Not sure what discipline covers your topic? Not finding enough information? Interdisciplinary databases contain articles from the sciences, social sciences, and arts & humanities. They are a great way to see who is talking about your topic and to expand your research.
Web of Science and SCOPUS, while interdisciplinary, are weighted towards science.
Institutions affiliated with universities, governments, advocacy groups, foundations, non-governmental organizations, and businesses that generate public policy research, analysis, and activity. Be aware that they usually have an agenda or bias.
These are just some of the dozens of Think Tanks in the U.S. and worldwide. Search Google for your topic + think tank for more.
A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an organization that is neither a part of a government nor a conventional for-profit business.
Usually set up by ordinary citizens, NGOs may be funded by governments, foundations, businesses, or private persons. Some avoid formal funding altogether and are run primarily by volunteers. NGOs are highly diverse groups of organizations engaged in a wide range of activities, and take different forms in different parts of the world.
An Intergovernmental Organization (IGO) is a coalition of foreign governments which work together to promote common ends. That can be humanitarian, political, economic, educational or social good. The biggest and oldest example is the United Nations. There are many dozens of these organizations now; several of the largest began within the UN but are now semi-autonomous (such as the World Bank, World Health Organization; and the International Monetary Fund).
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Scholarly (peer-reviewed) and popular articles, reports, and grey literature from publications in the discipline(s). |
Since they are discipline-specific, there is often a lot of information on a topic. Contains authoritative, peer-reviewed publications. |
The peer-review process takes time, so scholarly articles may not be available on a very recent topic. Watch for which type of source you have - policy papers, reports, and grey literature should be evaluated carefully. |
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Scholarly (peer-reviewed) and popular articles from the sciences, social sciences, and arts & humanities. |
Good if you aren’t sure what discipline covers your topic. Use if you aren’t finding enough information on your topic in a discipline-specific database. You can see what disciplines are talking about your topic and expand your research. |
The peer-review process takes time, so scholarly articles may not be available on a very recent topic. |
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Institutions affiliated with universities, governments, advocacy groups, foundations, non-governmental organizations, and businesses that generate public policy research, analysis, and activity. |
These are great places for topic development as well as research to support your thesis. Since these reports don't go through a peer-review process, they often contain data and information that is more current than in scholarly publications. |
Use think tank reports carefully since the authors sometimes have a partisan or ideological agenda. |
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Resources that compile data and report statistics on a variety of topics. |
Using statistics and public opinion poll and election information can be a great way to support your argument. |
As with think tanks, there can be a bias, so look carefully at who compiled the statistics. |
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Newspaper and other news (e.g., blogs) sources. |
Since they don’t go through peer-review they can contain very current information. |
There is no peer-review process with news sources, so evaluate them carefully before using. |
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Primary source information (e.g., legislation and legal documents) from U.S. and International governments. |
Can find original legislative and legal documents as well as information and reports from and about the government which is good for policy and political research. |
Sources should usually be used in conjunction with scholarly articles which give context for these sources. |
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Reports, policy information, and data from non-governmental organizations. |
Data and reports don't go through peer-review so they can be very up-to-date. |
Evaluate sources carefully. Watch out for bias and examine statistics carefully. |
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