Research Guides: Guide for St. George's Ascot Visiting Scholars: Finding Articles

W&M Libraries' Databases

The libraries have a staggering number of specialized databases, each designed for a specific type of research.

If you're unsure were to start, look at the databases list and narrow by subject.

Databases by Subject
Databases organized by subject.
Databases by Type
Interested in a specific type of resources? Articles, data sets, primary sources, images, newspapers, etc? This is the place to look!

Still unsure where to start? Try some of our general databases

Academic Search Complete
Multidisciplinary database of journal articles (including peer reviewed), books, book chapters, reports, conference proceedings, etc. Coverage: 1887-present.

PRIMO (searches about 60% of our materials)
The article search on our main website searches about 60% of our databases and is a good place to start if youre stuck.

NOTE: limit to peer reviewed articles, and use the tools on the sides to narrow your searches.

Using Subject Databases

Why do we Need so many databases?

Each subject database does something different and has a distinct angle. For example, compare how the History, Econ, and PoliSci databases each treat coverage of the New Deal:

History

America: History & Life with Full Text
Provides full text coverage of the history and culture of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. Includes nearly 200 journals and 100 books, selective indexing for over 1,700 journals, and abstracts in English of foreign language articles.
Historical Abstracts with Full Text
Covers all aspects of world history (excluding the US and Canada) since 1450. Includes journal articles, books, reviews, conference proceedings, dissertations, etc. published after 1954. About 250 History journals in this database are not findable in EBSCO's Academic Search database, making this the go-to database for finding world history articles.

Full History Databases

Economics

EconLit with Full Text
Abstracts, indexing, and full-text articles in all fields of economics, including capital markets, country studies, econometrics, economic forecasting, environmental economics, government regulations, labor economics, monetary theory, and urban economics.

Full list of Econ databases

Politics & Government

Political Science Complete
This database provides indexing and abstracts for top-ranked scholarly journals, recent reference works, and professional conference papers. Its coverage consists of topics such as law and legislation, comparative politics, political theory, international relations, humanitarian issues, and non-governmental organizations.
PAIS Index
Contemporary worldwide social, economic, & political issues, and public policy. Citations to journal articles, books, government documents, statistical directories, research reports, conference reports, publications of international agencies, etc. Includes PAIS Archive. Coverage: 1915-present.

Full list of Poli Sci & Gov databases

Tips

Start by only using 2 or 3 search terms. Revise or add terms based on initial results
If one database isn't giving results, that's OK, try another database.
As you're finding articles, pay attention to subjects assigned by the databases ; pay attention to keywords being used by other authors.
Pay attention to citations in articles, as these may also be good sources.
Search the title of interesting articles in Google scholar to see who has cited these same articles
Use the Limiters build into the databases to find the best articles:
- Limit by publication date, subject, relevance, etc.