Library Guides: First Amendment Resources: Databases

Suggested Databases - ISU Libraries

Academic Search Ultimate This link opens in a new window
This database covers almost all subject areas and is especially good at interdisciplinary areas. Good place to start for class assignments. It contains full text articles for more than 6,500 journals.
Access World News This link opens in a new window
This is a collection of more than 12,000 newspapers and other news sources from nearly 200 countries, from 1980 to the present. It provides full-text access to several major national and international newspapers, as well as local and regional titles. Almost 20 different languages are represented. Platform is updated daily making it good source for current events.

Access World News tutorial
America: History and Life This link opens in a new window
Covers the history and culture of the United States and Canada, from prehistory to the present. With indexing for 1,700 journals from publications going back to 1910.
ARDA - Association of Religion Data Archives This link opens in a new window
This resource provides statistical and other data concerning American religions, including demographics, timelines, survey results, “family trees”, and profiles. Some international information is included.
ATLA Religion Database with ATLA Serials This link opens in a new window
Compiled by the American Theological Library Association, this covers biblical studies, world religions, church history, and religious perspectives on social issues. This is an essential source for religious studies students and researchers seeking information pertaining to social sciences, history and humanities.
Communication & Mass Media Complete This link opens in a new window
CMMC provides full-text, indexing and abstracts for hundreds communication journals covering related disciplines such as media studies, linguistics, rhetoric and discourse. Many of the journals have searchable cited references.
Communication Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Provides abstracts for nearly 350 journals covering communication and other closely-related fields of study. Most of the journals have searchable cited references.
Congressional Digest Debates This link opens in a new window
An independent, scholarly publication featuring controversies before Congress. Congressional Digest is not an official organ, nor is it controlled by any party, interest, class or sect.

Campus Access Only
HeinOnline This link opens in a new window
HeinOnline provides access to numerous legal and essential government publications, among them, congressional records, US federal agency documents, and several collections related to Iowa state law. Its archive of case law consists of federal, state, and overseas cases.
HeinOnline tutorial
Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Historical Abstracts covers the history of the world (excluding the United States and Canada) from 1450 to the present, including world history, military history, women's history, history of education, and more.
Humanities and Social Science Index Retrospective, 1907-1984 This link opens in a new window
Indexing of articles (and book reviews) from a vast amount of periodicals dating from 1907 to 1984.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
JSTOR spans many disciplines, primarily in the humanities, social sciences, and life sciences. It includes digitized current and back issues of academic journals, books and primary source materials.
Project Muse This link opens in a new window
Full-text provider of humanities and social sciences books and journals.
Religions of America This link opens in a new window
This database includes primary and secondary materials from Hebrew Christians, Pentecostal, Baptist organizations, Grace Gospel, and other denominations. It features serials on neo-Pagan and occult religious traditions as well as important subject files on LGBTQ churches, church-state controversies, women and female spirituality, and political extremism.
Sociological Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Sociological Abstracts includes journal articles, books, book chapters, dissertations, conference papers, and working papers in sociology, social work, and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences.
Web of Science Core Collection This link opens in a new window
Web of Science Core is a database of “core publications” across all disciplines. This database has a cited reference search tool that can be used for searching for a specific item from a citation.
Congressional Research Service Reports This link opens in a new window
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) serves as shared staff to congressional committees and Members of Congress. CRS approaches complex topics from a variety of perspectives and examines all sides of an issue, writing the reports for legislators. Staff members analyze current policies and present the impact of proposed policy alternatives.

Free/Open Databases

GovInfo This link opens in a new window
Searches and links to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government.
Iowa Legislature Archives This link opens in a new window
Contains historical government documents for Iowa mostly from the middle of the twentieth century to the present.
Iowa Legislature Archives tutorial
JSTOR: Open Content This link opens in a new window
This is a subset of the full JSTOR collection, limited to content found in the JSTOR Open Collection. It is primarily a collection of book chapters, but it also contains several thousand freely-accessible journal articles.
Lens This link opens in a new window
This large database includes both scholarly works and patent documents from around the world. In addition to its specialized search features, it includes analytical tools that can be used to identify influential people, institutions, publishers, and journals in a particular research area.
Lens tutorial
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations This link opens in a new window
Searches for freely available electronic theses and dissertations on all subjects from around the world. While this index is great, be aware that some are actually NOT free. In particular, some are restricted or embargoed.
Undergraduate Research Commons This link opens in a new window
This database showcases works published by undergraduate students from hundreds of universities and colleges. It includes conference posters and presentations, fieldwork and class projects, honors theses and capstone projects, and research papers. Undergraduate authors interested in publishing can use this tool to find journals and conferences in their fields.