Find out if researchers have done studies about effects of current policies on your topic?
Find out if researchers have done pilot projects on proposed policy changes?
Journal articles will not give you the most current information. It can take over a year for journal articles to be published. Search Google for reliable open access and news sources for more current information.
Comprehensive sociological research database. Indexes, abstracts and some full text of journal articles, books and conference papers, 1895 - present.
ProQuest Social Sciences Premium Collection
A collection of databases in the social sciences, including Social Services Abstracts, PAIS, Sociological Abstracts, Intl. Bibliography of the Social Sciences and more, and full text coverage of journal articles. The contents can be searched individually or as a group.
Journal articles covering applied and theoretical aspects of the social sciences; full text from 1994 forward; indexing with abstracts from 1984 forward.
PAIS International and Archive
Covers public and social policy literature.
Google Scholar is an open source search tool that spans across many disciplines and sources: it is often a very good resource for finding materials that may not appear in subscription library databases such as reports from professional societies, preprint repositories, universities, research institutes and think tanks, and other scholarly organizations.