Identifying a Topic and Focus
Sources to help you find and refine a topic
Oxford Bibliographies (Oxford University Press) TutorialPresents peer-reviewed, annotated bibliographies and expert commentary on current scholarship in selected disciplines. Villanova University has access to the following bibliographies: African American Studies, Art History, Atlantic History, Biblical Studies, British and Irish Literature, Buddhism, Cinema and Media Studies, Classics, Communication, Criminology, Environmental Science, Geography, International Relations, Islamic Studies, Latin American Studies, Management, Medieval Studies, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Renaissance and Reformation, and Victorian Literature.
A tutorial for this resource can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1myXLJZGPwM
Opposing Viewpoints in Context (Gale)Access information on social issues through viewpoint articles, topic overviews, statistics, primary documents, links to web sites and full text magazine and newspaper articles.
SAGE KnowledgeProvides full text access to encyclopedias and handbooks in the social sciences, as well as selected ebooks. All content is published by SAGE Publications.
CQ Researcher (CQ Press)Features in-depth reports of political and social issues, including health, international affairs, education, the environment, technology and the U.S. economy. Reports include overview, background, current situation, pro/con views, chronology, and a bibliography. The issue tracker links to related reports. Coverage goes back to 1923.
Communication Research Design Reference
Encyclopedia of Research Design Encyclopedia of Social Science Research Methods Communication Research: Strategies and Sources SAGE Handbook of Survey MethodologyFinding Scholarly Literature
Search for Books
Books are a good source for general information because they tend to take a broad view of the topic at hand. Scholarly journal articles are narrowly focused on one area of a topic.
Falvey Library Catalog (Books & Media)
WorldCat (FirstSearch)
Google Books
Book Review Index Plus (Gale)
Falvey Library Catalog (Books & Media)Keyword and subject searches in the Library's catalog are good starting points when first exploring a topic. Search results can be narrowed with facets such as topic, era, language or region. Facets are located on the right hand side of the results screen.
WorldCat (FirstSearch)Presents a combined catalog of the catalogs of more than 10,000 libraries worldwide. WorldCat highlights publications available at Villanova University. Other items can be requested via an inter-library loan request form.
Google BooksSearch the full text of digitized books contributed by libraries and publishers. View either brief excerpts, bibliographic information or if not protected by copyright the full text.
Book Review Index Plus (Gale)Indexes reviews of fiction and nonfiction English-language books. Reviews are selected from academic journals, magazines, and library review journals. Includes selected full text. Coverage goes back to the early 1960s.
Search for Articles
Social Sciences Citation Index - Web of Science (Clarivate)Indexes core journals in the social sciences. Provides information on citing and cited references for each article. Search by article title word, journal title, author, cited author or reference, address word (i.e., author's institution), or funding agency. Covers 1956 to the present.
Project MuseProvides full-text access to books and journals in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.
PAIS International (ProQuest)Provides citations and abstracts for journal articles, books, government documents, conference papers, research reports, etc. in the areas of public affairs, public and social policy, and international relations. International in scope. Formerly known as the Public Affairs Information Service.
Finding Facts, History and Data
News Databases
Lexis Nexis Academic Limitations on UseNow Nexis Uni. Provides full text access to national and international newspaper and magazine articles and news transcripts, business, company, and industry information in the U.S. and abroad, and legal documents, including U.S. Federal and State court cases, and law reviews. Coverage varies.
Limitations on Use:
LexisNexis online services and the materials contained therein are under copyright by LexisNexis. All rights reserved. No part of these Services may be used except for research purposes, and the Services may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the LexisNexis Academic Library Solutions. Materials retrieved from the Services may not be duplicated in hard copy or machine-readable form without the prior written authorization of LexisNexis Academic & Library Solutions, except that limited reproduction of output is permitted solely for individual use by the Authorized User or internal distribution within the Subscribing Institution in accordance with the terms of this Agreement unless further limited or prohibited by the Copyright Act of 1976. Under no circumstances may the Materials or any portion thereof be used to create derivative products or services.
