POLS 299: International Law (Thomas): Home

How do scholarly journals differ from popular (non-scholarly) publications? Check out this chart for the basic differences.

Spend some time brainstorming keywords and search terms.

Try using subject headings or descriptors to help generate search terms.

When you find a good article, look at its References or Works Cited list. That will often lead you to other useful sources.

Do you have an article citation, but need to find the full-text article? Three Steps to Finding the Full Text Article:

1. Check the Electronic Journals A-Z List  by searching for the name of the Journal name (not the article title) in the "Find" box. If the journal comes up in your results, look at the years of coverage to make sure that the library has the year you are looking for. If yes, click on the link for the journal and then scroll to the volume you need or search within the journal for the article.

2. If you aren't able to find the journal in the Electronic Journal list, check the Catalog to find the journal in print by searching for the name of the journal (not the article title).  If the journal comes up in your results, look at the years of coverage to make sure that the library has the year you are looking for. If yes, copy down the call number so that you'll be able to locate the journal in the stacks.

3. If you can't get the article in print or online, order the article through InterLibrary Loan.

Academic Search Premier Great multidisciplinary database. Search tip: Take advantage of the menu options to the left of your search results. You can limit by Geography to select articles about the country you are researching. You can also limit to scholarly (peer-reviewed) journals. 

ProQuest Central Great multidisciplinary database. Search tip: Take advantage of the menu options to the right of your search results. You can limit by location to select articles about the country you are researching. You can also limit to peer-reviewed journals. You can also focus your search on the sub-database ProQuest Political Science. 

HeinOnline - Government, Politics & Law for Academics Comprehensive coverage of more than 1,700 law and law-related periodicals. Also contains the Congressional Record bound volumes in entirety, complete coverage of the U.S. Reports back to 1754, constitutions for every country in the world, classic legal books from the 18th & 19th centuries, all United States Treaties, the Federal Register and Code of Federal Regulations from inception, and much more. To search just the HeinOnline's Law Journals, click here.
Directions on exporting to RefWorks from HeinOnline

Law Reviews (LexisNexis) Includes articles from United States Law Reviews and Bar Journals.

JSTOR An archive of scholarly journal articles from a variety of subject areas, including Political Science.

Project Muse Provides full-text journal articles from a variety of subject areas

OxResearch (ProQuest) Delivers succinct articles analyzing economic and political developments worldwide, and evaluates issues within a coherent political, social, and economic framework. Created by Oxford Analytica.

ProQuest Statistical Insight Provides access to statistical information produced by U.S. Federal agencies, States, private organizations, & major intergovernmental organizations. 

Check out the library's e-journals list to search for articles in specific publications. For example:

• Foreign Affairs
• American Journal of International Law
• Washington Quarterly
• Wilson Quarterly
• International Security
• International Organization 
• Orbis
• Survival
• Ethics & International Affairs
• International Studies Quarterly
• Review of International Studies
• Yale Journal of International Affairs/relations
• Global Governance
• Review of Politics
• Politics and Society
• International Studies Perspectives
• International Studies Review
• The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
• Comparative Politics
• World Politics 
• British Journal of Politics and International Relations,
• Annual Review of Political Science
• American Journal of Political Science
• American Political Science Review
• Current History (online access covers through June 2013. The most recent print issues are in the Periodicals Room at Dinand.)

Google Scholar is a great tool for doing a broad search of scholarly literature on your topic:

• Google Scholar searches across many disciplines. 
• Your search results will include a broad range of sources, including journal articles, conference papers, theses, dissertations, academic books, pre-prints, & abstracts. 
• Results come from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities & other web sites. 

You'll just want to keep some things in mind:

• Coverage is not comprehensive. Many sourcess are hidden in publishers' databases and journals that Google can't search, so you'll want to look at other databases as well. 
• Search results can include links to things like high school term papers, so you'll want to evaluate what you find. 

You can access advanced search features by clicking the arrow in the right of the search box. These features allow you to refine your search.

Look for the words Get Full Txt @ Holy Cross next to an article. You should be able to access any of these articles through the library's subscriptions. If you come across a source that Holy Cross does not have access to, remember that you can request the item through Interlibrary Loan.

When you are on campus, Google Scholar will automatically show you those Get Full Txt @ Holy Cross links next to articles that Holy Cross has access to. If you are off-campus, you can set your Scholar Settings to show the links for accessing sources through Holy Cross. You can modify your settings by selecting the Settings link in the upper-right corner of Google Scholar webpage.

Click on the Cited by and Related articles links at the bottom of a search result to find relevant articles & books.