Think Tanks & Research Institutes

• Think Tank Search: from the Harvard Kennedy School, this customized Google search allows you to run a keyword search of almost 500 think tank Websites. And be sure to click the red tabs for a substantial list of U.S. think tanks, as well as international think tanks grouped by region.
• Think Tanks & NGOs: from the Yale University Library, this is a gateway page to relevant Web resources. Note in particular the NGO Search Egnine.
• WWW Virtual Library: International Affairs Resources : "Frequently updated Internet directory of over 2000 annotated links to high-quality English-language sources of information and analysis in a wide range of international affairs, international relations, international studies, global studies, and global education topics." Be sure to take advantage of the geographical and topical index on the left.
• American Policy Directory: from the University of Oregon Libraries, "Find analysis and advocacy from all perspectives on US national public policy."

• SourceWatch: this list from the Center for Media and Democracy collaborative allows you to click on the name of a known think tank and connect to a brief desciption emphasizing any ideological and/or political affiliations of the organization. The list of U.S. thinks tanks is followed by international categories. 
• List of Think Tanks: The Wikipedia treatment, organized by country. This is a more comprehensive list than SourceWatch and clicking on any thnik tank will retrieve a Wikipedia article that will probably acknowledge political affiliation and financing sources.
• Global Go To Think Tank Index: from the Thnk Tanks and Civil Societies Program at the University of Pennsylvania, this index offers itself as "the gold standard for think tanks around the world and is widely cited by governments, donors, journals and policymakers as the foremost profile and performance of think tanks in every region of the world." Open the current report and in the table of contents you'll find categories such as Top Think Tanks in the World, Top Think Tanks by Region, and Top Think Tanks by Area of Research.

     Depending on your topic, there may be an IC database of newspaper, magazine, and journal articles with an appropriate focus--for example ERIC for educational policy or CINAHL and Science Direct for health policy. The comprehensive databases that can be relied on to treat all public policy issues are Academic Search Premier , General OneFile , and ProQuest Research Library . And for full-text international news coverage, be sure to try LexisNexis Academic .

    Another database that may be particularly useful for information on policy issues:

     CQ Researcher  is a weekly publication from Congressional Quarterly. Each report (approx. 25 pages) examines a single issue relevant to American public policy, including health, criminal justice, internaional affairs, education, the environment, technology, and the economy. The non-partisan analysis always includes a "Background," "Current Situation," "Outlook," and "Pro/Con" section, as well as numerous charts and graphs of statistical data, maps, and a bibliography for further reading.
Note the "Issue Tracker" and "Pro/Con" browsers on the left of the home page: these provide an excellent way to find or brainstorm a topic.
     User Advisory: The archives here extend back to 1991, and since many of these topics are time-sensitive, keep an eye on dates as you scan the reports.

Policy--Theory & Practice:

Policy sciences
Political planning
Political planning--United States
Public administration--Decision making
Administrative agencies
Administrative agencies--United States
Government consultants--United States  

Many policy resources can be retrived by adding "Government policy" as a subheading to a particular topic:

Abortion--Government policy--United States
AIDS (Disease)--Government policy--United States
Climatic changes--Government policy
Crime--Government policy--United States
Drone aircraft--Government policy--United States
Emigration and immigration--Government policy
Global warming--Government policy
Immigrants--Government policy--United States
Insurance, Health--Government policy
Internet--Government policy--United States
Older people--Government policy--United States
Poverty--Government policy
Research--Government policy--United States
Terrorism--Government policy--United States

Certain broad policy areas may be available as Subjects:

Energy policy
Family policy--United States
Health Policy--United States
Mass media policy
Military policy
Population policy
Social policy

Sometimes Subject Headings with a policy focus add "and state" to a topic area:

Agriculture and state
Church and state--United States
Education and state
Higher education and state--United States
Islam and state
Religion and state
Transportation and state--United States

Subject Headings for thinks tank and research institutes:

Research institutes
Research institutes--United States
Aslo see Non-governmental organizations, which often formulate and implement policy.

Individual think tanks may be available as Subjects:

Brookings Institution
Council on Foreign Relations
National Bureau of Economic Research
Rand Corporation--Influence

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• Controversies & Social Issues  

• Agriculture & Food
• Bioethical Issues
• Business Ethics 
• Consumerism
• Crime and Criminal justice 
• Death & Dying
• Education Issues
• Environmental Issues
• Identity Issues
• Islam & the Islamic World 
• Journalism: Making Sense of the News
• Men, Women, Marriage, Divorce 
• Family & Families
• Native American Issues 
• Pop Culture
• Violence Topics 
• Writing  

• Do Think Tanks Matter? Assessing the Impact of Public Policy Institutes
• Think Tanks, Public Policy, and the Politics of Expertise
• Capitol Idea: Think Tanks and U.S. Foreign Policy 
• What Should Think Tanks Do? : A Strategic Guide to Policy Impact  
• Social Science and Policymaking : A Search for Relevance in the Twentieth Century   
• Pursuing Truth, Exercising Power : Social Science and Public Policy in the Twenty-First Century 
• Double Standard : Social Policy in Europe and the United States
• Social Policy for Development 
• Public Health and Society 
• Freedom, Equality and the Market : Arguments on Social Policy   
• Transnational Social Policies : The New Development Challenges of Globalization   
• Student's Companion to Social Policy