Useful for College in the Schools students in POL 1001.
Library presentation - April 2022
Legislative History Tools
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ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new windowThe ProQuest Congressional Research Digital Collection (CRDC) provides full-text access to more than 5,000 Congressional committee prints published from 2004 to present and more than 23,000 Congressional Research Service reports published from 2004-present. Includes citations for bills, public laws, and Statutes at Large, and analytical abstracts of the documents. Also includes links to political parties and organizations and news sources. Coverage 1789-present.
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Legislative Insight This link opens in a new windowFind compilations of digital full-text publications relevant to enacted United States public laws.
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Congress.govThe official website for U.S. federal legislative information. The site provides access to accurate, timely, and complete legislative information for Members of Congress, legislative agencies, and the public. It is presented by the Library of Congress (LOC) using data from the Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Office of the Secretary of the Senate, the Government Printing Office, Congressional Budget Office, and the LOC's Congressional Research Service.
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govinfo.govProvides free public access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government.with coverage generally from the early 1990s to the present.
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CQ Press Library This link opens in a new windowIn the CQ Press Library, search or browse resources on American government, current affairs, history, politics, public policy, and data analysis for the social sciences.
Finding articles on policy
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PAIS Index (Political Science and Public Policy)PAIS (Public Affairs Information Service) searches journals and other sources on issues of political science and public policy. This includes government, politics, international relations, human rights and more.
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America: History and LifeAmerica: history and life provides historical coverage of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present with over 2,000 journals including all key English-language historical journals. Limited to 6 simultaneous users.
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HeinOnline This link opens in a new windowHuge legal search tool with full-text of legal journals, legal histories, government documents, state and federal cases, international law and includes coverage of many older legal materials. Contains the Congressional Record, Federal Register, and Code of Federal Regulations, complete coverage of the U.S. Reports (Supreme Court) back to 1754.
Government Publications Library (in Wilson Library)
Comprehensive Guide for United States Government Information
Guide to find tools to do research on executive and agency information, legislative, judicial, historical, and more
Materials from session (September 2021)
- Slides from session: z.umn.edu/POLslides
Developing your search strategy on voting topics
Break down your search into major keywords. Use AND between keywords. Use OR between synonyms. Try many searches and try to narrow or expand your search until you find between 50 and 200 articles.
Example searches:
- voter participation or political participation
- voter turnout and minnesota
- elections and minnesota
- political representation
- (mandatory or compulsory) and voting
- proportional representation
- Social media or facebook or twitter or snapchat or tiktok
- Politics, Elections, voting, republican, democratic
- Fake news or misinformation
- Example of specific Issues - immigration, culture, religion, gender, socioeconomic status, age, education
- Identity politics
- Political advertising
- Contributions
- Political engagement
- Mail-in voting
- Democracy
- First amendment
Find Articles and search databases
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Academic Search PremierA great place to start your research on any topic, search multidisciplinary, scholarly research articles. This database provides access to scholarly and peer reviewed journals, popular magazines and other resources. View this tutorial to learn how to go from a general idea to a very precise set of results of journal articles and scholarly materials.
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Worldwide Political Science AbstractsThe database provides citations, abstracts, and indexing of the international serials literature in political science and its complementary fields, including international relations, law, and public administration & public policy from1975 to the present.
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Sociological AbstractsThis core database for the field of sociology contains information on sociology and social policy worldwide. Sociological Abstracts includes citations from the 1952-present. It provides abstracting and indexing of articles and book reviews drawn from thousands of journal publications, plus books, book chapters, dissertations, conference papers, and working papers.
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PAIS Index (Political Science and Public Policy)PAIS (Public Affairs Information Service) searches journals and other sources on issues of political science and public policy. This includes government, politics, international relations, human rights and more.
Find Newspaper articles
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Minnesota Star Tribune (1986 to present) This link opens in a new windowFull-text articles from the recent issues of the Star Tribune. Does not include wire stories, ads, photos, or other non-textual article content from the paper. (via ProQuest Newsstream). Note: There is a one-day embargo on content; article counts for recent issues may be initially incomplete, but increase as the publisher provides access to finalized print content in daily feeds to ProQuest.
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St. Paul Pioneer Press (2010 to 2019) This link opens in a new windowFull digital replicas of recent content from the newspaper (including full-text articles, photos, illustrations, ads, etc.). Does not include the most recent 3 months of content. (via ProQuest Recent Newspapers)
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Ethnic NewsWatchEthnic NewsWatch is a current resource of full-text newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic and minority press from 1990, providing researchers access to essential, often overlooked perspectives.
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New York Times (1980 to present) This link opens in a new windowFull-text coverage of the New York Times to present day. Does not include photos, illustrations, ads, wire stories, or other page-image level access. (via ProQuest Newsstream)
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U.S. Newsstream This link opens in a new windowSearch the most recent premium U.S. news content, as well as archives which stretch back into the 1980s featuring newspapers, newswires, blogs, and news sites in active full-text format.
Finding Voting Information
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CQ Press Voting and Elections Collection This link opens in a new windowA database of elections data, authoritative analyses, concise explanations, and historical materials to help researchers investigate and understand voting and elections in America from 1789-present.
Set up your UMN account and DUO
Do you have your UMN email (also called Internet ID or x.500)?
Initiating or claiming your account will give you access to thousands of online journals, magazines, newspapers and ebooks at the University of Minnesota Libraries. Your teacher may need to provide information to complete this step. Ask them.
Setting up DUO
You also need to set up Duo Authentication to get access to things like your UMN email and to use many of the research tools on the UMN Library website. The IT Technology online help can answer questions on this.
Tip: If you are unable to initiate your account you can find scholarly articles with Academic Search Premier, find background information on your topic with Encyclopedia Britannica Academic Edition and find Pro/Con arguments on current issues with Points of View Reference Center.
Get help from the U Libraries - Online!
- Peer Research ConsultantsMake an online 30 minute appointment for one-on-one peer assistance with your research. Get help with researching your topic, finding sources, citing sources and more. Peer Research Consultants can also help you get started with faculty-sponsored research.
- Chat 24/7 online with the LibrariesAsk us anything! Chat with a librarian, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with any research or library questions.
- Meet with a librarianSchedule an online consultations for personalized research support primarily for University of Minnesota faculty, instructors, graduate and undergraduate students and staff.
Last Updated: Jul 8, 2025 10:26 AM
URL: https://libguides.umn.edu/CIS/POL/1001