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Finding Articles
Consult articles once you've created a research question or thesis and want to look at your topic in detail. If you are just starting out and don't have a good sense of your topic yet, check out "Finding Background Information" first.
The databases on this page provide access to scholarly, popular, and news articles. Some databases will lead you directly to the full text of an article while others will help you find abstracts (summaries) for articles that you'll need to track down elsewhere.
If you have any trouble finding what you need, just ask a librarian! For a refresher, check out our guide.
To browse a specific journal, search for it by name in URI's Journal Search or browse for journals by subject on BrowZine!
- E-Journal List - URI Journal SearchEnter the title of the journal or newspaper you're looking for to find access quickly!
- BrowZineAn app that lets you browse journals by discipline or search by title. You can save journals or articles to a personalized bookshelf for later use!
Choosing a Database
The best place to find articles is in one of the library's databases! Use the recommendations below for a good place to start. If you want to explore beyond these, you can search the library's A-Z Databases list by "subject" to find recommendations for your field or area of study.
Political Science is a subject that covers a wide variety of topics. Because of this, it may be necessary to look at multiple types of databases to fully cover your topic. Below are a few sections that have different focuses; political science, government & legal information, and primary sources.
Best Bets for Political Science Research
- PAIS Index (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
- What’s included? Citations to journal articles, books, government publications, research & conference reports, publications of international agencies, and other materials from over 120 countries. Covers topics related to public affairs, public and social policies, and international relations. Updated monthly.
- What dates are covered? 1914 - Present.
- ICPSR (Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research) This link opens in a new window
- What’s included? The Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) maintains and provides access to a vast archive of datasets in social sciences and related areas. Data files for use with statistical software, such as SAS, SPSS, and Stata, may be downloaded.
- What else should I know? While accessible from anywhere, users must initially create an account while on campus, and must access the database from on-campus at least once every six months.
- Nexis Uni (LexisNexis) This link opens in a new window
- What’s included? News, law, and business information service. Includes news from national and international newspapers; wire services and articles from hundreds of periodicals; and a number of other reference sources. All sources are full-text. Updated daily.
Government & Legal Information
Below is a list of databases that focus on government policy and law.
- Military & Government Collection (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window
- What’s included? Cover-to-cover full text for more than 300 journals and periodicals and indexing and abstracts for more than 400 titles that offer news pertaining to all branches of the military and government.
- HeinOnline Academic (HeinOnline) This link opens in a new window
- What's included? Primary sources and journal articles covering a wide range of subjects with a particular strength in law and foreign relations. Contains U.S. Congressional materials and federal laws; U.S. federal regulations and agency documents; U.S. Supreme Court and federal court decisions; and U.S. treaties and agreements. Also includes Rhode Island laws and bar journals.
- National Survey of State Laws (HeinOnline) This link opens in a new window
- What’s included? National Survey of State Laws (NSSL) provides an overall view of some of the most-asked-about and controversial legal topics in the United States. The database is derived from Richard Leiter’s National Survey of State Laws print editions. The current 8th edition (2018), along with the 7th (2015), 6th (2008), and 5th (2005) editions are available. Presented in an interactive chart format, NSSL allows users to make basic state-by-state comparisons of current state laws. The database is updated regularly as new laws are passed or updated.
- U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Databases This link opens in a new window
- What’s included? Full text and image database of all patents granted by the Office back to 1790. Patents issued since 1976 may be searched by key word in the full text. Patents issued prior to 1976 may be searched by patent numbers or classification codes only.
- What dates are covered? 1790 - Present.
- USA Trade Online This link opens in a new window
- What’s included? Access to U.S. export and import information on more than 18,000 commodities world wide.
- What dates are covered? 1992 - Present.
- What else should I know? 2 concurrent users only. Password required — please ask at the Research Help Desk for access.
