POLS 4422: NGOs and World Politics

A starting point for research on NGOs and world politics.

Scholarly Databases for the Social Sciences

Why pay for scholastic scholarly content when it's included in your tuition? GSU Library has scholarly databases.

Group 1:

You can search the following databases simultaneously. Just click the link for Academic Search Complete, click the "choose databases" link, and then select other databases relevant to your search.

Limit your search to peer-reviewed journals by navigating to your search results page, and selecting the "Limit To" option located in the left-side column. Then, select "Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals."

Note subject headings that appear in your results, and consider clicking on them to explore alternative keywords for your search strategy.

Group 2:

You can search the following databases simultaneously. Just click the link for Sociological Abstracts, then before doing your search, click the "Change Databases" link. Select other databases relevant to your search, and then click "Use Selected Databases."

Limit your search to peer-reviewed journals by navigating to your search results page, and then navigating to the "Source Type" setting in the left-side column. Then, click the "Use Selected Databases" button.

Note subject headings in your results, and consider clicking on them to explore alternative keywords for your search strategy.

Group 3:

To see the full-text links available through GSU Library: On the Google Scholar main page, click the menu icon in the top left of the screen, then click "Settings." At the next screen, click "Library Links," search for Georgia State University, select "Georgia State University - FullText @ GSU," and then click save. When looking at search results, instead of clicking the article title to access it, click on FullText @ GSU link to be routed through GSU-access (you might have to click a double-arrow under the citation to see all of the options).

 

Stay in the loop!

In EBSCOhost databases (e.g. Academic Search Complete, CINAHL Plus with Full Text, LGBT Life with Full Text, etc.):

  1. Login to your MyEBSCOhost account by clicking Sign In in top right corner of screen (if you need to make a MyEBSCOhost account, click Sign In and then click Create a new Account on sign-in screen).
  2. Choose all the EBSCOhost databases you want to search, enter your search strategy in the search field, and click Search button.
  3. On Results screen, click the Share button at top right of results list, then under Create an alert: click your desired mode of receiving alerts (E-mail Alert or RSS Feed).
  4. Set your preferences for frequency of receiving alerts, etc. (click Advanced Settings for more options if desired), then click Save Alert button.*

In Google Scholar:

  1. Sign in to your Google account (create one if you haven't already).
  2. After honing your search strategy, look to the left and click the Create alert link.

In Web of Science:

  1. Sign in to your Web of Science account ("Register" to create one if you haven't already).
  2. After honing your search strategy, look to the left and click the Create Alert link.
  3. You can also click the Searches and alerts dropdown menu toward the top right to create (1) saved searches and alerts, (2) citation alerts that alert you when selected articles have been newly cited, and (3) journal alerts to alert you when selected journals have been newly entered/indexed in WoS.

In ProQuest Databases (e.g. Sociological Abstracts):

  1. Sign in to your My Research Account (or create one if you haven't already).
  2. Follow steps on online help re: Creating a Search Alert.

BrowZine

BrowZine works by consolidating academic journals from multiple publishers in the GSU Library collection into an easily browsable newsstand format for your mobile device or web browser.

  • Customize your personal My Bookshelf with journals you want to track, or save articles for later reading in your My Articles space.
  • Browse tables of contents and be alerted to new issues.
  • Easily read recent articles or full journal issues.
  • Sync settings/journals between your tablet and phone.
  • Download and save articles for offline reading.
  • Export to Zotero, Mendeley, Dropbox and other services.

As its name suggests, BrowZine is designed for browsing recent scholarship in journals you read regularly or in tracking specific subject areas.  Older backfiles (pre-2005) are not generally available within this service. For more in-depth research or to find articles on a specific topic, we recommend subject specific databases or Discover search. For access to the library's full range of back issues, please search our Journal List.

Navigating to an Article

Most of the time, searches in databases will provide a PDF link to the article:

 

Sometimes, you will have to click on a text link:

 

And at times you may just see a "Find it @ GSU" button, and after you click on it you will see "No full text available."

 

When this happens, notice that below the "no full text available" message, there is an option for an additional service: "Request through ILLiad."

ILLiad is our interlibrary loan service. It is a free service. We will try to get the article from another library for you. If we are successful, the article will be available to you in about 1-2 business days. If you have never requested an article through interlibrary loan before and need help, contact the global studies librarian.

Librarian Charlene

Off-Campus Access

Install and login to the Cisco AnyConnect VPN (Virtual Private Network) on your computer so that you are logged into the GSU network and will be automatically routed to GSU-subscribed journals. It’s available for download and instructions for using on the following platforms are available here: Windows | Mac | Android | Apple iOS

NOTE: There's a point where the directions tell you to enter secureaccess.gsu.edu as what to connect to.

Annual Reviews

Annual Reviews are comprehensive literature reviews on topics; they are not empirical articles, but summaries of other empirical studies.  Use them to familiarize yourself with the research in an area and to mine the references for original empirical research studies.   You can browse them or use the Advanced Search to search within specific ones.

Google Scholar

If you are on campus, you will see links to the full-text of articles in a Google Scholar search. Those links are provided by the library's paid access. If you are off campus, you will not see them unless you change the settings on your home laptop/computer.

Here is how you do that:

Go to Google Scholar and click on the three-line "burger" menu in the upper left.

Choose "Settings" and then choose "Library links." In the blank bar, type in Georgia State University and then check the box next to "Georgia State University - Find It @ GSU." Click Save at the bottom and you are all set. You should now see the links and when you click on them from off-campus, you will be asked for your campusID and password which will lead you to the full text of articles.

Subjects: Political Science