Finding journal articles and using online information sources

Introduction

Journal articles are not generally indexed on the Library Catalogue, so look for the journal in which the article was published.

If you are doing research on a topic and do not have a reading list then you will probably need to use one of our electronic databases. Do not assume a simple Google search will find all articles - the Library provides powerful searches which include Google Scholar and more. Our databases cover materials from a wide range of publishers so can give you more information than you will retrieve from an individual publisher's e-journal site. Some databases will link to the full text of article -look out for the orange LSE Article Finder button    but some will give you bibliographic details only. Databases can also include information on book reviews, book chapters, grey literature, government reports, theses and so on

• Summon is a fast and intuitive library search system that enables you to search a wide range of LSE Library content all in one place. Search for journal articles, print materials, e-books, databases, theses, newspapers and more. 
• The search interface in Summon is not as advanced as the ones found in the individual databases. For the widest research you can see a full list of Social Policy Databases via the Library catalogue, or use the list below.

Some of the more important databases for Social Policy topics are listed below-you may also want to look at the subject guides for Bioscience & Health|, Economics|, Government|, Law| and Sociology| to see databases for related areas.

On campus links have been provided for each database but you can also access our subscription databases via the Electronic Resources Page. You will need to enter your LSE username & password to logon.

You will notice that some of the databases listed below are freely available-these do not require LSE subscriptions or passwords and can be accessed generally.

Social Policy includes a wide variety of research areas-this guide divides them into the following topics. Note that information on education, health and housing topics will also be found in the more general databases.

Want to find news resources, theses, conference proceedings and more? The take a look at the Social Policy guide to research materials|

General Social Science & Social Policy Databases

Business Source Premier|

• Content: Business, finance, marketing, management, news and some more general social science topics
• Coverage: Abstracts and references to journal articles, trade papers etc. Some full text available.
• Date Range: Varies
• Updates: Daily
• Features
  • Links to full text articles via LSE Article Finder
  • Allows for some citation searching in addition to searching by keyword, author etc
  • Available via EBSCO so can cross search with their other databases
  • Results can be imported into Endnote
  • Searches can be saved to rerun at a later date
  • Automatic search updates & RSS feeds

CIAO: Columbia Affairs International Online|

• Content: International relations & international affairs
• Coverage: Abstracts and references to journal articles, books, theses, government publications and reports. Policy briefs & Case studies. Includes the full text of working papers from over 50 institutions and think tanks, and some full text conference proceedings.
• Date range: 1991-
• Updates: Monthly
• Features
  • Policy briefs, Economic indicators & Case studies

Criminal Justice Abstracts|

• Content: Criminology & related areas
• Coverage: Abstracts and references to journal articles, book reviews and book chapters
• Date range: 1987-
• Updates: Quarterly
• Features
  • Links to full text articles via LSE Article Finder
  • Searches can be saved to rerun at a later date
  • Automatic search alerts are available
  • Searches can be limited to specific topic strands such as Penology
  • Results can be imported into Endnote

Econlit|

• Content: Premium database for Economics
• Coverage: Abstracts and references to journal articles, books, working papers etc. Some full text available.
• Date Range: 1969-
• Updates: Monthly
• Features
  • Links to full text articles via LSE Article Finder
  • Available via EBSCO so can cross search with their other databases
  • Results can be imported into Endnote
  • Searches can be saved to rerun at a later date
  • Automatic search updates & RSS feeds

European Sources Online (ESO)|

• Content: A useful starting place. ESO provides access to information on the institutions and activities of the European Union, the countries, regions and other international organisations of Europe. Enables you to keep up to date with developments in the European Union and the rest of Europe and find an expert selection of information on European topics from a very wide range of information sources.
• Coverage: Abstracts and references to journal articles, news articles, official documents, legislation, working papers etc. Some full text available.
• Date Range: 1969-
• Updates: Monthly

