Course and Subject Guides: Political Science Guide: Articles

Databases for Political Science Topics

Academic Search Premier (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
Provides full text for scholarly publications and peer-reviewed journals as well as general interest sources. Multidisciplinary. A good place to start your research.
CQ Researcher Plus Archive This link opens in a new window
Provides in-depth, unbiased coverage of health issues, social trends, criminal justice, international affairs, education, the environment, technology, and the economy. Including pro/con statements from representatives of opposing positions, it is useful for term papers, debates, and speeches. Use the archival reports for history research.
Minnesota State Legislature This link opens in a new window
Follow the actions of the House and the Senate; search statues, laws, and rules; get status and history of bills; research the history of legislation in Minnesota; and much more.
U.S. Newsstream This link opens in a new window
Access to over 500 national newspapers. Includes full text for the Chicago Tribune, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.
Sage Journals This link opens in a new window
Access to high-quality, scholarly journals in the areas of Religious Studies, Communication Studies, Education, Management & Organization Studies, Physical & Life Sciences, Nursing & Health Sciences, Political Science, Criminology, Sociology, Urban Studies & Planning, and Psychology.
World Factbook CIA This link opens in a new window
Country information - demographics, economies, climate, geography, government, military, and more.
Slavery in America & the World: History, Culture & Law This link opens in a new window
"Brings together, for the first time, all known legal materials on slavery in the United States and the English-speaking world. This includes every statute passed by every colony and state on slavery, every federal statute dealing with slavery, and all reported state and federal cases on slavery. Our cases go into the 20th century, because long after slavery was ended, there were still court cases based on issues emanating from slavery." (Publisher's Description)

Tips for Searching Databases

Multiple Key Words or Phrases: Place in separate boxes or separate by Boolean operators. Don’t string them together all on one line as you would in Google.

Use key words to search, not full sentences: legislation AND earmarks not How was anti--earmarks legislation passed in the Congress?

Put phrases in quotation marks: "term limits" "campaign finance reform" "gun control legislation" "judicial activism"

Truncation: Add an asterisk * to the end of a term to retrieve results with multiple endings. For example: ethic* will retrieve records for ethic, ethics, ethical, ethicist

Boolean Operators can help you expand or narrow your search

AND: (“capital punishment” AND Texas) Narrows your search so that only records containing both search terms come back to you.
OR: (capital punishment OR death penalty) Broadens your search so that all records containing the term capital punishment as well as all records containing the term death penalty come back to you.
NOT: ("capital punishment" NOT Texas) Narrows your search so that you get records about capital punishment but none that are about capital punishment in Texas.

Off Campus Access

You will be asked to supply your Saint Mary's user name and password to access subscription databases from off campus. Problems? Use our 24/7 chat or contact the Help Desk (507-457-7800 / helpdesk@smumn.edu) or the Library (507-457-1562 / lib@smumn.edu)