Research Guides: GOVT 2305 SO Bowman: Finding Articles

Databases

HeinOnline This link opens in a new window
HeinOnline contains comprehensive coverage from inception of both U.S. statutory materials, U.S. Congressional Documents and more than 2,400 scholarly journals, all of the world's constitutions, all U.S. treaties, collections of classic treatises and presidential documents, and access to the full text of state and federal case law powered by Fastcase.
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Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Nexis Uni‚Ñ¢ features more than 15,000 news, business and legal sources from LexisNexis‚Äîincluding U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1790‚Äîwith an intuitive interface that offers quick discovery across all content types, personalization features such as Alerts and saved searches and a collaborative workspace with shared folders and annotated documents.
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LegalTrac : Gale OneFile This link opens in a new window
Ideal for students, law school faculty, and legal researchers, Gale OneFile: LegalTrac provides indexing for more than 1,200 major law reviews, legal newspapers, specialty publications, Bar Association journals, and international legal journals, including more than 200 titles in full text. The American Association of Law Libraries not only endorses LegalTrac, its special advisory committee selects, reviews, and enhances the content of this resource. The database offers coverage of federal and state cases, laws and regulations, legal practice and taxation, as well as British Commonwealth, European Union, and international law.
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Criminal Justice : Gale OneFile This link opens in a new window
Gale OneFile: Criminal Justice collection informs the research process for researchers who are studying law, law enforcement, or terrorism, training for paralegal service, preparing for a career in homeland security, delving into forensic science, investigating crime scenes, developing policy, going to court, writing sociological reports, and much more. The Criminal Justice Collection makes research easy by bringing together information from more than 250 journals.
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NewsBank - America's News 2024 This link opens in a new window
This comprehensive news collection is ideal for exploring issues and events at the local, regional, national and international level. Its diverse source types include print and online-only newspapers, blogs, newswires, journals, broadcast transcripts and videos. Use it to explore a specific event or to compare a wide variety of viewpoints on topics such as politics, business, health, sports, cultural activities and people. Content is easily searched and sorted through an intuitive, map-based interface.
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CQ Electronic Encyclopedia of American Government This link opens in a new window
based on the print series, CQ Press ready-reference American Government A to Z, EAG offers thousands of concise, up-to-date explanations of the who, how, and why of American democracy.
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JSTOR This link opens in a new window
is a digital library of more than 1,500 academic journals, books, and primary sources. JSTOR helps people discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content through a powerful research and teaching platform, and preserves this content for future generations. Includes collections: Arts and Sciences II, Arts and Sciences III, Arts and Sciences V, Arts and Sciences VIII, Arts and Sciences XII, and Life Sciences.
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ProQuest This link opens in a new window
indexes articles covering various subjects from thousands of periodicals, many full text, full image format.
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How do I know if a resource is scholarly (academic)?

Scholarly Sources:

are often written by professors, researchers, and experts in the field with advanced degrees
are written for other scholars, professionals, and students
have a list of references
use technical language of the field
often provide research findings, statistics, and literature reviews

What about Popular sources, like magazines?

Popular Sources:

are for the general population
avoid technical terminology and use easy-to-understand language
usually do not have bibliographies or references
often written by staff writers with little specialized knowledge
are written for entertainment and general knowledge

Source: Cornell University

Distinguishing Scholarly from Non-Scholarly Sources
Cues for recognizing scholarly journals, news sources, popular magazines, and sensational periodicals.

What about Primary sources?

Primary sources:

provide first-hand testimony or direct evidence concerning a topic under investigation without evaluation or interpretation.
contains the information from which a secondary or tertiary source is derived and is written by someone directly involved in the historical event or primary research.
includes original documents such as diaries, speeches, letters, audio transcripts, emails, autobiographies, and interviews
includes creative works such as photographs, novels, poetry, music, and artworks

What about Science?

In the sciences, a primary source is the published result of experimental or observational research.

Source: University of Maryland Libraries

Using Primary Sources
This brief guide is designed to provide students and researchers with information to help them evaluate Internet sources and the quality of primary materials that can be found online.
What is a Primary Source?
YouTube video that helps define both primary and secondary sources of information.
Primary and Secondary Sources
Very detailed online guide to primary sources from Ithaca College.

Database Search Tips

Join keywords with AND:

voting and restrictions

Put quotation marks around phrases:

"voting rights"

Try different words and phrases:

government shutdown, spending policy, debt limits

Use an asterisk:

govern* will find governs, government

Check your spelling!

Adapted from: Pitt Community College Library