FRANCIS|

• Content: Humanities and Social Sciences-bias is towards Humanities. Good non UK coverage as produced by the Institut de l'Information Scientifique et Technique du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
• Coverage: References with some abstracts to journal articles, conferences and book chapters.
• The link from the Library catalogue takes you to the home page of the parent service, in this case OCLC FirstSearch. From here choose the Databases tab and then you can select FRANCIS
• Date range: 1984-
• Updates: Monthly
• Features
  • LSE Article Finder available
  • Results can be imported into Endnote
  • Searches can be saved to rerun at a later date (you must register with OCLC to do this)
  • Same interface as WorldCat & Geobase-so some cross searching available

Global Health| 

• Content: Specialist bibliographic, abstracting and indexing database covering public health research and practice
• Coverage: Over 3500 journals, plus reports, books and conferences
• Date Range: 1973-
• Updated: Weekly
• Features
  
  • Results can be imported in Endnote
  • Searches can be saved and rerun at a later date
  • Faceted searching
  • RSS feeds available

International Bibliography of the Social Sciences| (IBSS)

• View the Online guide for Policy Studies and Social Policy
• View the Online guide for using IBSS for dissertations
• Content: Broad range of Social Science topics, but particularly strong on Anthropology, Economics, Politics & Sociology. Great place to start.
• Coverage: Abstracts and references to journal articles, book reviews and chapters from edited books
• Date range: 1951-
• Updates: Weekly
• Features
• • Includes book and chapter references as well as references to journal articles and book reviews.  
  • Links to full text articles via LSE Article Finder
  • Good European foreign language coverage
  • Results can be imported into Endnote
  • Searches can be saved to rerun at a later date
  • Automatic search updates & RSS feeds-personal login required
  • Available via EBSCO so can cross search with their other databases

IPSA International Political Science Abstracts|

• Content: Produced by the International Political Science Association
• Coverage: Abstracts and references to journal articles from 900 leading journals in political science. Some full text within the database.
• Date range: 1975-
• Features:
  • Links to full text articles via LSE Article Finder
  • Subject Index available
  • Results can be exported directly into Endnote
  • Searches can be saved to rerun at a later date
  • Automatic search updates & RSS feeds-personal login required
  • Available via EBSCO so can cross search with their other databases
  • Visual searching also available

ISI Citation Indexes via the Web Of Knowledge|

• Content: There are 3 ISI files which can be cross searched: Science, Social Science and Arts & Humanities.
• Coverage: Abstracts and references to journal articles and book reviews
• Date range: 1956-
• Updates: Weekly
• Features
  • Links to full text articles via LSE Article Finder
  • Enables citation searching in addition to searching by keyword
  • Results can be exported directly into Endnote
  • Searches can be saved to rerun at a later date
  • Set up citation alerts to inform you of new entries citing your key papers
  • Can simultaneously search Medline
  • Also Available the ISI Conference Proceedings database for Science and Technology only

LGBT Life With Full Text|

• Content: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgendered information
• Coverage: Includes the full text of 50 top titles and references to journal articles, regional papers and books
• Date range: Variable
• Features:
  • Links to full text articles via LSE Article Finder
  • Thesaurus available
  • Results can be imported into Endnote
  • Searches can be saved to rerun at a later date
  • Automatic search updates & RSS feeds
  • Available via EBSCO so can cross search with their other databases

 N|CJRS Abstracts|

• Content: Criminology & related areas from the US National Criminal Justice Reference Service
• Coverage: Abstracts and references to journal articles
• Date range: 1972-
• Features
  • Searches can be restricted to specific streams e.g. Crime, Crime Prevention, Drugs, Juveniles, Victims etc
  • RSS feeds available available

PAIS International| (Public Affairs Information Service)

• Content: Public affairs
• Coverage: Abstracts and references to journal articles, books, theses, government publications and some grey literature. Some full text available
• Date Range: 1972-
• Updates: Monthly
• Features
  • Links to full text articles via LSE Article Finder
  • Searches can be saved to rerun at a later date
  • Automatic search alerts are available
  • Results can be imported into Endnote
  • Same interface as Criminal Justice Abstracts and ASSIA, so cross searching available