LexisNexis online services and the materials contained therein are under copyright by LexisNexis. All rights reserved. No part of these Services may be used except for research purposes, and the Services may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the LexisNexis Academic Library Solutions. Materials retrieved from the Services may not be duplicated in hard copy or machine-readable form without the prior written authorization of LexisNexis Academic & Library Solutions, except that limited reproduction of output is permitted solely for individual use by the Authorized User or internal distribution within the Subscribing Institution in accordance with the terms of this Agreement unless further limited or prohibited by the Copyright Act of 1976. Under no circumstances may the Materials or any portion thereof be used to create derivative products or services.
New York Times: 1851- (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)Provides full text access to the complete New York Times archive except for the most recent five years. Use NYTimes.com, Nexis Uni, or ABI/INFORM for access to current content.
Washington Post (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)Contains the full text of the Washington Post and its title variations from 1877 until seventeen years ago.
Ethnic NewsWatch (ProQuest)Offers access to the full text of articles from newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic, minority, and native press. While most of the content is in English, some content in non-English languages is included. Coverage for most newspapers and magazines goes back to the early 1990s, but earlier content is also available.
Opposing Viewpoints in Context (Gale)Access information on social issues through viewpoint articles, topic overviews, statistics, primary documents, links to web sites and full text magazine and newspaper articles.
Sources for Official Reports (Gov't, Int'l, Private)
PAIS International (ProQuest)Provides citations and abstracts for journal articles, books, government documents, conference papers, research reports, etc. in the areas of public affairs, public and social policy, and international relations. International in scope. Formerly known as the Public Affairs Information Service.
United Nations Official Document SystemOffers full text access to born-digital United Nations documents published from 1993 onward, including documents of the Security Council, the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and their subsidiaries. Also contains selected scanned UN documents published between 1946 and 1993.
United States Congressional Web Archive (Library of Congress)The United States Congressional Web Archive includes member websites of from the House of Representatives and Senate, from the end of the 107th Congress through the 112th Congress. Additional Congresses will be added in the future, as will committee websites, which are being archived monthly.
FBI Case Files (Ancestry.com)Features case files from the agency formerly known as the United States Bureau of Investigation, including World War I espionage files, files on German aliens who were politically suspect, and records pertaining to Mexican neutrality. Covers 1908 through 1922.
United Nations Bilbliographic Information SystemCatalogue of United Nations(UN) documents, voting records, speeches and publications indexed by the UN Dag Hammarskjöld Library and the Library of the UN Office at Geneva
Organizations and Think Tanks
Amnesty International
The library tab offers AI reports on various countries and themes.
International Monetary Fund
Publications of the IMF are available from their website.
Latin American Migration Project - LAMP
Research for the Latin American Migration Project has been possible thanks to the support provided by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (grant R01 HD35848). The surveys in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Paraguay, and Haiti received financial support from the Mellon Foundation.
Organization of American States - OAS
Established to achieve among its member states, as stated in Article 1 of its Charter, “an order of peace and justice, to promote their solidarity, to strengthen their collaboration, and to defend their sovereignty, their territorial integrity, and their independence.” Today it comprises the 35 independent states of the Americas and has granted permanent observer status to 63 states, as well as to the European Union. The Organization of American States constitutes the principal political, juridical, and social governmental forum in the Hemisphere.
Pew Research : Hispanic Trends
Launched in 2001 as the Pew Hispanic Center, the project seeks to improve public understanding of the diverse Hispanic population in the United States and to chronicle Latinos' growing impact on the nation. The project conducts public opinion surveys, publishes demographic studies and other social science research and is well-known for its estimates of the unauthorized immigrant population in the U.S.
Political Database of the Americas (PDBA)
Through its website, the PDBA offers centralized and systematized information about institutions and political processes, national constitutions, branches of government, elections, political constitutional studies and other subjects related to the strengthening of democracy in the region.
