Libraries Ask Us

SPP 613 : Public Policy Seminar

Fall 2023; Thad Miller

Resources in policy and law

General (books, articles, electronic resources)

Discovery Search
Find articles across a large number of library resources with just one search! Begin your generalized research here.
Free to use for anyone to find records. Some results, and detailed information such as PDFs and full text links, are available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.

Policy research

CRS Reports
Reports by the public policy research arm of the U. S. Congress on current issues and their legal and legislative status, 1970-present. Library doesn't subscribe to tabbed extras like Bills, Memebers & Votes, etc.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
PolicyFile
Full text policy papers from think tanks, research institutes, and agencies.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
PAIS International
Articles, government documents, reports in the fields of political science, public and social policy, international relations 1915-.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Columbia International Affairs Online: CIAO
Full-text working and position papers, books, and journals - from international affairs research institutes, 1991-present.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.

Journal articles / law reviews

HeinOnline Core Collection
Includes complete coverage beginning with the first volume of more than 1,200 law and law-related periodicals, classic legal treatises from the 18th and 19th centuries, and English Reports, Full Reprint (1220-1867).
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Westlaw Campus Research
Legal encyclopedias, law reviews, and legal treatises; case, statutory, and regulatory law; newspapers and magazines; business data, 1980s-present.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Nexis Uni
News, business and legal sources
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Academic Search Premier
Scholarly journals from all academic disciplines - an excellent starting point for multidisciplinary research projects. 3,200 full-text journals. Coverage from 1975 to present.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.

Legislative history (federal)

ProQuest Legislative and Executive Publications
Hearings, bills, laws and legislative histories, committee prints, Congressional Research Service reports, Congressional Record and predecessors, Executive Branch docs to 1939, and the Serial Set.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.

Newspapers

Nexis Uni
News, business and legal sources
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
ProQuest Historical Newspapers
Combined search of historic Afro-American and ethnic and alternative newspapers, and historical Boston Globe, New York Times, and Washington Post.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Boston Globe
Massachusetts' newspaper of record, 1980-present. Recent content is fully digitized from Jan 1, 2008 (Vol. 273) - present (delayed 3 months).

Users must limit their search to "full text" on the left side of the screen to make sure they only get results that include the Full Text. Without the limiter, the "abstracts" will be indexed as well.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
New York Times Online
NYTimes.com Academic Pass users have access to the New York Times from 1851 to present, plus all multimedia, and to the NYT smartphone app.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.

Creating an Account
For instructions on how to create a account valid for four years with your UMass email, please visit this guide for step by step instructions.
Access World News - Historical and Current
Includes current and archived news content (with backfiles beginning in the 1980s) from more than 7,050 sources spanning 200+ countries and territories across the globe.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers
A database of historical American newspapers from all states, from 1789-1963; nearly 15 million pages. This resource also includes a directory of newspapers published in the United States since 1690.
Content is freely available for use by all.

All online newspapers at UMass
A list of newspapers and newspaper databases subscribed by the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Polls and surveys

iPOLL
Over 650,000 public opinion survey questions and answers - from the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research. Survey from 1935 to present.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.

Pew Research Center
Topics, datasets (requires free account)

Last Updated: Feb 10, 2025 4:09 PM
URL: https://guides.library.umass.edu/SPP613
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