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Public Administration:Program Planning and Evaluation - Research Resources

Created for POLS 550, this guide features resources to help students focus and direct their research efforts in the field of public program administration and public program evaluation.

Starting Points

Search OneSearch

Do a basic keyword search in OneSearch to find books, articles, media, and more.

Recommended Databases

Find Your Personal Strategy

Possible search strategies:

SEARCH BY TOPIC / program objective / target population

Example:
evaluation and addiction treatment


ScienceDirect interface, Articles search is selected, Search for Evaluation in Abstract, Title and Keywords and Addiction treatment in all Fields is selected.
(modifications on this search: "program evaluation" and "substance abuse" ;
"program evaluation" and "alcoholism" ; etc)

 

OR SEARCH BY AGENCY or PROGRAM NAME

Examples: "New Hope" and Wisconsin ;
"Chicago Target Cities Project" ;
"San Diego" and "aging services"

 

TIP: Try searching newspapers OR use the Google News search engine to find names of programs you would like to investigate.

Look for indexing

IMPORTANT TIP:

Look for indexing, vocabulary terms, and key words. Sometimes they are called "Subjects" or "Subject Headings" or "Descriptors."

example of subject headings found in database records

Sometimes you must go to "Advanced Search" to find the possible search fields:

example of search fields found in a database advanced search