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Political science, governance, and international affairs: Policy, law, government/ IGO/ NGO info
Not all important literature is in peer-reviewed journals
This page identifies tools for finding four types of literature that can be important to political scientists: policy analyses and other "gray literature" from research institutes and professional associations; legal literature (laws and regulations; cases; legal scholarship); government publications (US domestic and US foreign relations, and intergovernmental and nongovernment association publications.
Think tanks, policy papers, "gray literature"
Professors and other people with advanced academic degrees present their expertise in other settings beside peer-reviewed journals and scholarly books. They may produce reports and analyses for governments, non-profit organizations, corporations, and all sorts of research institutes; they also distribute research for comment at academic conferences. While these sources are often created with academic rigor, they commonly do not go through full peer review before publication. Nonetheless, especially regarding recent events and hot topics in politics and policy, such "gray literature" can be important bridges between journalism and traditional academic publications.
- Policy CommonsPolicy Commons is a global portal to "gray literature" -- research publications such as reports, briefs, analyses, working papers, and datasets done to academic standards but not peer-reviewed -- produced by university research centers, "think tanks," consultancies, governments from national to local, inter- and non-governmental agencies, interest groups, and more. Often problem-centered and solution-oriented, these publications can fill the gap between journalism and traditional scholarly publications.
- OvertonOverton tracks documents from white papers, policy briefs, and hearing transcripts to national clinical guidelines from government agencies, think tanks and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that have cited scholarly articles and other policies from all over the world. The documents may be a website, PDF or other document.
- Think Tank Search (Harvard)Think Tank Search is a custom Google search of over 670 institutions that generate public policy research, analysis, and activity. These sites are affiliated with universities, governments, advocacy groups, foundations, and non-governmental organizations that generate public policy research, analysis, and activity. Inclusion is based upon the relevancy of subject area to research and teaching at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, the availability of the think tank’s research in full-text on the website, and the think tank’s reputation and influence upon policy making. The list represents a mixture of partisan and non-partisan think tanks. Site includes browseable directory of the think tanks, US and non-US as well as guidance on evaluating think tank research.
- American Policy DirectoryInterest- and advocacy groups often issue reports and and position papers on public policies. This list of links to such groups is organized by broad theme, then by names of organizations addressing that domain. From the University of Oregon Libraries.
- Social Systems Evidence SSE is a "comprehensive, continuously updated repository of syntheses of research evidence about the programs, services and products available in a broad range of government sectors and program areas... as well as the governance, financial and delivery arrangements within which these programs, services and products are provided, and the implementation strategies that can help to ensure that these programs, services and products get to those who need them. " Joint initiative of McMaster University in Canada and the Monash University in Australia.
- IssueLab Free access to thousands of case studies, evaluations, white papers, issue briefs, and other kinds of "gray literature" research into social problems, primarily in the US. Provided by Candid, a service of the Foundation Center, to "gather, index, and share the collective intelligence of the social sector," IssueLab emphasizes research funded by philanthropic institutions.
- Find Policy Organized into broad topical areas, Find Policy is a specialized search engine specifically for outputs of selected, leading policy research organizations that work in each area. More Search option allows searching regarding particular countries and global regions.
- Security Studies from JSTOR Security Studies is a topical collection that “looks at security studies through a broad lens, encompassing research on international security and peace and conflict studies from all corners of the globe “ It includes content drawn from journals and ebooks already in JSTOR and adds research reports and periodicals added specifically for this collection. Browseable by topic and searchable (including image searching). Bookmark this link. JSTOR's topical collections like this can be difficult to find in the regular JSTOR interface. For more about this collection, including basic JSTOR tips and tricks, see JSTOR’s Security Studies libguide.
- Homeland Security Digital Library HSDL is a collection of documents related to homeland security policy, strategy, and disaster management from a wide variety of sources. These include documents from federal, state, tribal, and local government agencies, professional organizations, think tanks, academic institutions, and international governing bodies. 1941-present. HSDL is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s National Preparedness Directorate, FEMA and the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security. Create an individual account with your VT email address if you wish to access additional HSDL researcher content. See also Essays in HSDL's On the Homefront blog and Greta's Gouge weekly current-awareness posting of papers and articles pertaining to conflict, national security, and defense; arranged by source. Compiled by Greta Marlatt, HSDL content manager at US Naval Postgraduate School.
