PUBPOL 301: Strategies

Librarian's Top Picks

U.S. Law and Politics: 

Congress.gov
Congressional Digest Debates Online
CQ Congress Collection
National Journal
ProQuest Congressional

International coverage, including US:

Political Science Complete (EBSCO) (PubPol + PolSci)
ProQuest Political Science  (PubPol + PolSci)
PAIS (Public Policy)
CIAO (Columbia Int'l Affairs Online)
Nexis Uni (for news)
JSTOR (archive, not current; for known citations)

From the Start: record and refine your search strategies by keeping a research log (ex. below); saving your search histories in databases; and/or taking screen shots of your searches.

Remember to cite sources as you go.

Finding & Evaluating Sources

Start with an overview of your issue by searching for news and scholarly analysis with the databases listed throughout this guide. To explore other databases:

Click on the Databases tab from the Libraries homepage. Enter database name or use the Browse by Subject function.  Tips:  

• Click on “more details” to learn more about the database
• You will be led to the catalog entry for a database. Do not use the search box on that page; click  to get to the specific database's interface.
• When you find citations in the database, use the get it @ Duke button to find electronic full-text

Understand how the US government works--see the US Govt. tab for some refresher sources, esp. the Legislative Process guide

Google smart:

Add site:.gov to restrict your Google search to US government sites.

Use Google Search Tips: Notice how similar the advanced strategies are to those used in databases!

Use the Think Tanks search engine on the interest groups page of this guide.

 For books and more:

Use the Duke Libraries catalog to search for print and reference sources

Tips   

• Click Advanced Search to search by format, library, etc.
• e-books are activated faster in the e-books list than in the catalog--click the link under the catalog search box.

Dig deeper see my Public Policy subject guide  (linked from my profile here), and the Related Guides tab in it.

Chat with the Reference librarian on duty.