Political Science databases are a great place to start your research, but other subjects may also be helpful, especially the Multi-Subject Databases.
Many of the articles contain full-text, meaning that the actual article is available in the database.
Databases contain proprietary content from a variety of scholarly journals, conference proceedings, books, dissertations, and more.
Search by keywords and small phrases.
Maximize your keyword searches with Boolean searching:
AND
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aquifer AND drought | all words must appear in the result list |
OR
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streamflow OR stream measurement
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either word may appear in the results.
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NOT
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San Marcos NOT California
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must have San Marcos, but excludes items with California
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Use "quotation marks" to search for phrases.
Use the database’s "help" feature to find the syntax for advanced searches. This varies by database
Consider truncation. The asterisk (*) symbol is used most often.
Typing in stand* will give results containing: stands, standing, standards, standardize, and etc.
Try using the database’s subject or descriptor terms. Those are listed in the database’s thesaurus, or they may be listed near the article abstract. These can be useful for learning the preferred vocabulary of a discipline.