SEDLAC (Socio-economic database for Latin America and the CaribbeanP
This website includes statistics on poverty and other distributional and social variables from 24 Latin American and Caribbean countries, based on microdata from households surveys.
The library tab offers AI reports on various countries and themes.
International Monetary Fund
Publications of the IMF are available from their website.
Latin American Migration Project - LAMP
Research for the Latin American Migration Project has been possible thanks to the support provided by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (grant R01 HD35848). The surveys in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Paraguay, and Haiti received financial support from the Mellon Foundation.
Organization of American States - OAS
Established to achieve among its member states, as stated in Article 1 of its Charter, “an order of peace and justice, to promote their solidarity, to strengthen their collaboration, and to defend their sovereignty, their territorial integrity, and their independence.” Today it comprises the 35 independent states of the Americas and has granted permanent observer status to 63 states, as well as to the European Union. The Organization of American States constitutes the principal political, juridical, and social governmental forum in the Hemisphere.
Pew Research : Hispanic Trends
Launched in 2001 as the Pew Hispanic Center, the project seeks to improve public understanding of the diverse Hispanic population in the United States and to chronicle Latinos' growing impact on the nation. The project conducts public opinion surveys, publishes demographic studies and other social science research and is well-known for its estimates of the unauthorized immigrant population in the U.S.
Political Database of the Americas (PDBA)
Through its website, the PDBA offers centralized and systematized information about institutions and political processes, national constitutions, branches of government, elections, political constitutional studies and other subjects related to the strengthening of democracy in the region.
SEDLAC (Socio-economic database for Latin America and the CaribbeanP
This website includes statistics on poverty and other distributional and social variables from 24 Latin American and Caribbean countries, based on microdata from households surveys.
Primary Sources
Biblioteca Virtual Cervantes
The full-text library of Spanish-language materials here includes some works on Brazil in Spanish, Portuguese, and English.
Biblioteca Nacional Digital - Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal
An extraordinary array of historic texts on Brazil can be accessed through this site.
National Library of Brazil - Fundação Biblioteca Nacional
The full-text retrieval of books from the classics of Brazilian literature may be accessed.
The full-text library of Spanish-language materials here includes some works on Brazil in Spanish, Portuguese, and English.
Biblioteca Nacional Digital - Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal
An extraordinary array of historic texts on Brazil can be accessed through this site.
National Library of Brazil - Fundação Biblioteca Nacional
The full-text retrieval of books from the classics of Brazilian literature may be accessed.
Biographies
Political Elites in Mexico, 1900-1971: Online Data Archive
The Political Elites in Mexico, 1900-1971 dataset is typically used by researchers who are familiar with statistical software programs such as SPSS or SAS. These programs are used to analyze the data and determine statistical patterns.This dataset contains information on the political office holder's sex, birthplace, profession/occupations, military service, date and place of birth and death, father's occupation, education (preparation, length, attainment, specialization, foreign training), travel abroad, intellectual activities (publications, teaching), political affiliation, political offices held and length of stay, activity during the revolution of 1910-1920, geographical entity represented, memberships in political and other organizations.
[Details]
Latin American Writers
A collection of biographical and critical essays on Latin American writers by scholars from the U.S., Latin America, and Europe.
[Details]
The Political Elites in Mexico, 1900-1971 dataset is typically used by researchers who are familiar with statistical software programs such as SPSS or SAS. These programs are used to analyze the data and determine statistical patterns.This dataset contains information on the political office holder's sex, birthplace, profession/occupations, military service, date and place of birth and death, father's occupation, education (preparation, length, attainment, specialization, foreign training), travel abroad, intellectual activities (publications, teaching), political affiliation, political offices held and length of stay, activity during the revolution of 1910-1920, geographical entity represented, memberships in political and other organizations.
[Details]
Latin American Writers
A collection of biographical and critical essays on Latin American writers by scholars from the U.S., Latin America, and Europe.
[Details]