LibGuides: POLIS (Politics and International Studies): Researching a Topic

Finding Journal Articles

Searching for a known item
Searching for an unknown item

Looking across all libraries in the University

Search for the journal by title in iDiscover. Both journals and ejournals will appear.

You can use iDiscover as above, or go to the Seeley website to browse a list of all our journals (with links to the ejournals, if available).

Alternatively

A full list of all ejournals available to Cambridge users is found on the ejournals@cambridge website.

Citation Indexes

There are many online citation indexes that may help, such as Historical Abstracts and Web of Science. Guidance can be found on our website.

Bibliographies

Looking at the references in journal articles may help you find similar material, which you can then find in iDiscover

Copyright Guidance

Online resources help

For questions about using eresources (ejournals, ebooks, databases) see these Frequently Asked Questions from the ejournals@cambridge team. Please also feel free to get in touch with the Seeley Library staff.

Online resources

Here are some of the top general eresources for POLIS students:

International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS) This link opens in a new window This database includes over 3 million bibliographic references to journal articles and to books, reviews and selected chapters dating back to 1951. It is unique in its broad coverage of international material and incorporates over 100 languages and countries. Over 2,800 journals are regularly indexed and some 7,000 books are included each year.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
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Oxford Dictionary of National Biography This link opens in a new window 60,000 biographies of people who shaped the history of the British Isles and beyond, from the earliest times to the year 2012.
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Oxford Reference Online This link opens in a new window Oxford Reference Online brings together language and subject reference works from one of the world's biggest reference publishers into a single cross-searchable resource. The Core Collection contains over 100 dictionary, language reference, and subject reference works published by Oxford University Press. It is a fully-indexed, cross-searchable database of these books, giving subscribers unprecedented access to a comprehensive information resource. The Premium Collection offers all of the above, plus added functionality and more detailed information across a broad subject range from titles in the world-renowned Oxford Companions Series, to enhance the coverage already provided by the award-winning Core Collection.
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Web of Science This link opens in a new window The Web of Science (citation indexes) is a multidisciplinary database, with searchable author abstracts, covering the journal literature of the sciences, social sciences and arts. It indexes major journals in these disciplines. Because the information stored about each article includes the article's cited reference list (often called its bibliography), you can also search the databases for articles that cite a known author or work. The search interface at this web site provides access to Science Citation Index,Social Sciences Citation Index and Arts & Humanities Citation Index

An A-Z list of all online resources in Cambridge Resources across all subject areas.

Europa This link opens in a new window The main server for the European Union, providing a link to all the institutions of the EU, press releases and other recent material, information on policies, publications, legal texts and other documents.
Hansard: House of Commons (1803-) This link opens in a new window Browse House of Commons debates, statements, petitions, oral and written questions and answers, since November 1988 by date. Written Answers from 12 September 2014 are now published on the Written Questions and Answers page which is accessed in the right hand menu.
Hansard: House of Lords (1803-) This link opens in a new window Three hours after they take place Lords Chamber debates are available online. You can also read previous debates.
UK Parliamentary Papers This link opens in a new window With all collections enabled, HCPP now includes over 200,000 House of Commons sessional papers from 1715 to the present, with supplementary material back to 1688. HCPP delivers page images and searchable full text for each paper, along with detailed indexing.
United Nations Treaty Collection This link opens in a new window Under its Charter (Article 21) the UN publishes the UNTS (UN Treaty Series), MTDSG (Multilateral treaties deposited with the Secretary-General, UNTS Cumulative Index and monthly Statements of Treaties and International Agreements and 4 related publications – Summary of practice of the Secretary-General as depositary of multilateral treaties, Treaty Handbook, Handbook of Final Clauses and issues of Treaty Event Focus books. All Treaty Section’s publications are available online for consultation under the relevant categories on the left-side navigational menu.

Eurostat This link opens in a new window Offers key European statistical information, news releases and briefing notes. Register directly with the site in order to save your searches and download data.
ICPSR data This link opens in a new window The world's largest collection of digital social science data, ICPSR maintains a data archive of more than 500,000 files of research in the social sciences. It hosts 16 specialized collections of data in education, aging, criminal justice, substance abuse, terrorism, and other fields. Once registered (registration needs to happen on campus), users can login in with their ICPSR creditals from anywhere in the world, to access full data, and download it
National Statistics This link opens in a new window The official source for UK statistics. Many documents are available in full text.
UK Data Service This link opens in a new window Service providing access to over 6,000 computer-readable datasets suitable for research and teaching purposes covering a range of different disciplines. Much data is open, but for safeguarded data, registration is required - please visit: http://ukdataservice.ac.uk/get-data/how-to-access/registration/uk-he-fe-users
UK Data Service This link opens in a new window Service providing access to over 6,000 computer-readable datasets suitable for research and teaching purposes covering a range of different disciplines. Much data is open, but for safeguarded data, registration is required - please visit: http://ukdataservice.ac.uk/get-data/how-to-access/registration/uk-he-fe-users