Databases for Primary Sources
- Civil Rights and Social Justice (HeinOnline) This link opens in a new window
- What's included? Publications covering civil rights in the United States as their legal protections and definitions are expanded to cover more and more Americans including disabled Americans and those identifying as LGBTQ. Contains hearings and committee prints, legislative histories on the landmark legislations, CRS and GAO reports, briefs from major Supreme Court cases, and publications from the Commission on Civil Rights. A curated list of scholarly articles, a varied collection of books on many civil rights topics, and a list of prominent civil rights organizations help take the research beyond HeinOnline.
- Behind the Scenes of the Civil Rights Movements (Reveal Digital) This link opens in a new window
- What's included? Primary source documents that focus on how ordinary citizens in smaller communities viewed, participated in and lived during the Civil Rights era. When completed in 2025, the collection will include letters, general correspondence, logs, demonstration plan outlines, transportation logs and plans, meetings, worship services, photographs, newsletters, news reels, interviews and musical recordings from Black, Latine, Native American and Asian American Pacific Islander communities.
- What dates are covered? Primarily the 1950s and 1960s
- Student Activism (Reveal Digital) This link opens in a new window
- What’s included? Primary source materials drawn from special collection libraries and archives around the country that capture the voices of students across the range of protest, political actions, and equal-rights advocacy from the 20th and early 21st century United States. Materials include circulars, leaflets, fliers, pamphlets, newsletters, campaign materials, protest literature, clippings, periodicals, bulletins, letters, press releases, ephemera; and meeting, demonstration, conference, and event documentation.
- What dates are covered? Early 1900's - Present.
- Gender: Identity and Social Change (AM) This link opens in a new window
- What’s included? Primary sources documenting the changing representations and lived experiences of gender roles and relations, and the struggle for women’s rights.
- What dates are covered? 19th century - Present
- Climate Change and Law Collection (Brill Online) This link opens in a new window
- What's included? Original source, non-edited and non-redacted “grey literature” (non-peer reviewed) in English, centered on climate change and the law, including corporate law, environmental law and human rights law. Materials in the collection originate from a wide range of organizations in the public and private sector, institutions, and/or individuals, world-wide. Edited by the Human Rights Internet (HRI) in Ottawa, Canada.
- What else should I know? Materials are not peer-reviewed
- U.S. Congressional Serial Set 1817-1994 (Newsbank) This link opens in a new window
- What’s included? Provides primary source material on all aspects of American history. Includes the full text and images from the United States Congressional Serial Set. Search or browse the Reports, Documents, and Journals of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, originally published in approximately 13,800 bound volumes. Subsequent years are available through gov info.
- What dates are covered? 1817 - 1994.
- American Civil Liberties Union Papers, The Making of Modern Law (Gale Primary Sources) This link opens in a new window
- What’s included? Primary source materials related to the ACLU. Access to Part 1: 1912-1990, sourced from the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library at Princeton University, and Part 2: Southern Regional Office, which documents the ACLU’s legal battle to enforce the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in thirteen Southern states.
- What dates are covered? 1912-1990
- Making of Modern Law: Trials, 1600-1926 (Gale) This link opens in a new window
- What’s included? Digital collection covering American and British trials. Provides unofficially published accounts of trials; official trial documents, briefs, and arguments; and official records of legislative proceedings, administrative proceedings, and arbitration sessions.
- Making of Modern Law: U.S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs, 1832-1978 (Gale) This link opens in a new window
- What’s included? Online collection of records and briefs brought before the United States Supreme Court. Includes transcripts, applications for review, motions, petitions, supplements, and other official papers of the most-studied and talked-about cases. It also includes information from cases that were denied certiorari.
- Political Extremism & Radicalism (Gale Primary Sources) This link opens in a new window
- What’s included? Primary sources documenting groups from both the right and left of the political spectrum. Comprises three collections: Far-Right and Left Political Groups in the U.S., Europe, and Australia in the Twentieth Century; Far-Right Groups in America; and Global Communist and Socialist Movements. Sources include periodicals, campaign propaganda, government records, oral histories, and various ephemera.
- What dates are covered? 20th century.