Jump-start your bibliography

Search your topic in the following reference resources to find articles with robust bibliographies--a reliable method for laying the foundation of your secondary literature review.

• Annual Review of Political Science
• Blackwell Reference Online
• Gale Virtual Reference Library
• Oxford Reference Online
• Historical Statistics of the United States: not just a wealth of statistical tables, but also analytical articles with extensive lists of references.
• International Historical Statistics, 1750-2010: provides key economic and social indicators, organized by region and country.

Journal articles and more

Use the resources and approaches described here to find journal articles, working papers, conference proceedings, book chapters, government publications, and other materials.

Books and more

To cast a wide net, search these catalogs:

• Orbis (Yale Library)
• MORRIS (Yale Law Library)
• Quicksearch Beta (combined search of Orbis and MORRIS)
• WorldCat (libraries around the world)

It's just what I need...but it's not at Yale (or it's checked out)

• Try Borrow Direct to get the book you need in four business days.
• Use Interlibrary Loan for books not available through Borrow Direct and for journal articles and other materials.
• Questions about getting materials from other libraries? Check out this guide to Get It @Yale.

Numeric data

See: Social Science Data Resources

Government and intergovernmental organization documents

Many government and IGO documents are cataloged in Orbis (Yale library catalog) and/or MORRIS (Yale Law Library catalog).

See also the guides to:

• United Nations documents
• European Union documents
• Canadian federal government documents
• Food and Agriculture Organization documents
• British government publications
• International Collections at Yale Library (Africa; East Asia; Judaica; Latin America; Near East; Slavic, East Europe, and Central Asia; South Asia; Southeast Asia)

News resources

Yale Library subscribes to databases that cover a wide range of news sources from around the world.

Archival collections

Search the Yale Finding Aid Database to identify archival and manuscript materials in Yale's libraries and special collections, including Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library and Manuscripts & Archives (located in Sterling Memorial Library). Finding aids are documents that include information about specific collections--typically, an overview of the collection and its contents, although the level of detail will vary from one finding aid to the next.

To identify archival collections beyond Yale, consult WorldCat, ArchiveGrid, or Archive Finder.

Primary source microfilm and databases

In addition to the primary source materials found in archives and the collections listed above, there are quite a few databases that provide access to digitized collections of primary sources--everything from Winston Churchill's personal correspondence to Underground and Independent Comics, Comix, and Graphic Novels. The Yale Library also has extensive microfilm collections that contain materials usually found only in faraway archives. Talk to a librarian to learn more about these resources.

Other primary sources

Extensive guide to primary sources at Yale University that includes diverse types of primary sources (manuscripts, maps, data, artifacts, and more), as well as information about relevant Yale collections, catalogs, and online databases.