Political Science Subject Guide 

RefWorks* is a tool that provides you with the capability to store and organize your research materials. You can export citations from databases and web sites, annotate, create bibliographies, and footnote from these tools. *Be sure to access the database via the Yale server when off campus. Instructions can be found at http://www.library.yale.edu/pubstation/proxy/proxy_about.html

The library subscribes to nearly 1,000 databases. To find more databases for your research, from the library's Databases & Article Searching page, you can

• browse the A-Z list of databases
• search by database title
• click “Other Options” tab and search “Any Word” to find relevant databases (e.g. search for “middle east”).

CATALOGS: for books, government documents, films, archival material, and more.

• Orbis (or Yufind, which is Orbis with a different interface)
• MORRIS (Yale Law Library catalog)
• WorldCat (use Borrow Direct or Interlibrary Loan to request materials not held at Yale)

Search databases to cast a wide net for journal articles, book chapters, dissertations, working papers, conference reports, government documents, and other materials. Databases provide citations and sometimes full text (or links to possible sources of full text – look for the Yale Links button in the search results).

CSA Illumina
Single search of several databases, including:

• IBSS (International Bibliography of the Social Sciences)
• PAIS International
• Worldwide Political Science Abstracts

...and more. Use the “descriptors” (i.e., subject headings) to focus searches or launch new searches—but note that descriptors may vary from database to database.

International Political Science Abstracts
Use “narrow results by subject” (on left side of results screen) to refine search results; or click on title of a search result to see its subject terms, and then click a subject to launch a new search.

Dissertations and Theses
Search for words in “Citation and abstract” field. To narrow search results, add a “Subject name/code” (e.g., political science). Many titles published since 1997 are available in full text; for earlier years, use Interlibrary Loan.

CQ Press Electronic Library
CQ Press is a highly reputable source for nonpartisan analysis of legislative and policy issues. CQ Press Electronic Library offers a single search of several separate publications, including:

• CQ Researcher: substantive reports providing background, context, analysis, and bibliographies
• CQ Weekly: magazine covering the federal government
• CQ Almanac: detailed narratives of all major legislation considered by the U.S. Congress

It's a good idea to search all three for the most comprehensive list of citations.

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