Research Guides: IR 325: North-South Relations in the Global Economy: Researching a Debate Topic

Background Information and Identifying an Issue

Initial use of databases [i.e., scholarly search engines] designed to access a large volume of materials can be helpful in scanning the literature on a particular topic of debate and obtaining an initial understanding of how scholars, journalists, and others have studied it. Below are sources that facilitate this approach to understanding the literature on a topic.

USC Libraries Library Catalog

A segment of the Libraries' general search engine that allows you to search for books, government documents, and other print and online materials. It does not include articles from newspapers, magazines, and journals. Those can be accessed using the databases listed below.

Library Catalog

JSTOR This link opens in a new window
A growing full text collection of core social science, humanities, and science journals and books.
Google Scholar This link opens in a new window
Filtered Google Search finding scholarly journal articles, books, citations, and case law.
ProQuest Central This link opens in a new window
ProQuest Central serves as the central resource for researchers at all levels.

Covering more than 160 subjects areas, ProQuest Central is the largest aggregated database of periodical content and includes scholarly journals, trade publications, magazines, books, newspapers, reports and videos.

Key Databases in IR

Below are links to the most important databases that support the study of international relations and development.

CIAO Columbia International Affairs Online This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive source for research in international affairs.
SAGE Knowledge Video - Politics & International Relations This link opens in a new window
This collection includes 132 hours and 314 videos that reinforce course fundamentals, introduce new perspectives and bring theory to life with in-practice examples.
PAIS Index This link opens in a new window
Focuses on public policy, international relations, economic and social conditions. Includes articles, books, conference papers, government reports, and research reports, 1915-present.
Worldwide Political Science Abstracts This link opens in a new window
This database provides citations, abstracts, and indexing of the international journal literature in political science and its complementary fields, including international relations, law, and public administration and policy.

Over 1,700 titles are monitored for coverage and, of these, 67% are published outside of the United States.

Specialized Databases

Topics related to international development are not only studied by scholars in international relations but can be examined in related areas of study. For example, the impact of development on the environment can be studied by scholars in ecology and environmental studies. The role of private companies in promoting development can be studied by researchers in business and law. Below are additional databases you should consider searching if your topic is likely to intersect disciplines outside of international relations.

Business and Economics

ABI/INFORM Collection This link opens in a new window
Business information, including journals, newspapers, magazines, trade publications, dissertations, conference proceedings, and market reports. Covers 1971-present. Includes US and international information.
EconLit This link opens in a new window
Literature in economics.

Communications

Communication Source This link opens in a new window
Includes articles from peer-reviewed journals and trade magazines covering mass media, marketing, communications, and related topics.

Environment Policy

Environment Index This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive database to journal articles covering all aspects of environmental policy and politics.
Pollution Abstracts This link opens in a new window
This database covers both research and governmental sources. Topics include: Air Pollution; Marine Pollution; Freshwater Pollution; Sewage and Wastewater Treatment; Waste Management; Land Pollution; Toxicology and Health; Noise; Radiation, and Environmental Action.
Water Resources Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Water Resources Abstracts provides summaries from 1967 to the present of the world's technical, scientific, and public policy literature on water-related topics covering the characteristics, conservation, control, pollution, treatment, use and management of water resources as well as the legal aspects of water supply, use, control, or management.

Abstracts are drawn from journals, books, conference proceedings, and technical reports in the physical and life sciences, as well as from engineering, legal, and government publications. The database also includes access to Water Resources Netsites, linking to research and development programs, data sets, lists of experts and researchers, conference and meetings information, and other resources on the Internet.

Law

HeinOnline Law Journal Library This link opens in a new window
HeinOnline is an ever-expanding, comprehensive, image-based collection of legal periodicals.

Society and Social Issues

Family & Society Studies Worldwide This link opens in a new window
Family Studies Database is the world's most comprehensive, systematic, and non-evaluative resource of research, policy, and practice literature in the fields of Family Science, Human Ecology, and Human Development. FSD, including FAMILY, provides over 198,000 abstracts and bibliographic records drawn from over a thousand professional journals, books, popular literature, conference papers, government reports, and other sources, many of which are indexed exclusively in FSD. About 9,000 abstracts are added each year.
Access to the database is limited to 5 concurrent users
Sociological Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Abstract database of sociology and social and behavioral sciences literature from 1952 to present. Includes journal articles, conference papers, books, and dissertations.
Women's Studies International This link opens in a new window
This is an index to the core disciplines in women's studies and feminist research. Coverage includes more than 586,600 records and spans from 1972 to present. Over 2,000 periodical sources are represented.

Research Tips

Research Tip 1: Search Terms

A common challenge to finding relevant articles that support your analysis of a debate topic is identifying relevant search terms. Try using keywords instead of phrases when searching databases. So, instead of searching for What are the barriers to accessing healthcare in developing countries, use the advanced search option in the database and enter the term "access" in the first search box, "healthcare" in the second search box, and "developing countries" in the third search box. Note that most databases allow you to add additional search boxes.

Also be sure to try different searches using a variety of terms and synonyms for your keywords. For example, if you include the phrase developing countries in your search terms, you could miss out on articles that use term developing nations, use the less-common third world, or only address barriers to healthcare in a specific country, such as India, without using the term developing anywhere in the article.

Research Tip 2: Citation Tracking

A useful strategy to expand the scope of articles you find is to paste the title of the article from a database, such as, JSTOR or ProQuest Multiple into Google Scholar [link to Google Scholar from the USC Libraries’ main web page by scrolling down under Database Quick Links]. This allows you to see if anyone else has subsequently cited that article in their research by clicking on the “Cited by” link [e.g., Cited by 45--meaning the article you found has been cited in 45 other works since it was first published]. This is an excellent way to find related and identify more recent studies on your topic. Also, be sure to scan the list of sources the author used [footnotes or endnotes] within an article to identify additional relevant sources.