- Open Think Tank Directory A global collection of more than 3,000 think tanks and related organizations. Menus help you focus by region, country, and/or topic; also searchable.
US federal government information sources
By law, the US Government Publishing Office is the "official, digital, and secure source for producing, protecting, preserving, and distributing the official publications and information products of the federal government," making it the world's largest publisher. Government "documents" range from tourist brochures to long books, speeches to astronomical data, gardening advice to technical reports, budget reports to the laws of the land.
Most GPO publications have been published online since the late 1990s and are listed in our library's Discovery Search (Primo) catalog: GPO has had an online-only publication policy since the early 2020s.
Extensive digitization of older documents (including many outside GPO's mandate) has been done by government agencies, by commercial database vendors (Voxgov, HeinOnline, ProQuest, Readex), and by nonprofits (LLMC-Digital, HathiTrust, Internet Archive); see entries for their collections elsewhere in this guide or in the libraries Databases A-Z directory.
The library's most popular physical "Docs" are in a special section on the 5th floor of Newman library, identified and stored according to GPO's unique "SuDoc" call number system; you can find them in our catalog. Understanding the SuDoc number is crucial for locating physical government publications in the library.
The University of Montana has a good SuDoc Basics libguide. See also this University of Minnesota SuDoc Tutorial on YouTube. Don't be reluctant to ask a librarian for help.
Accurate SuDuc numbers are necessary for requesting delivery from library storage or from other libraries via ILLiad. You can find SuDoc numbers in:
Few libraries cataloged federal documents before the late 1970s; at Tech are housed in offsite storage. For earlier SuDoc numbers, it is often faster and easier to use the print indexes to the Monthly Catalog of U.S. Government Publications, 1895-2004, shelved near the Docs stacks (start at call no Z1223 .A183) than to fight with the online PDF indexes of US government documents from GPO.
- United States Government Manual, 1935 to Present"The United States Government Manual, the official handbook of the Federal Government, provides information on the agencies of the legislative, judicial, and executive branches. It also includes information on quasi-official agencies; international organizations in which the United States participates; and boards, commissions, and committees." Searchable and browseable.
- VoxGovVoxGov is an interesting application of “big data” to tracking the outputs – traditional documents and also official social media -- of persons and agencies of the US government. Coverage of some official print outputs extends back to the late 1970s. The content is updated every 15 minutes. Visualizations are simple but effective. The advanced search interface gives a sense of the scope of coverage and the many dimensions for filtering and comparing the data. You can also browse by policy categories, compare members of Congress, and track outputs from the last presidential, gubernatorial, and congressional elections.
- UK Government Web Archive has a similar function to "capture, preserve, and make accessible UK central government information published on the web. The web archive includes videos, tweets, images and websites dating from 1996 to present.." From the UK National Archives.
- DiscoverGovDiscoverGov provides simple, one-stop searching across multiple U.S. Federal Government databases, including GPO’s GovInfo.gov and Catalog of US Government Publications (CGP).
The user experience is familiar: DiscoverGov is built on the same Primo platform as Tech's Discovery Search catalog. - U.S. Government Information: Weekly Roundup (UC San Diego) This attempt to provide current awareness of federal government reports and activities" is part of a very extensive, carefully curated portal to information resources by and about the federal government. Useful complement to the fast, powerful VoxGov database.
- GovInfo.Gov: Discover US Government Information Govinfo provides free public access to official publications from all three branches of the US federal government. When you search the content available on Govinfo, you will be able to download the full text of publications. But you won’t see records for documents that are not stored on Govinfo -- use GPO's official Catalog of US Government Publications (CGP; formerly Monthly Catalog, MoCat) for persistent links and "SuDoc" call numbers of physical documents. GovInfo has an extensive set of how-to video tutorials.
- HathiTrust The HathiTrust Digital Library contains over 17 million scanned items and over six billion pages of scanned books, government documents, and other materials from academic and research libraries. Nearly 40% of Hathi content is in the public domain and accessible to you. Read onscreen or download book scans (use the yellow Log In button and select Virginia Tech as your "partner institution.") Most of the book scans were made available by Internet Archive and Google Book, with regular library cataloging added. Content is available in several image formats, text, and PDF. Covers 1200s-present. Affiliated HathiTrust Research Center enables computational analysis of works in the HathiTrust Digital Library (HTDL) to facilitate nonprofit research and educational uses of the collection. .
