By topic

Take some of the keywords and phrases from the research question. Think in broad terms.

  • Connect terms with AND, e.g., "January 6" AND attack
  • Broaden your search with OR, e.g,  (voting OR voter), (attack OR insurrection)
  • Find variant endings with an asterisk, e.g. democra* finds democracy, democratic, etc.

A few suggestions, by topic, just to get you started

The January 6 Select Committee

  • Worldwide Political Science Abstracts. Sample search: "January 6" AND (attack OR insurrection) AND committee
  • America: History and Life. Sample Search: congress AND "separation of powers"
    (For a look at congressional investigations, congressional power to investigate, more broadly)

The Church Committee and the January 6 Select Committee, Compared

The Politicization of Election Administration

  • Worldwide Political Science Abstracts. Sample search: "election administration" AND (politics OR political* OR partisan*)
    Note: Place parenthesis around terms separated by OR. The asterisk (*) finds partisan or partisanship.

Allegations of Fraud in American Elections

Voting procedures, race, ethnicity, and outcomes

  • Worldwide Political Science Abstracts, Sample search. (voting OR voter) AND (laws OR procedures OR rules) AND (race OR racial OR ethnic*)
  • Sample search: "voter suppression" AND (race OR racial OR ethnic*)

Partisanship and voting rights

Databases:

America: History and Life and Worldwide Political Science Abstracts

Sample searches:

  • "voting rights" AND partisan*
  • "voting rights act" AND support AND "united states"
  • "voting rights" AND republican

Public opinion and democracy (belief in democratic institutions)

Media and democracy (has media endangered Democracy?)

Gender and politics (role of gender)

Dobbs and women's citizenship

  • Worldwide Political Science Abstracts. Sample search: dobbs and "supreme court" and women near/5(citizen* OR rights OR status)
    Note: near/5 puts the term "women" within 5 words of of citizen, rights, status, e.g. women as citizens, full citizenship of women, women's rights, the right of women, etc.

Immunity decision

Note: Because this is very recent, finding peer-reviewed articles may be difficult. There will be Law Review articles and you can also look at it in the context of Executive Power, more broadly, and how that has been interpreted by the Supreme Court over the years.

  • Hein Online. Sample search: "trump v. united states" OR "presidential immunity"
    Note the dates of publication. Some were written before the very recent decision by the Supreme Court showing the evolution of the concept.

Radicalized states

A case study of a state or states analyzing extreme policy shifts. 

  • Databases and search strategy may depend on the state you choose. Meet with a Librarian (me)!

Labor unions and democracy

  • America: History and Life. Sample search: Labor Unions and democracy. Tip: Go to the Advanced Search to limit by era, for example, 2010 - 2024.