Popline|

• Content:  Maintained by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health/Center for Communication Programs. Covers reproductive health, demography, and related areas.  Freely available
• Coverage: References and abstracts to journal articles, books, reports and unpublished reports. Some links to full text. 
• Date Range: Main coverage from 1970, although some coverage dates back to 1872
• Updates: Every Monday
• Features:
  • RSS feeds available
  • Thesaurus available
  • Can restrict to peer reviewed titles

Race Relations Abstracts|

• Coverage: Abstracts and references to journal articles,
• Features
  • Links to full text articles via LSE Article Finder
  • Results can be imported into Endnote
  • Searches can be saved to rerun at a later date
  • Automatic search updates & RSS feeds
  • Available via EBSCO so can cross search with their other databases

SCOPUS|

• Content: Abstract database containing citations covering scientific, technical, medical and social sciences fields and, more recently, also in the arts and humanities.
• Coverage: The largest abstract and citation database containing both peer-reviewed research literature and quality web sources.
• Updates: Daily
• Features
  
  • LSE Article Linker Available
  • Autmatic search alerts are available
  • Results can be exported to Endnote
  • ALerts, RSS and HTML feeds to stay up-to-date

Social Care Online| (formerly Care Data)

• Content: Social Care topics provided by the Social Care Institute for Excellence. Freely available
• Coverage: Abstracts and references to journal articles, books, research briefings, government reports, legislation, news, working papers, websites. Mostly UK coverage. Some full text access
• Updates: Weekly
• Features
  • Topic tree available
  • Email alerts & RSS feeds available

 

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Development

The general resources| listed above, and the African databases| listed below will also include useful materials and bibliographic details for development topics

ELDIS| Electronic Development and Environment Information System

• Content: Produced by the Institute of Development Studies. Freely available
• Coverage: Country index with the main development projects and links to key organisations such as development banks and aid agencies
  Index of resources including library catalogues, bibliographies, research projects, email discussion lists and organisations relevant to the area. Includes full text of reports etc
• Features
  • RSS Feeds available
  • Topic guides
  • Country profiles

CAB Direct| (Was Rural Development Abstracts)

• Content: Includes the database Rural Development Abstracts and Full Text Extra. Broad coverage including  ICT and development, development organizations and aid; rural industry, rural sociology and agricultural development.
• Coverage: references to journal articles, reports and research covering all areas of rural development worldwide.
• Date Range: Rural Development Abstracts covers 1990-                  
• Features
  • Results can be exported directly into EndNote
  • Thesaurus available
  • Saved searches & RSS feeds available (must register with CAB Direct first)
  • Links to Delicious and Cite-U-Like services

International Development Abstracts| 

• Content: International Development Abstracts is included in the GeoBase database for geography and related topics
• Coverage: Abstracts and references to journal articles and books
• The link from the Library catalogue takes you to the home page of the parent service, in this case OCLC FirstSearch. From here choose the Databases tab and then you can select GeoBase
• Date Range: 1980-
• Updates: Fortnightly
• Features:
  • LSE Article Finder available
  • Results can be imported into Endnote
  • Searches can be saved to rerun at a later date (you must register with OCLC to do this)
  • Same interface as WorldCat & FRANCIS-so some cross searching available

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African Databases

You will find references to African topics in most of the databases already mentioned on this page, most notably those listed under Development|. However there are some specific African resources which you will find useful.

Quarterly Index of African Periodical Literature. Produced by the Library of Congress & indexes over 300 titles. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/misc/qsihtml/|

AfricaBib Indexes nearly 500 titles
http://www.africabib.org/africa.html|

African Journals online http://www.ajol.info/|

Database of African Theses and Dissertations (DATAD)- http://www.aau.org/datad/|

All these resources are freely available-use the links above or log on via the Library Delicious account at http://delicious.com/LSELibrary/africa| to see a fuller listing of useful resources for African topics