Wellesley College Library catalog - Use the Library catalog to find books and other materials (journal titles, NOT journal articles) we have here at Wellesley. Remember to start with "keyword" if you are beginning to research a topic. If you are researching a particular country or person, try putting the name in as a "subject". Note any subheadings.

WorldCat - Use WorldCat to find books, journal titles (NOT individual articles), and other materials that are not in the Wellesley Library catalog. Remember to start with "keyword" if you are beginning to research a topic. If you are researching a particular country or person, try putting the name in as a "subject". Note any subheadings.

Catalog of U.S. Government Publications - an index to United States Government publications from 1976 onward. Wellesley has a large selection of government documents in the subjects of census, crime and justice, demography, education, and labor.

Find background information

Almanac of American Politics 1972- (Clapp Ref JK 271 B343)
Senators, Represenatives and Govenors; their records and election results, their states and districts. Includes interest group ratings for elected officials as well as campaign expenditures reported to the FEC.

Book of the States 1935- (Clapp Ref JK 2403 B6)
Contains a state by state comparison of laws and procedures used in all branches of state government. Also, has statistics on expenditures, payroll and revenue. (Not full-text of state laws)

Encyclopedia of Governance - includes topics (public-sector reform, policy networks, new public management, the hollow state) and theories associated with governance (rational choice and interpretive
theory).

Encyclopedia of Politics: The Left and The Right - 450 articles on individuals, movements, political parties, and ideological principles, with those usually thought of as left in the left-hand volume and those considered on the right, in the right-hand volume

Europa World Year Book (Clapp Ref JN 1 E85 2 vols.)
Detailed articles on major international and regional organizations. Alphabetically arranged chapters on individual countries contain recent history, a statistical survey, and names and addresses of the major government officials and organizations in the country. Latest 2 years in Clapp Ref, previous years in stacks.

Foreign Relations of the United States 1861- (Clapp Docs JX 233 A3)
The official record of the foreign policy of the United States. Contains full-text of statements, conversations and letters of diplomatic representatives of and to the United States.

• online 1861-1960 incomplete [Univ. of Wisconsin]; search the full text or browse
• online 1918, 1922, 1929, 1958-1963 [Yale Avalon Project]; search or browse
• online 1945-1968 (Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson); browse only
• online 1961-1972 [U.S. Dept. of State]; browse only

Political Handbook of the World 1929- (Clapp Ref JF 37 P61)
Alphabetical arrangement of countries, their leaders, political parties and major developments of the year.

Statesman's Yearbook 1880- (Clapp Ref JA 31 S7) Similar to Europa Yearbook, but more breadth and less depth.

The following databases provide either full-text articles or citations (information about when and where the article was published). Once you have a citation for an article, use the link from each citation to search one or more electronic journal sources through the Wellesley College Library Catalog. Use the name of the journal as the title and make sure you look at the dates covered carefully! If Wellesley does not own the article, you can request it via Interlibrary Loan (ILL).

Alt-Press Watch - full text database of the newspapers, magazines and journals of the alternative and independent press.

CIAO [Columbia International Affairs Online] - full-text and abstracts from working papers, policy briefs, books, journals dealing with international affairs.

New York Times online - exact replica of the New York Times in PDF format, covers 1851-1999.

PAIS - articles about political, social & economic issues, public affairs from 1937 onward, both US and international.

Project Muse  - current (within 2-3 years) issues of scholarly journals from university presses in the Humanities and Social Sciences.

Humanities and Social Science Retrospective - articles on anthropology, economics, political science, psychology & sociology prior to 1983.

Web of Science (and Social Science) - 1965+. Interdisciplinary subject searching of scholarly articles in the social, physical, and life sciences. Search for articles that cite known journal articles or books.

Articles and OpEds on major world conflicts from the International Crisis Group, 2001+.

Other databases may be useful for you, depending on your specific topic and approach. See our A-Z list for a complete list of databases or AskUs and get some customized suggestions.