- How to Make a FOIA Request (from National Security Archive) Landing page includes links to "The National Security Archive User's Guide to the FOIA," tips and tricks, and sample letters for requesting documents from US federal agencies.
- HeinOnline U.S. Congressional Documents Library This collection features documents spanning the legislative and oversight functions of the Congress: Congressional Record (including its predecessors, Annals of Congress [1789-1824], Register of Debates [1824-1837] Congressional Globe [1833-1873]), Congressional Budget Office, selected CRS Reports [Congressional Research Service],Congressional Hearings, Committee Prints, Rules & Precedents, and additional primary sources, bibliographies, and manuals. Many Hein topical collections include these document types. The HeinOnline Portal offers a large and wide-ranging collection of historical and contemporary legal materials, including codes, treaties, constitutions, topical collections of historical documents, law reviews, and legal treatises from the US, Canada, and the UK.
- Congress.gov The official website for U.S. federal legislative information. The site provides access to accurate, timely, and complete legislative information for Members of Congress, legislative agencies, and the public. Replaced the THOMAS congressional portal, which was shut down in summer 2016. Congressional documents from the first 100 years of the U.S. Congress (1774-1875) can be accessed through A Century of Lawmaking.
- Congressional Serial Set (from ProQuest) Don’t be misled by the title: as the official historical record of the U.S. government, these resources are essential for any historical, political, or cultural research of the United States. The US Congressional Serial Set(incorporating American State Papers,1789-1838, and maps,1789-1969) includes documents on virtually every topic the US Congress has taken an interest in – which can be just about anything anywhere in the world -- since 1789 both for law-making and for oversight of executive-branch agencies: congressional reports on public and private legislation considered during each Congress (example); reports of investigations commissioned or conducted by Congress or its parts (example); reports from federal executive agencies (including land surveys, research and statistical publications, and reports of scientific investigations and explorations) submitted to Congress (example); budgets of the United States (since 1923) (example); treaties presented to the Senate (since 1979) (example); and reports and other documents of select nongovernmental organizations (example), from the Red Cross to the Smithsonian and the American Legion to the American Historical Association. Comprising only documents Congress has declared to be particularly important, the Serial Set does not (usually) include text of bills and resolutions, hearings, nor committee prints. See ProQuest's Serial Set guide. Alternative access to the Serials Set: HeinOnline. Our existing Hein databases have always contained substantial portions of the Serial Set, including the American State Papers, comprehensive coverage of Foreign Relations of the United States, and thousands of House and Senate reports and documents inside compiled federal legislative histories.
- SAM.gov (from US General Services Administration) US government system for discovering "contract opportunities" (formerly FBO.gov); "assistance" ( formerly CFDA.gov: descriptions of federal grants/awards/loans of all sorts, not only social welfare); reports and data about grants and contracts awarded and also about "entities" seeking or receiving them; wage determinations (was WDOL.gov); and more. Portions require registration to access.
US foreign relations information
- Homeland Security Digital LibraryHSDL is a collection of documents related to homeland security policy, strategy, and disaster management from a wide variety of sources. These include documents from federal, state, tribal, and local government agencies, professional organizations, think tanks, academic institutions, and international governing bodies. 1941-present. HSDL is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s National Preparedness Directorate, FEMA and the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security. Create an individual account with your VT email address if you wish to access additional HSDL researcher content.
See also- Essays in HSDL's On the Homefront blog and
- Greta's Gouge weekly current-awareness posting of papers and articles pertaining to conflict, national security, and defense; arranged by source. Compiled by Greta Marlatt, HSDL content manager at US Naval Postgraduate School.
- Military and Intelligence Database from GaleGale OneFile: Military and Intelligence indexes citations and full text from scholarly journals, magazines, and reports covering all aspects of the past and current state of military affairs. The database offers content in key subject areas including governmental policies, the socioeconomic effects of war, and the structure of the armed forces. 1980-present.
