LibGuides: Political Science Scope and Methods (POL2070): Articles, Journals, and Databases

Peer Review

Library Databases on Political Science

Exploring your topic

Search your topic in the Credo Reference database to find a few encyclopedia articles with background information.

Recommended databases for Political Science Scope and Methods (all databases require PLNU login):

Academic Search Premier
OmniFile Full Text Mega This multi-disciplinary database contains a wealth of essential material for learning and detailed research in a single, easily-searched database. With the full text of articles from over 2,500 publications, and indexing and abstracts from nearly 3,600 publications, this database provides invaluable support for research in all core undergraduate subjects and for cross-disciplinary work.
Social Sciences Full Text This standard resource covers every area of the Social Sciences, including addiction studies, anthropology, corrections, criminal justice, gender studies, geography, law. mass media, minority studies, political science, psychology and social work. It provides indexing and abstracting for 625 periodicals as far back as 1983, nearly 400 of which are peer reviewed. Full-text content of over 200 journals is available back to 1995.

(Hint: Since these are EBSCO databases, you can search the three databases above at the same time by clicking on "Choose Databases" once you are inside one of the databases. Check the box of the names of the databases you would like to search simultaneously.)

Additional databases recommended for Political Science students include:

CIAO - Columbia International Affairs Onlline The most comprehensive source for theory and research in international affairs. It publishes a wide range of scholarship from 1991 onward that includes working papers from university research institutes, occasional papers series from NGOs, foundation-funded research projects, proceedings from conferences, books, journals and policy briefs.
Historical Statistics of the United States This resource is an online version of the standard source for the quantitative facts of American history.
JSTOR This multi-disciplinary database offers full-text access to journal issues and pages as they were originally designed, printed, and illustrated. With more than a thousand academic journals and over 1 million images, letters, and other primary sources, JSTOR is one of the world's most trusted sources for academic content.
Nexis Uni This database features more than 15,000 newspaper articles, business and legal sources from LexisNexis—including U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1790.
Women and Social Movements in the U.S., 1600-2000 This full-text database focuses on the history of women in social movements in the U.S. between 1600 and 2000. Includes biographies of missionaries.

Request an Article

InterLibrary Loan allows members of the PLNU community to request articles from another library.

Before you request an article, complete the following steps to verify that the article is not available at PLNU:

Find out if the journal is full text in one of our databases.
Find out if the journal (hard copy ) is located in Ryan Library.
Use InterLibrary Loan to request the article.

Accessing Specific Journals

To determine if Ryan Library provides full-text access to specific journals, type or copy/paste the journal title into the Journals Directory located on the Library's homepage (click on the 3rd tab in the middle search box).

Some journals will be available in more than one database and may only have certain publication dates available in each database. Many journals have embargos placed on them by their publishers, meaning their most recent content is not yet available in full-text through a library database. For example, it's common to see a database that provides access to the publication years "2007 to 18 months ago" OR "1993 to 1 year ago." For help accessing journals, contact librarian Robin Lang at rlang@pointloma.edu.

Practice Instructions:

Activity #1:

With your partner, go to the Journals Directory
Type in your assigned journal title
Write down the name of the database(s) listed
Share with class

Activity #2: By yourself, on the worksheet, list the steps you went through to locate this journal.

Activity #3:

Individually, go to your assigned journal or any journal listed below, on the library worksheet, or Research Exercise #2 (they're the same titles).
Open the journal in a database, figure out how to search in the journal, and type in keywords on your topic.
If possible, limit to:
1. Full Text
2. Peer Reviewed
  1. Pub. date range 2002-2023
Notice language used in titles and subject terms and make adjustments to your search terms, as needed.
Once you find an article, email the article to yourself.

Journal of Politics:

Journal of Politics:
American Journal of Political Science:
British Journal of Political Science:
American Political Science Review:
Journal of Democracy:
Journal of Conflict Resolution (Note: Two titles are listed, so make sure you use the correct one.):
Public Administration (Note: Eight titles are listed, so make sure you use the correct one.):
Comparative Politics:
International Studies Quarterly:
Political Communication: