Research Guides: Public Policy Research: Home

Policy Analysis and Web Sources

Policy analysis organizations will differ depending on your topic, but here are some places to start.

ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new window
Limit search to Congressional Research Service reports to get policy analysis from Congress.

Public Policy Think Tanks

The Harvard Kennedy School keeps a list of US and Non-US Think Tanks and provides a custom Google search across them all. This is a great place to go to find Think Tank content.

Custom Think Tank Search

General Think Tanks

Policy-Specific Think Tanks

Data and Statistics

US Data

Federal Gov't Stats Sites

Statistical Abstract of the United States This link opens in a new window
Authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic conditions of the United States. Coverage: 1878-
Data Planet This link opens in a new window
With Data Planet, you can scan and search the contents of billions of datasets, compare and contrast variables of interest, and create customized views in tables, maps, rankings, and charts. Views also include descriptive summaries of the datasets and data sources. Coverage: Details not available
PolicyMap This link opens in a new window
A U.S. national data and mapping tool and analytics platform with multidisciplinary applications related to social sciences, urban studies, real estate and housing analysis, community and economic development, public administration, public health, policy and political science, education, business, economics, statistics, and geography, among others.
SimplyAnalytics This link opens in a new window
Map thousands of demographic, business, and marketing data variables. Coverage limited to the United States. Coverage: Details not available
Roper Center Public Opinion Archives This link opens in a new window
One of the world's leading archives of social science data, specializing in data from surveys of public opinion. Covers opinions on social issues, politics, pop culture, international affairs, and more. Most of the data are from the United States, but over 50 nations are represented. Coverage: 1935-present

ICPSR
Pew Research
Nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research.
Pew Hispanic Center
Nonpartisan research organization that seeks to improve understanding of the U.S. Hispanic population and to chronicle Latinos’ growing impact on the nation.
Harvard Dataverse

International Data

Statistical Abstracts of the World This link opens in a new window
This database aggregates the statistical abstracts of over 40 countries (and growing) and makes the content available through a single-search interface. These statistical abstracts are generally issued by the national statistical offices of foreign governments and contain country-level data not easily found elsewhere. Global and regional statistical compendia issued by international organizations and research firms are also included. Coverage: 2013-

Video Resources

Filmakers Library Online This link opens in a new window
Streaming video collection of award-winning documentaries with relevance across the curriculum--race and gender studies, human rights, globalization and global studies, multiculturalism, international relations, criminal justice, environment, bioethics, health, political science and current events, psychology, arts, literature, and more. Coverage: Details not available
Films on Demand - Master Academic Collection This link opens in a new window
17,000+ videos in business & economics, health & medicine, humanities & social sciences, and science & mathematics. Includes Oscar, Emmy and Peabody award winning documentaries, interviews, instructional and vocational training videos, historical speeches and newsreels.
Kanopy Video This link opens in a new window
Kanopy is a distributor of educational videos for online viewing. Content is available across multiple subject areas.
Swank Digital Campus This link opens in a new window
Swank Digital Campus provides a customizable academic streaming library of feature films, documentaries and foreign films from the largest movie studios, including Walt Disney, Warner Bros., Paramount, NBCUniversal, Columbia Pictures, Lions Gate, MGM, Miramax and many more.

Government Agency Sites

Getting Started with Background Sources

Before getting started with policy research, it is a good idea to start with some background and context to the issues you are investigating. The sources below will help you get to that information quickly.

CQ Researcher This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive reporting and analysis on issues in the news in the United States. Controversial topics are addressed in a balanced, unbiased manner. Coverage: 1991-

Congressional Digest
Reports on pros and cons, background and verbatim arguments of legislation before Congress, each issue dealing with one law under consideration.

Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints This link opens in a new window
Covers today's hottest social issues, from capital punishment to immigration to marijuana. Opposing Viewpoints supports science, social studies, current events, and language arts classes.
SIRS Issue Researcher This link opens in a new window
SIRS Issues Researcher provides background and current analysis necessary for research and understanding of 360+ current and pervasive Leading Issues. Analysis and opinions cover the pros, cons, and everything in between on the most researched and debated social issues. Coverage: Details not available
Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Credo Reference includes over 650 titles with particular emphasis on subject encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases, and reference handbooks. Also included are over 1,100 short reference videos, nearly 450,000 high-resolution art images, photographs and maps across all subject areas.
Gale eBooks This link opens in a new window
Searchable full text of reference books in many subjects. Books can be searched together or individually. Coverage: varies
Routledge Handbooks Online This link opens in a new window
Overviews of research and trends in the Social Sciences and Humanities. WFU access includes the following subject collections: Asian Studies; Communication, Journalism, Media & Culture; Environment & Sustainability; Law; Philosophy; Politics; Religion; Security Studies; and Sociology.

Finding Books

Use our main library search interface Primo to locate books and other materials in Reynolds Library. When you search from the ZSR Library homepage, you will be taken to a search screen where books are in the center box on the top row. You can see all books from the search by clicking the total number of results in the top of the box, or the More Books link at the bottom. To find books on US Policy Issues, search on the policy and "United States":

"Gun Control" "United States"
Economic Regulation United States
Racial Profiling United States
"Same Sex Marriage" 'United States"
Legalization marijuana United States

Policy Journals

Scholarly Journal Databases in Political Science (and related disciplines)

The databases below are the ones most frequently used by students doing political science research. The list starts with the politics-specific databases but also lists the many databases we have in related disciplines that often contain relevant sources. Politics is a very interdisciplinary thing, so looking at other databases is often very useful!

Databases for General International Politics and Government

ProQuest Political Science Database This link opens in a new window
This link cross searches ProQuest Political Science Database, PAIS Index, and Worldwide Political Science Abstracts. Users can access hundreds of leading political science and international relations journals with full-text of many core titles. In addition, over a thousand recent full-text doctoral dissertations on political science topics are included, together with working papers, conference proceedings, country profiles, political news and other sources. Coverage: 1985-
HeinOnline Law Journal Library This link opens in a new window
Contains more than 2,000 law and law-related periodicals including international law and policy.
Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Historical Abstracts provides indexing and abstracts for journal articles, books, and dissertations covering the history of the world from 1450-- except the U.S. and Canada. For similar coverage of the U.S. and Canada, use America History and Life. Coverage: 1954-

Databases for International Military and Security Issues

ProQuest Military Database This link opens in a new window
The Military Collection provides full-text titles from around the world, including scholarly journals, trade and industry journals, magazines, technical reports, conference proceedings, government publications, and more.
Military and Government Collection This link opens in a new window
Provides full text from military and general interest publications. Designed to bring current news to all branches of the military. Includes full text country reports from CountryWatch Coverage: 1985-
Homeland Security Digital Library This link opens in a new window
A compendium of materials available for scholarly research in the area of Homeland Security. The digital library collection is focused on strategy and policy in the various subject areas of Homeland Security Research. Sources of information include governmental departments and agencies, academic institutions, think tanks, conference sites, non-governmental organizations, institutes and organizations, and other entities. Coverage: Details not available

Databases for International Policy and Issues

Communication and Mass Media Complete This link opens in a new window
For political communication, Internet and/or Social Media, news, rhetoric and more.
Contemporary Women's Issues (Gale OneFile) This link opens in a new window
Covers women s issues from 190 countries, with information available in full-text. Disciplines include sociology, psychology, health, education, business administration and political science. Coverage: 1992-
Criminal Justice Database This link opens in a new window
For criminal justice, incarceration, international criminal justice, etc.
EconLit This link opens in a new window
For international economic research, political economy, foreign aid and development, etc.
Environment Complete This link opens in a new window
Environmental policy, climate change, climate refugees, climate treaties, climate and trade, etc.
ERIC (via EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
Education policy, educational systems, etc.
ProQuest Sociology Database This link opens in a new window

Other Librarians

Roz Tedford: Politics and Int'l Affairs Liaison

Rosalind Tedford

She/Her

Email Me

Contact:

ZSR Library
Room 457A

Subjects: American History, English Literature, Law, Political Science

Public Policy Research: Home

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