- Military & Government Collection from EBSCOhostThe Military & Government Collection database indexes citations, abstracts, and full text from journals, news sources, primary source documents, legislative acts and proclamations, and other publications covering all aspects of the military. Full text presented in HTML and PDF. You can limit to peer-reviewed sources. 1975-present.
- Defense Technical Information Center DTIC is the US Defense Department's central resource for locating government-funded scientific, technical, engineering, and business related information. Provides timely access to over 2 million publications, grant awards, and conference proceedings, covering over 250 subject areas. All visitors can search DTIC's publicly accessible collections and read or download scientific and technical information, using DTIC Online service. Incorporates Research and Development Descriptive Summaries (RDDS). Full text, when available, is PDF.
- Digital National Security Archive from ProQuest The Digital National Security Archive provides primary documents on U.S. foreign and military policy since 1945. Subsets include the CIA Family Jewels Indexed information which reveals the CIA's most closely held secrets about their domestic intelligence activities they considered outside its charter, conducted at the height of the Cold War through 1973, and the Cuban Missile Crisis: 50th Anniversary Update which includes unpublished records from U.S. and Soviet archives.
- Foreign Relations of the United States, 1861- Perhaps the most important collection of official primary sources to consult before beginning research on the history of US international relations, the Foreign Relations of the United States series presents the documentary historical record of major US foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity. Prepared and issued by the Department of State since 1861, "FRUS" is the official compilation of selected documents from the files of the Department of State, the White House, and other agencies. It presents a historical view of American foreign policy and now comprises hundreds of individual volumes. FRUS for 1861-1960 has also been digitized by the University of Wisconsin. The official, State Department version's full-text coverage online is fairly complete through the Carter administration but spotty from the 1980s and later. Electronic documents not yet included in FRUS might be found at their originating agency or in compilations of presidential documents. See Status of the Foreign Relations of the United States Series (State Department) and Researching U.S. Foreign Policy: Publications and Web Sites (National Archives and Records Administration).
Surveys of US National Intelligence Published Outputs (Webinars)
Archived 45-minute webcasts provide overviews for exploring publicly available information from US intelligence agencies. Presenter is Albert Chapman (Purdue University Library). Offered in 2018-19 as part of the US Government Publishing Office's "FDLP Academy" training sessions for librarians (but not geeky)
- Enhancing Your Intelligence Agency Information Resource IQ, Pt. 1: The Office of the Director of National Intelligence. This webinar describes information resources produced by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). This agency is responsible for leading U.S. intelligence community integration to deliver the most insightful intelligence information for national security policymakers. Organizational components whose resources are covered include the National Intelligence Council (NIC), National Counterproliferation Center (NCPC), National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC), and Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center (CTIIC). Individuals viewing this webinar will learn more about the multifaceted and publicly-accessible information resources produced by ODNI." Recorded May 02, 2018.
- Enhancing your Intelligence Agency Information Resource IQ, PT. 2: The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). "Viewers will gain an understanding of the CIA’s organizational structure, and learn to use the historical and contemporary information resources which are produced by the CIA." Recorded June 12, 2018.
- Enhancing Your Intelligence Agency Information Resources IQ, Part 3 Defense Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency. "This webinar demonstrates the publicly-accessible information resources produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the National Security Agency (NSA). It contains information about both of these agencies historical backgrounds (including declassified Freedom of Information Act reports, and their ongoing missions including the NSA’s role in cybersecurity and signals intelligence." Recorded September 18, 2018.
- Enhancing Your Intelligence Agency Information Resource IQ, PT. 4 National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, National Intelligence University, and National Reconnaissance Office. "Viewers should gain an enhanced understanding of the publicly-accessible information resources produced by the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, National Intelligence University, and National Reconnaissance Office and how these agencies carry out their policymaking activities." Recorded November 06, 2018.
- Enhancing Your Intelligence Agency Information Resources IQ, Part 5: Individual Armed Services Intelligence Organizations. "This webinar will introduce viewers to the publicly-accessible information resources provided by individual branches of the U.S. Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, and Navy. Learn more about topics such as ballistic missiles, cybersecurity, international piracy, and other areas of relevance in military intelligence analysis." Recorded January 17, 2019.
