Google Scholar
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Special version of Google's index to scholarly content on the web. Connects to full-text resources available to IU users.
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.
Scopus
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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.
Web of Science
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An interface that allows cross-searching of BIOSIS Previews, Medline, Zoological Record, and Web of Science Core Collection.
ERIC (EBSCO)
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Covers over 1085 periodicals and nearly a half a million documents. Fulltext documents since 1993.
JSTOR
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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.
EconLit
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Covers journal articles, books, and dissertations, articles in collective works, conference proceedings and essay volumes. Subjects include book reviews, business, economics, finance, industry and statistics.

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.

Step 2: Discipline-specific Resources

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 A to Z list of databases for SPEA, the Research tab on the IUB Libraries' website or the Find Full-text Journals link.

We are focusing on scholarly journal literature here, but policy literature encompasses many types of sources.

Columbia International Affairs Online
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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.
PAIS Index
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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-)
Political Science Database
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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.
Wiley Online Library
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Provides access to over 3 million journal articles, online books, major reference works, and leading industry databases.

Step 3: Finding Journal Articles from a Citation

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.

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Conducting a Literature Search

Step 1: Initial Exploration

Step 2: Discipline-specific Resources

Step 3: Finding Journal Articles from a Citation

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SPEA V491 Honors Research in Public and Environmental Affairs

Conducting a Literature Search

Step 1: Initial Exploration

Step 2: Discipline-specific Resources

Step 3: Finding Journal Articles from a Citation

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