Research guides: POL401 Senior Major Research Paper: Journal Articles

Finding Articles in Databases

Use the databases below to find scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles for your assignments. For the full list of databases available at the University of Toronto Libraries, check out the Subjects A-Z list.

Political Science:

WorldWide Political Science Abstracts
A major index to journals in political science and its complementary fields, including international relations, law, and public administration.
PAIS Index
PAIS International offers access to the international literature in public affairs, public and social policies, and international relations. It is an important index for its coverage of government documents, publications of international agencies, statistical directories, grey literature, research reports, conference reports, microfiche, and Internet material, as well as journal articles, books and articles in books from more than 120 countries worldwide.
Columbia International Affairs Online
This resource indexes "documents and articles devoted to research, analysis, and scholarship on international politics and related fields, including security studies, global finance, diplomatic practice, humanitarian law, global governance, development studies, and environmental studies." In includes "full-text articles from government research organizations, independent think tanks, university analysis centers, and scholarly journals", as well as "working papers, policy briefs, and current analysis and commentary, as well as scholarly journal articles, e-books, and videos. "

History:

Historical Abstracts
Historical Abstracts covers the history of the world (excluding the United States and Canada) from 1450 to the present, including world history, military history, women's history, history of education, and more. This database provides indexing of more than 2,300 academic historical journals in over 40 languages back to 1955.
America: History and Life
The major source for United States and Canadian history and culture from prehistoric times to the present. It is an excellent source for research in the fields of American history, Canadian history, popular culture, American studies, women's studies/gender studies, multicultural studies, politics and other fields of study.

Sociology:

Sociological Abstracts
This database covers the international literature of sociology, social work, and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. It includes journal articles, books, book chapters, dissertations, conference papers, and working papers from 1952 to the present.

Religion:

ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials
It provides coverage from 1949 and retrospective indexing for "journal articles, book reviews, and collections of essays in all fields of religion."

Environmental Studies:

GreenFile
Database includes scholarly, government and general-interest titles on "all aspects of human impact to the environment... [including] global warming, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling, and more."
Scopus
Multidisciplinary database that provides access to journal articles, books and conference papers.
GEOBASE
This database indexes the international literature related "Earth sciences, ecology, geology, human and physical geography, environmental sciences, oceanography, geomechanics, alternative energy sources, pollution, waste management and nature conservation... resource management, transport, and regional and urban planning."
Web of Science: Core Collection
Multidisciplinary database that provides access to journal articles, books and conference papers.

Economics:

EconLit
Provides links to full-text journal articles, book chapters, conference proceedings and dissertations.
EconPapers
EconPapers provides access to a collection of online economics working papers and journal articles.

Multi/Interdisciplinary databases in Social Sciences and Humanities:

Social Science Citation Index
Multidisciplinary database that indexes scholarly material in the social sciences from 1900 to the present.
International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS)
This database provides cross-disciplinary coverage across the social sciences, focused on four primary subject areas: anthropology, economics, political science and sociology from 1951 to the present. It covers international material from over 100 languages and countries.
Arts & Humanities Citation Index
Multidisciplinary index to the journal literature of the arts and humanities. Publication years are 1975 to the present. Part of the Web of Science Core Collection.
JSTOR
"JSTOR provides access to more than 12 million academic journal articles, books, and primary sources in 75 disciplines. ***IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT RECENTLY PUBLISHED ISSUES OF JOURNALS (PAST 3-5 YEARS): In most cases, recently published issues of journals are not available through JSTOR."

Law Databases:

WestlawNext Canada
Commercial search engine for lawyers and legal professionals. Search for articles by selecting "Articles and Newsletters" in the 'Commentary' box, or search the Index to Canadian Legal Literature. To access the database, click on the blue link under "Holdings".
Lexis Advance Quicklaw
A commercial legal database. Click on "Law Reviews & Journals" under 'Secondary Materials' to find articles. Quicklaw also contains the 'Index to Canadian Legal Literature' which has articles, book reviews, government publications and more. To access the database, click on the blue link under "Holdings".
HeinOnline
Law reviews and law-related journals covering criminal justice, political science, technology, human rights.

Can't find what you're looking for? Check out the Bora Laskin Law Library's Guide to Finding Law Journal and Journal Articles for links to more resources.

Searching LexisNexis Quicklaw, WestlawNext, and HeinOnline isn't intuitive. Check out the help documentation below for instructions and search tips:

The Library does not subscribe to all WestlawNext and Quicklaw modules. If you need assistance, please contact the Sociology Liaison Librarian.

Is Your Article Peer-Reviewed?

Not sure if your article is peer-reviewed? Check out our video for instructions on how to search Ulrich's Periodical.

POL401 Senior Major Research Paper

Peer Review and Scholarly Sources

Keywords

Searching Sociological Abstracts

Get it! UTL Not Working

Finding Articles in Databases

Is Your Article Peer-Reviewed?