- Enhancing Your Intelligence Agency Information Resources IQ, Part 7: Department of Energy, Homeland Security, State Dept., Treasury Dept., and Boards and Commissions. "Learn about the contemporary and historic intelligence information resources produced by these agencies, boards, and commissions." Recorded March 26, 2019.
Legal databases
- HeinOnline PortalHeinOnline provides full-text primary and secondary sources in law and governance, organized into "libraries." Primary sources emphasize public law and policy, eg, Legal Classics; US Congressional Documents; US Code; US Statutes at Large; US Federal Legislative History; Code of Federal Regulations; Federal Register; US Presidential Documents; US Treaties and Agreements; World Constitutions Illustrated. Law Journal archives are like JSTOR for scholarship on legal aspects of virtually anything. Topical collections include Military and Government; Women and the Law; Pentagon Papers; Gun Regulation and Legislation in America; Slavery in America and the World. A few Canadian, UK primary-source collections, but otherwise limited international coverage. 1200s-present.
- LLMC DigitalImportant archive of historical legal and government documents from US and other jurisdictions including indigenous communities: constitutions, codes, statutes, court reporters, treatises. Searchable. Displays original documents in full page image; reader interface resembles HathiTrust. Formerly Law Library Microfilm Collaborative.
- FastcaseFastcase provides access to primary law (state and federal), cases, statutes, regulations, court rules, and constitutions. You can search by case or keyword. You can view how many times a case has been cited.
- LegalTrac from Gale LegalTrac indexes citations and some fuill text of law reviews and journals, legal newspapers, federal and state case law, laws and regulations, legal practice and taxation, and international law. 1980-present.
- Legal Collection from EBSCOhost The Legal Collection indexes citations, abstracts, and full-text journal articles and case studies. You can limit to peer-reviewed sources. Full text presented in HTML and PDF. 1965-present.
- Military Legal Resources (from Hein Online) The US Army Judge Advocate General's Legal Center & School Library in Charlottesville holds extensive collections of primary source materials and publications in the field of military law. Hein's collection replaces the Military Legal Resources collection previously hosted by the Library of Congress.
- LII: Legal Information Institute (Cornell) Open-access portal to statutory, administrative, and case law of the United States, US states and dependencies, and foreign jurisdictions. Includes the Wex legal encyclopedia. University-based, but includes advertising.
- Index to Legal Periodicals Retrospective: 1908-1981 from EBSCOhost The Index to Legal Periodicals Retrospective indexes citations to articles and summaries in annual surveys of laws and courts, legal journals, and legal yearbooks. 1908-1981.
Comparative law: primary sources
- GlobaLex, from NYU School of LawOld-fashioned but frequently updated directory to online information sources for International law research, comparative law research, and "foreign" (ie, country-level) law research.
- Guide to Law Online (Law Library of Congress)Portal of Internet sources of interest to legal researchers covers virtually every jurisdiction in the world. Emphasizes sites offering the full texts of laws, regulations, and court decisions, along with commentary from lawyers writing primarily for other lawyers. .Also includes selected sites from governments and materials related to law and government that were written by or for lay persons.
Intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations
Intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) and private, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) often partner to address social, environmental, economic, technical, and human rights issues. For research on topics on transnational and international concern, it is often appropriate to search both kinds of entities, using the same search terms.
IGO Custom Search Engine
The IGO Custom Search Engine searches across hundreds of IGO websites, including the United Nations, World Bank, UN Development Program (UNDP), Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), European Union, the Asian Development Bank, and many others.
NGO Custom Search Engine
Like its IGO counterpart, use the NGO Custom Search Engine search across hundreds of NGO websites worldwide.
These Google Custom Search Engines (CSE) are a project of the International Documents Taskforce (IDTF) of the American Library Association (ALA). For more background on this project, including links to the IGo and NGO lists included in these searches, please see the IDTF wiki.
- List of Intergovernmental organizations (IGOs)Comprehensive directory to the websites of intergovernmental organizations, including units of the United Nations and the European Union, from the library at Northwestern University
- UIA Open YearbookProfiles of non-profit organizations working worldwide in all fields of activity, often partnered with intergovernmental organizations. The information contained in the profiles and search functionality of this free service are limited. From the Union of International Associations.
- UNESCO Database of Non-Governmental Organizations, organizes the UIA directory profiles according to the UN Sustainable Development Goals