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PLCY 581: Research Design for Public Policy: Home
Scholarly Articles
Is the article scholarly?
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Ulrichs Web OnlineUlrich's Periodicals Directory is a bibliographic database providing detailed, comprehensive, and authoritative information on serials published throughout the world.
Databases & Journals
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Academic Search PremierFind information on academic areas of business, social sciences, humanities, general academic, general science, education and multi-cultural topics; resource provides access to major popular and scholarly journals with many full-text articles.
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EconLitAccess research articles, citations, and abstracts on economics, accounting, capital markets, econometrics, economic forecasting, government regulations, labor economics, monetary theory, urban economics, and more. Major index to economic literature from the American Economic Association.
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Environment CompleteJournals on topics including agriculture, renewable energy sources, natural resources, marine & freshwater science, geography, pollution & waste management, environmental technology, urban planning, and more.
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ERICProduced by the Educational Resource Information Center, ERIC provides indexing and abstracting for journal and report literature (1966 to the present) in education and related disciplines.
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GenderWatchFull-text collection of international journals, magazines, newsletters, regional publications, special reports and conference proceedings devoted to women's and gender issues.
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Google ScholarEnables you to search specifically for scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports from all broad areas of research.
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PAIS IndexA bibliographic index to the literature of public policy, social policy, and the social sciences in general. Includes full-text articles.
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PubMedDatabase of biomedical literature from the National Library of Medicine covering journal articles about medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, biology and public health from 1950 to the present; multiple mobile apps available, provides access to MEDLINE, etc. Includes links to full text of UNC-CH's electronic journal subscriptions.
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Sociological AbstractsDatabase covering over 2500 journals in sociology, both theoretical and applied, and related disciplines including anthropology, economics, education, medicine, community development, philosophy, demography, political science, and social psychology. Articles in 30 different languages from about 55 countries.
Policies & Policy Analysis
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Google Think Tank Search EngineSearches the websites of institutions that generate public policy research, analysis, and activity. These sites are affiliated with universities, governments, advocacy groups, foundations, and non-governmental organizations. The list represents a mixture of partisan and non-partisan think tanks.
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ProQuest Trends & Policy: Immigration"A series of in-depth primary source collections to support research and learning on policy related to today’s most pressing issues. This collection connects policies implemented by the U.S. government with the data-driven results and trends of those policies and provides context with analytical reports and news articles."
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ProQuest Trends & Policy: U.S. Health"A series of in-depth primary source collections to support research and learning on policy related to today’s most pressing issues. This collection connects policies implemented by the U.S. government with the data-driven results and trends of those policies and provides context with analytical reports and news articles."
Example think tanks
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American Institutes for Research"AIR’s mission is to conduct and apply the best behavioral and social science research and evaluation towards improving people's lives, with a special emphasis on the disadvantaged."
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Brookings Institution"Nonprofit public policy organization. Our mission is to conduct in-depth research that leads to new ideas for solving problems facing society at the local, national and global level."
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Council on Foreign RelationsContains daily briefs, background and analysis.
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The National Bureau of Economic ResearchPrivate, nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization dedicated to promoting a greater understanding of how the economy works.
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RAND Publication DatabasePapers and reports on topics of current public policy interest, including criminal justice, education, health, national security and international affairs, energy, environment, and science and technology. Contains indexing records for all of RAND's publicly available documents, many with links to full text reports.
Government information
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CRS ReportsThe Congressional Research Service, an agency within the Library of Congress, conducts research and analysis for Congress on a broad range of policy issues.
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ProQuest CongressionalComprehensive source of current and historical U.S. Congressional material, including bills, testimony, reports, documents, selected prints, the Congressional Record, the U.S. Code, Federal Register, and the Code of Federal Regulations.
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White House - PrioritiesLink to White House/President's stand on policy issues.
Research Design
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Sage Research MethodsResearch methods toolset designed to help researchers develop research projects, understand or identify particular methods, conduct research and write up their findings; library of more than 1000 books, reference works, journal articles, and instructional videos including Sages Little Green Book and Little Blue Book series focusing on quantitative and qualitative methods
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Concept MappingBrainstorming technique that helps you visualize your topic, narrow it down, and think about the relationships between your concepts. Print and video tutorial from Appalachian State University Library, plus an interactive concept mapping tool.
Writing & Citing
Writing
UNC Writing Center Offers online and in-person consultations. Check out their tips on writing a policy brief, literature reviews and conciseness.
What Makes a Good Research Question? Handout from Duke University's (yes, Duke) Thompson Writing Program Writing Studio. Has good guidelines for and examples of research questions in the social sciences, but much applies to the humanities as well.
Other literature review guides
The University of California at Santa Cruz guide for writing literature reviews
The University of Wisconsin at Madison guide for writing literature reviews (this link includes examples of literature reviews!)
Citing
Create citations with Zotero Bibliography
APA Citation guides - UNC Library Guide and Purdue OWL
orcid.org/0000-0003-2533-582X