Academic Liaison
Most-Used Electronic Resources
This research guide lists major resources useful for public administration research. This is by no means an exhaustive list so if you do not find what you need, please contact me either by e-mail, phone, or in person in Young Library.
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new windowCovers a broad range of subjects. Indexes over 8,000 publications; almost 7,000 are scholarly journals (3,900 in direct full-text); full-text available for issues of almost 5,000 publications overall. PDF backfiles to 1975 or further are available for well over one hundred journals, and searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,000 titles. Includes an Image Collection.
- Business Source CompleteCovers management, economics, finance, accounting, international business, and more. Indexes articles from scholarly journals, trade publications, business magazines, and business newspapers with many available as full-text. Includes Datamonitor Industry Profiles, Datamonitor Company Profiles, and SWOT analyses.
- CQ ResearcherProvides reporting and analysis on issues in the news. Each CQ Researcher report offers coverage of political and social issues, with regular reports on topics in health, international affairs, education, the environment, technology and the U.S. economy. Reports include a background and chronology, an assessment of the current situation, tables and maps, pro/con statements from representatives of opposing positions, and more. CQ Global Researcher articles are freely available to all CQ Researcher customers on this site.
- JSTORSearchable full-text journal backfile collection that includes 39 titles in public policy & public administration. Please note that there is often an embargo that keeps you from accessing the latest years of most journals.
- Nexis UniIncludes access to over 5,600 news, business, legal, medical and reference publications (most full-text, the rest abstracted), primarily newspapers, magazines and journals. Covers local, regional and international newspapers (in English and non-English languages). Includes broadcast transcripts, case law, legal codes, regulations, Shepard's Citations to Supreme Court cases (back to 1789), company financial information, and SEC filings and reports.
- PAIS IndexIndexes coverage of issues in the public debate through highly selective coverage of a wide variety of sources, including journal articles, books, government documents, statistical directories, grey literature, research reports, conference papers, publications of international agencies, microfiche, Internet material and more. The database includes a historical perspective on many of the 20th century's social and public policies.
- ProQuest Political Science DatabaseThe Political Science Database includes 450 leading political science and international relations journals. This collection provides the full text of many core titles included in Worldwide Political Science Abstracts. Political Science Database also includes thousands of recent, full-text, political science dissertations from U.S. and Canadian universities and other sources such as country reports and policy papers.
- Web of Science Core Collection This link opens in a new windowWeb of Science provides a wide array of resources including the Social Sciences Citation Index which provides access to current and retrospective bibliographic information, author abstracts, and cited references found in over 8,600 scholarly science and technical journals covering more than 150 disciplines, as well as numerous other indexes. Web of Science offers Journal Citation Reports which shows you the total number of cites for a particular journal as well as the journal's impact factor. Web of Science provides cited reference searches which allow you to search for items that cite a particular article. This can be very helpful as it can lead you to more relevant works in your area of interest. Visit http://libguides.uky.edu/WOS for tips on using Web of Science.
Datasets and Statistics
- StatistaStatista integrates statistical data on over 80,000 topics from over 22,000 sources onto a single platform, providing researchers direct access to quantitative data on media, business, finance, politics, and a wide variety of other areas of interest or markets. It also provides data on market forecasts, white paper studies, dossiers, industry reports, digital market outlooks and consumer market outlooks.
- Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social ResearchAccess to social science data files, including coverage of such topics as population, economics, education, health, social and political behavior/attitudes, terrorism, history, crime, aging, and substance abuse. Direct downloading is available. SIGN IN WITH EMAIL (NOT institution).
- Data.govThis site is the official portal to the U.S. Government's open data. It includes 200,000+ data sets across a range of topics.
World Bank Open Data: The World Bank's Open Data initiative is intended to provide all users with access to World Bank data. The data catalog is a listing of available World Bank data sources.
UN Data: Users can search and download a variety of statistical resources compiled by the United Nations (UN) statistical system and other international agencies.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) eLibrary: Provides access to the IMF’s periodicals, books, working papers and studies, and data and statistical tools.
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) i-Library: Online library of the OECD, including its books, papers and statistics, which serves as the knowledge base of OECD's analysis and data.
Eurostat: Produces European statistics in partnership with National Statistical Institutes and other national authorities in the EU Member States.