Key Web sites

American Politics and Government

• CQ Library - clicking on this link allows you to search all the databases below.
        CQ Congress - analysis of members of Congress, key votes, interest groups, public policy legislation
        CQ Researcher Archive - full text of in-depth, unbiased background and analysis on timely political topics from 1991+
        CQ Voting and Elections - data, analyses, explanations and historical material on the election process.
        CQ Weekly - full text articles on legislation before Congress, political and lobbying activity. Includes votes data. 1983+.
        CQ Almanac -  Original analysis and data on major legislation and political dates during each Congressional session, 1945 to present     
  
  
• National Journal Group's Policy Central - comprehensive resource on politics and policy. Consists of:
  • National Journal - nonpartisan weekly on politics, policy and government. 1977+.
  • The Hotline - election coverage (updated daily), local & national political polls, audio & video TV political ads
  • Congress Daily - follow the key players and legislative process on Capitol Hill; latest 2 weeks only.

The Presidency and the Executive Branch

• The White House - Press releases, proclamations, and information on presidential policies.
• Examine presidential rhetoric in Transcripts of Past Presidential Debates, from 1960-2004. The transcripts are searchable by keyword.
• American Presidency Project [UC Santa Barbara] - contains executive orders and proclamations, presidential addresses and statements and the Public Papers of the Presidents.
• Papers of the Presidents -
  • from Yale University's Avalon Project, full-text of the presidential papers of selected presidents before Kennedy. Keyword searchable.
  • Clinton forward from GPO Access. Keyword searchable
  • President Hoover onward from the Univ. of Michigan. Search or browse.
  • Clapp Docs J 81 B96 (10 vols) for Washington to McKinley
  • Clapp Docs J 80 A283 for Hoover onward.
• Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents - includes transcripts of presidential news conferences and public speeches, messages to Congress, and statements. 1993 onward.
• Presidential inaugural addresses - Includes a list and brief explanation of presidents not inaugurated.
• POTUS (Presidents of the United States) from the Internet Public Library, provides biographical information, historical background, and selected presidential documents for each of the presidents. Presidential Libraries [National Archives]
• Scripps Library and Multimedia Archive [Miller Center of Public Affairs, Univ. of Virginia] - digital archive of presidential recordings, speeches, and documents. The Miller Center also sponsors AmericanPresident.org, the most comprehensive non-partisan resource available on the history and function of the American presidency
• Information about offices and departments in the Executive Branch from the Library of Congress.

The Legislative Branch

• Sources for Legislative History
• Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation - part of the Library of Congress's American Memory Collection. Contains the full text documents from the Continental Congress, Constitutional Convention, and the 1st to 42nd Congresses (1774-1873).
• Information on members, committees, hearing schedules and other resources for the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.
• Review the legislative process.
• For information on federal legislation:
  • LexisNexis Congressional - full text of bills (1989+), committee prints (1993+), Congressional documents (1995+), selected Congressional hearings (1988+), Congressional reports (1989+), and the Congressional Record (1985+). Easy searching by drop-down boxes.
  • Thomas, maintained by the Library of Congress. Provides both a summary and the full text of a bill and indicates its status in the legislative process. Thomas can be searched by subject, sponsor, bill number, and popular title. (93rd Congress, 1989, and onward).
  • GPO Access - maintained by the Government Printing Office. Full text of bills (1993+), committee prints (1996+), some Congressional hearings (1997+), Congressional documents (1995+), Congressional reports (1995+), the Congressional Record (1994+) and the history of bills (1983+). Note the helpful hints for searching.
  • U.S. Congressional Bibliographies - House Committee Meetings beginning with the 99th Congress (1985), and Lists of Hearings, Prints, and Publications Printed by the Senate, 1983 to present.
  • Congress Daily (National Journal) issues, process, and people on Capitol Hill for the latest 2 weeks
• Congressional Research Service Reports - prepared for Congress, these reports undergo review for accuracy and objectivity and contain nontechnical information that can be very useful to people interested in issues before Congress. See also the links in Pol1 200.