Factiva This link opens in a new window Alternative link (via iDiscover)
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Factiva is a database of over 8,000 business and news publications, most in full text. Sources are in 22 languages, date back as far as 1969, and include trade journals, newswires (Dow Jones, Reuters, and others), media programs, and company and stock reports. Find information on over 22,000 public and private companies including description, history, current stock quote, financial data, competitors, and the latest news on business activities. Search publications by title, industry, geographic locations, type, and language.
International Encyclopedia of Ethics This link opens in a new window Comprehensive reference work incorporating metaethics, practical ethics and normative ethics
Lexis+ This link opens in a new window ICLR, All England Law Reports, Halsbury's Laws of England, Legislation Service, Newspapers.
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New York Times, The (1851-2020) This link opens in a new window This database contains all issues of the New York Times, 1851-2020, in full text, full image forms, including news, illustrations, editorial matter, and advertising.
Times Digital Archive, 1785-2019 This link opens in a new window An online, full-text facsimile of more than 200 years of The Times, detailing every complete page of every issue from 1785-2012. Allows researchers an opportunity to search and view the newspaper in its original published context. Includes weekend supplements. The archive supports research across multiple disciplines and areas of interest: in business, humanities, political science, philosophy and numerous other subjects with coverage of all major international historical events.This database contains all Monday-Saturday issues of the Times in full text and full image, including news, features, editorials and commentary, advertising, pictures and illustrations. The Sunday Times is NOT included.
World News Connection (archive up to 2013) This link opens in a new window Service bringing news from around the world, translated into English, typically within 24-72 hours from the time of the original publication or broadcast. The information is obtained from newspaper articles, television and radio broadcasts, online sources, conference proceedings, periodicals, and non-classified reports. This information is collected and translated by and for the U.S. Government.

OECD Commonwealth iLibrary This link opens in a new window Each year, The Commonwealth publishes around 30 new titles on a range of topics in which it has particular insight and expertise, especially concerning small states, including; globalisation and multilateral trade issues; export and enterprise development education; gender; public service management and reform; law and human rights. For the first time, these publications are now available online in a single research repository. Titles are organised by series, year and alphabetically, and search and discovery of complete publications or even their components – articles and chapters – is a click away.
OECD iLibrary This link opens in a new window OECD iLibrary provides online access to the many publications put out by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Publications include country studies, forecasting publications, reports, periodicals, and socio-economic databases. Topics covered include agriculture, developing economies, education, employment, energy, environment, health, migration, social issues, sustainable development and more. It replaces SourceOECD.
Oxford Bibliographies This link opens in a new window
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Oxford Bibliographies: International relations This link opens in a new window
Oxford Reference Online This link opens in a new window Oxford Reference Online brings together language and subject reference works from one of the world's biggest reference publishers into a single cross-searchable resource. The Core Collection contains over 100 dictionary, language reference, and subject reference works published by Oxford University Press. It is a fully-indexed, cross-searchable database of these books, giving subscribers unprecedented access to a comprehensive information resource. The Premium Collection offers all of the above, plus added functionality and more detailed information across a broad subject range from titles in the world-renowned Oxford Companions Series, to enhance the coverage already provided by the award-winning Core Collection.
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SAGE Research Methods Online This link opens in a new window A research methods tool created to help researchers, faculty and students with their research projects. Links over 175,000 pages of SAGE’s renowned book, journal and reference content with search and discovery tools. Researchers can explore methods concepts to help them design research projects, understand particular methods or identify a new method, conduct their research, and write up their findings. A "methods map" facilitates finding content on methods. SAGE Research Methods contains content from over 720 books, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and handbooks, the entire “Little Green Book,” and "Little Blue Book” series. Includes a collection of case studies of real social research.
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Digital National Security Archive This link opens in a new window Founded in 1985 by a group of journalists and scholars who had obtained documentation from the U.S. government under the Freedom of Information Act and sought a centralized repository for these materials. The Archive has become the world's largest non-governmental library of declassified documents. Currently contains 22 core collections of declassified documents, previously published on microfiche, which have been digitized and made available online. These collections provide more than 43,000 of the most important declassified documents that led to key policy decisions in the post-World War II era. The collections are fully indexed and cross-referenced with complete chronologies of events, comprehensive glossaries and detailed biographies of the actors in these events.

The Seeley Library website

We also have lots of information to help you research your dissertation on our website.

Resources for My Subject

POLIS (Politics and International Studies): Researching a Topic

Carrying out research