CEPALSTAT: The gateway to all the statistical information of Latin America and the Caribbean countries collected, systematized and published by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Quality of Government Institute: The main objective of the institute's research is to address the theoretical and empirical problem of how political institutions of high quality can be created and maintained, and the effects of quality of government on a number of policy areas, such as health, the environment, social policy, and poverty. The Standard Data includes over 2000 coded variables divided into sixteen thematic categories such as Quality of Government, Economy, Media, Environment, and Political System etc. Read the Codebook to determine if the variable you need is covered in the dataset.
Database of Political Institutions: Presents institutional and electoral results data such as measures of checks and balances, tenure and stability of the government, identification of party affiliation and ideology, and fragmentation of opposition and government parties in the legislature, among others. The current version of the database, hosted by the Inter-American Development Bank, expands its coverage to about 180 countries for 40 years, 1975-2017.
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI): Provides 5 datasets that center on multilateral peace operations; military expenditures; arms transfers and arms embargoes; and national reports on arms exports.
Global Terrorism Database: An open-source database including information on terrorist events around the world from 1970 through 2018.
ACLED (Armed Conflict Location and Events Dataset): Collects real-time data on the locations, dates, actors, fatalities, and types of all reported political violence and protest events across Africa, East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Central Asia & the Caucasus, Latin America & the Caribbean, and Southeastern & Eastern Europe & the Balkans.
Searching Think Tanks
- Harvard Kennedy School Think Tank Search: A custom Google Search engine that searches more than 600 think tanks for policy reports.
- Find Policy: Find policy reports from 17 leading think tanks in the areas of climate, economy, development, foreign policy, health care, and public policy. Use the tabs (at the top of the page) to search in any one of the subject areas.
- Google NGO Search: Use this Google Custom Search Engine to search for current online documents, publications, and websites from nongovernmental organizations.
- 2020 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report: Includes lists of top global think tanks by area of research. Note: area of research rankings start on page 136.
- Writing about think tanks and using their research: A cautionary tip sheet: This is written for journalists, but contains useful tips for evaluating think tanks.
Newspaper Databases
- Access World NewsFull-text of over 600 U.S. newspapers. Access World News also covers over 1,300 foreign English-language news resources. Spanish-language editions of the newspapers are also included.
- New York Times Digital Edition (New Users)You must register for an account through this link. Once you register, you have access to the New York Times website through the University of Kentucky.
EXISTING registered subscribers with ACTIVE PAID subscriptions or PAID ADD-ONS like Cooking, Games/crosswords, or The Athletic need to cancel their subscription by clicking here or calling 800-698-4637 before creating an account. Once the subscription is canceled, they can visit accessnyt.com, type in University of Kentucky, and follow the instructions based on their location. Since the subscriber “Already has an account " they click “Log In" (found below "Create an Account"). Input your email address and the same “Password” created for their previous account. If the subscriber encounters an error message that subscriber can email edu@nytimes.com.
EXISTING registered subscribers that DO NOT HAVE ACTIVE NYT subscriptions can visit accessnyt.com, type in the name of the school, and follow the instructions based on their location. Since the subscriber "Already has an account " they click “Log In" (Found below "Create an Account"). Input their email address and the same “Password” created for their previous account. If the subscriber encounters an error message that subscriber can email edu@nytimes.com. - New York TimesRead recent stories from the New York Times. Includes full text and, since May 2020, some selected images. Coverage: 1980-current
- Wall Street Journal (Digital Edition)Thanks to the Institute for the Study of free Enterprise and the Student Government Association, all University of Kentucky students, faculty, and staff have free access to the Wall Street Journal's website (www.wsj.com) and the app. To activate your complimentary subscription, visit wsj.com/UKentucky. Once you create a user name and password, you will be able to sign on to the paper's website and apps.
- Wall Street Journal (Eastern Edition)Full-text (with abstracts) from ProQuest. Coverage: Jan. 2, 1984 - present
- Nexis UniNexis Uni provides full-text access to over 15,000 news, business, and legal sources. The outstanding news coverage includes deep archives and up-to-the-minute stories in national and regional newspapers, wire services, broadcast transcripts, international news, and non-English language news services.
APA Citation Style
- Publication manual of the American Psychological Association: the official guide to APA style (7th ed.)If you would like a print copy of the APA style guide, check the availability of copies here.