Finding Secondary Literature

Arts and Humanities Citation Index (1975 - Present)
Arts & Humanities Citation Index indexes over 1,140 arts and humanities journals, as well as covering individually selected, relevant items from over 6,800 major science and social science journals. Special feature: "cited reference" search for publications that have cited a known author or work. Updated weekly.

Social Sciences Citation Index (1956 - Present)
A comprehensive citation index to scholarly literature published in the social sciences with some full text abstracts, part of the larger Web of Science entity. The database indexes over 1,725 social science journals spanning 50 disciplines. Including the bibliography of most articles indexed, users can follow the cited references of one article to locate additional relevant sources. Updated weekly.

Historical Abstracts (1960 - Present)
A comprehensive, bibliographic index to scholarly literature on all aspects of world history from 1450 to the present (excluding the United States and Canada which are covered in America: History and Life). The database indexes over 2,000 journals published worldwide as well as selected books, essays and dissertations. New entries are added monthly and most include an abstract.

ITER (1859 - Present)
An electronic bibliography of interdisciplinary journal literature pertaining to the Middle Ages and Renaissance (400-1700 A.D.). It currently contains over 230,000 records from more than 400 journal titles and is updated daily.

America, History and Life (1964 - Present)
A comprehensive, bibliographic index to scholarly literature on the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. The database indexes over 2,000 journals published worldwide as well as selected books, essays and dissertations. New entries are added monthly and most include an abstract.

ATLA Religion Index (1949 - Present)
A bibliographic index to journal articles, book reviews, and collections of essays in the all fields of theology and religion.

Philosophers Index (1940 - Present)
This index provides indexing and abstracts from books and journals (currently over 300) of philosophy and related fields. It covers the areas of ethics, aesthetics, social philosophy, political philosophy, epistemology, and metaphysic logic as well as material on the philosophy of law, religion, science, history, education, and language.

International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (1951 - Present)
Provides access to over 1.5 million records from nearly half a century of social science research in the disciplines of Economics, Sociology, Politics and Anthropology.

Finding Public Policy Literature

General:

PAIS International (1972 - present)
A comprehensive bibliographic database covering all areas of public policy, international relations, economic and political issues. Updated monthly, the database indexes both domestic and foreign publications including articles, books, conference proceedings, government documents, book chapters, and statistical directories. Abstracts are included for most citations.

Social Sciences Abstracts (1983 - present)
A multidisciplinary bibliographic index to a range of periodicals in the social sciences. International in scope, the database includes citations from 400 periodical titles and abstracts from 1994 forward.

Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe
Provides the full-text of domestic and foreign newspapers and periodicals. The service also offers an extensive legal collection including federal and state court reporters, law reviews and directories. Updated daily.

Education:

ERIC (1966 - present)
National bibliographic index to materials in the field of education, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education. Contains over 700,000 citations covering research documents, journal articles, technical reports, curricular materials, etc. Records marked "EJ" are citations to journal articles; "ED" are "ERIC Documents," texts which are available through three major avenues: 1) The UMass Amherst Library provides online access to most of the full text of the "ED" collection; 2) UMass Amherst also has ERIC Documents on microfiche--the UMass librarians encourage you to ask for help on your first visit.

Education Index (1983 - present)
Citation index for periodical literature and yearbooks, covering every age and sector of the educational community from preschool through college. Indexes over 400 periodicals beginning 1994. Updated monthly.

Labor Studies:

Sociological Abstracts (1963 - present)
Indexes from 1963 and provides abstracts from 1974 for over 1,700 serials publications, books, book chapters, dissertations, and conference papers in sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences, e.g. social work, anthropology, criminology, demography, education, race relations, social psychology, urban studies and includes areas such as aging, violence, crisis intervention, and development policy.

Alternative Press Index (1991 - present)
A major bibliographic resource for alternative press publications in North America, indexing over 250 journals, magazines, and newsletters not easily found in mainstream sources. Topics include human rights, politics, policy, and radical movements and cover some international sources. Updated quarterly.

Gender Discrimination:

Contemporary Women's Issues (1992 - present)
Citation index to global information on women with some full text. Indexes over 1500 periodicals, including journals, newsletters, research reports from non-profit groups, government and international agencies. Includes references to gray literature and other sources that are not as easily found in mainstream sources. Updated weekly.

Women Studies Abstracts (1972 - present)
The major bibliographic index for women's studies and feminist journals; abstracts accompany most entries. Published quarterly.

Evaluating Internet Resources

Critically Analyzing Information Sources (Cornell University website)

Evaluating Information Found on the Internet (John Hopkins University website)

Having trouble finding what you need? Go to LITS and chat with a librarian at the Reference Desk. Or, with advance notice, set up an appointment to meet with Bryan Goodwin, Politics liaison. We're here to help you with your research!