Research Guides: Public Policy &amp; International Affairs: Overview

Megan's Recommendations for Getting Started

PAIS This link opens in a new window
This is the best place to start for national or international public policy research.
Policy Commons: Global Think Tanks This link opens in a new window
Objective, fact-based research from the world’s leading policy experts, think tanks, IGOs and NGOs

Library Search
Limit your searches to "Library Catalog" for books, which can be good for broad understanding and historical context. You may need to eliminate government documents by removing "United States" as an author in the Advanced Search.

Political Science Complete This link opens in a new window
Add "government policy" as a subject to help focus your searches.
Sage Data This link opens in a new window
National and international statistical data that may relate to policy issues
PolicyMap This link opens in a new window
U.S. national data and mapping tool and analytics platform

Country Politics and Economy
Find resources for researching a specific country's government, politics, economy, and more.
Domestic Policy
Find scholarly sources, policy papers, data, and U.S. bills and laws
International Relations & Foreign Policy
Find scholarly sources, policy papers, primary sources by region, and resources on U.S. foreign policy and global security
Political Economy
Recommended databases, data sources, and research organizations.
Political News & Opinion
Recommended news publications

Encyclopedia of Public Administration and Public Policy - 5 Volume Set
Publication Date: 2020
A-Z entries on a range of national and international policy topics, including major policy areas.

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics This link opens in a new window
Excellent for background information with cited sources on policy and politics.
Oxford Bibliographies This link opens in a new window
Overviews & annotated bibliographies on a variety of subjects
West Study Aids This link opens in a new window
Start here for background info on a particular area of law. Nutshell and Law Stories books can be helpful for those new to researching the law.
Creating a West Academic account allows you to take notes, highlight, save favorites, download titles for offline access, and more. Click Create an Account in the upper right-hand corner and follow the prompts.
CQ Researcher This link opens in a new window
Substantive, non-biased, well-researched discussions of timely topics & issues in the United States.

Contact:

mheuer@smu.edu
(214) 768-1856

Subjects: Economics, Government, International & Area Studies, Journalism, Political Science, Public Policy & International Affairs, Writing & Reasoning