Searching databases
When we are searching the web, we often type in our question as a question. Of course, the search engine isn't really understanding our question as a human would. An algorithm is extracting and combining key terms and phrases, often with some additional weighting based on our location, previous searches, other commonly searched phrases, etc. Sometimes, this actually gets in the way of finding what you need.
When you are searching a database, you are in charge of defining and combining the key terms and phrases. This takes a little practice. See the Keyword Search Strategies, by topic, just to get started. Play around with these. It takes practice, but it's usually worth the trouble.
Search Subject Databases, directly
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America: History and LifeAmerica: History and Life (AHL) covers the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. Offers strong coverage of US government, policy, and foreign relations topics.
Suggested search terms (just to get you started):
- Capitol insurrection
- Voter suppression
- Election administration
- Voting Rights Act
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Confidence OR Trust
[and] democratic institutions OR elections -
Media
[and] democracy OR democratic institutions
[and] threat OR decline OR impact -
Gender OR women
[and] role OR identities
[and] democra* -
labor unions
[and] democracy
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Worldwide Political Science AbstractsCovers political science and its complementary fields, including international relations, law, public administration, and public policy. For best results, place "quotation marks" around phrases.
Search tips:
- Worldwide Political Science Abstracts is a PQ database and uses a single search window as the default.
- Place quotation marks around phrases. Place parentheses around alternative phrases connected with OR, e.g. (race OR minorities)
- Adding the asterisk (*) after politi* finds political or politization.
- Use the Limit feature to limit to Location > United States. It's not perfect, but it helps winnow out many of the non-U.S. articles.
Sample searches:
- "voting procedures" OR "election procedures" AND states
- "election administration" AND (race OR minorities)
- "election administration" AND (political* OR partisan)
- "church committee" AND power
- gender AND identity AND politics AND "united states"
- "voter fraud" AND history; "voter fraud" AND (data OR statistics)
- dobbs and "supreme court" AND women NEAR/5(citizen* OR rights OR status)
- federalism AND abortion
Note: I suggest searching Hein Online for this topic, as well.
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GenderWatchFocuses on the impact of gender across a broad spectrum of subject areas.
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Hein OnlineIncludes the Law Journal library.
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Women's Studies InternationalProvides citations and some abstracts to the core areas of Women’s studies.
For more guidance, see keyword strategies, by topic on the next page.