The Judiciary

• LexisNexis Academic Legal Research and Westlaw Campus - federal and state court cases, U.S. Code, federal regulations, and law review articles.
• U.S Supreme Court official website
• FindLaw's full-text database of all Supreme Court decisions from 1893 to the present can be browsed by year or searched by keyword, cite umber, or party.
• Oyez, Oyez, Oyez - A multimedia database about the Supreme Court, developed by Northwestern University. Includes abstracts of important constitutional cases, biographical information on justices, and a Supreme Court virtual tour. (Real Audio is downloadable at the site).
• United States Reports - Clapp Docs KF 101 A2 1789+

Key Political Documents

• Avalon Project (Yale University) 150 historical documents, from the Athenian Constitution to key documentsof World War II and the Cold War.
• Full-texts of many other U.S. documents from the precolonial period to the present can be browsed at the Chronology of U. S. Historical Documents, a site developed at the University of Oklahoma Law Center.
• Full-texts of the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers, and early Congressional documents can be browsed individually or cross-searched by subject at the Library of Congress's Historical Documents Database.
• CIA Electronic Reading Room and FBI Electronic Reading Room - electronic access to previously released documents.

Issues and Organizations

• American Political Science Association offers information about grants, journals and conferences.
• The Center for Responsive Politics (opensecrets.org) complements the FEC site with charts and reports on top donors, profiles of every House and Senate race for the most recent election cycle, and PAC donations by industry and firm.
• Democracy Now! - "National, daily, independent, award-winning [radio and television] news program airing on over 140 stations in North America." Hosted by award-winning journalists Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, the program covers news and public affairs.
• Directory of U.S. Political Parties - offers information on platforms, candidates, and issues.
• The First Amendment Center offers "comprehensive research coverage of key First Amendment issues and topics, a unique First Amendment Library and guest analyses by respected legal specialists."
• The National Urban League - Focuses on urban issues and the concerns of African Americans. (Real Audio required.)
• Resources for the study of media and politics are available at the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

Polling Reports

• Polling the Nations - compilation of hundreds of thousands of public opinion survey questions and responses. Polls can be local, state, national, or international.
• The Gallup Organization - opinion polls and trends.
• Polls and Surveys {LexisNexis Academic Reference] from the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
• PollingReport.com - Polling data on national, political, economic, and sociocultural topics.
• RealClearPolitics Poll Averages
• WorldPublicOpinion.org [Program on International Policy Attitudes, U MD] - "source of in-depth information and analysis on public opinion from around the world on international issues."

State Government

• Stateline provides news and information covering issues on the public agenda in all 50 states.Access is by issue or state. Includes data.
• National Conference of State Legislatures -
• Meta-Indexes for State and Local Government Information from the Library of Congress.

• Constitution Finder from the University of Richmond Law School. Links to full text of country constitutions, charters, and amendments. Some translated, some in original language.
• Constitutions, Treaties and Declarations from the Political Science Dept. at Keele University in the UK. Some translated, some in original language.
• Library of Congress Country Studies - Information on politics, government, history, economics, and social organization. (Adobe Acrobat Reader 3.0 required for maps and charts). Info can be dated!
• Portals to the World (also from the Library of Congress) - Links to business, commerce, economy, culture, education, etc. of particular countries.
• Foreign Government Resources on the Web - Database of governmental institutions and political organizations for countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas.
• Global Integrity - " independent, non-profit organization tracking governance and corruption trends around the world". Features a Global Integrity Index for each country.
• Nations in Transit [Freedom House] is a comparative, multidimensional study focusing on the 27 former Communist states.
• Political Resources on the Net - listings of political sites available on the Internet sorted by country, with links to parties, organizations, governments, media and more from all around the world.
• Resources for the study of Nationalism.
• Resources for the study of Migration - see Pol2 383 below.

•  See Research Resources for International Relations.
• Non-governmental organizations research guide [from Duke University]

Political Theory

• Political Theory resources [Univ. of Michigan Library Documents Center]

Women and Politics

• Women's Policy Issues - women's issues in Congress from Women's Policy, Inc.
• Women's Action Page - from Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (CA). Information on women's issues in current legislation.
• Center for American Women and Politics - fact sheets, resources, and other resources about women in government and politics.

• POL 199- Research Methods (Han)
• POL1 200 - American Politics
• POL3 221 - World Politics
• POL1 317 - Health Politics and Policy
• POL2 305 - Military in Politics
• POL2 307 - Women and Development
• POL3 325 - International Environmental Law
• POL3 327 - International Organization
• POL2 353 - Politics of Contemporary Cuba
• POL2 383 - Politics of Migration

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