Introduction
This subject guide highlights some key discipline resources to get you started with study and research.
- Refer to the New Students Library Guide for everything you need to know about Library services and resources.
- Build your researching, reading and writing skills with the Research Essentials Library Guide.
- Streamline your access to online resources with the Library's quick access tools.
Encyclopedias and handbooks
For an authoritative overview on development studies topic areas, you can start with the following reference databases:
- Oxford Bibliographies OnlineOxford Bibliographies Online helps researchers and students find reliable sources of information to aid their research from within the enormous amount of print and online material available to them.
The Library has access to selected modules only: African studies, Atlantic history, Art history, Biblical studies, Childhood studies, Classics, Criminology, Education, International law, International relations, Islamic studies, Jewish studies, Linguistics, Management, Music, Philosophy, Political science, Psychology, Renaissance and reformation, Sociology. - Oxford ReferenceOxford Reference is the home of Oxford’s quality reference publishing. The collection provides quality, up-to-date reference content at the click of a button. The University of Melbourne subscribes to selected titles from this large collection of materials.
- SAGE KnowledgeSAGE Knowledge offers an expansive range of SAGE eBook and eReference content, including scholarly monographs, reference works, handbooks, series, professional development titles, and more. The Library has purchased selected titles only.
Below is a selection of other reference works related to development studies, both in print and eBook format. You might also like to try browsing for more reference sources in the library catalogue.
- The companion to development studieseBook version
Key theoretical and practical issues in contemporary development studies with contributions from international experts in the field. - Encyclopedia of international developmentPrint version available from the Baillieu Library High Use Collection
- Handbook of the international political economy of governanceeBook version
Research on how the global political economy is presently being governed and misgoverned. - New perspectives in international developmentPrint version
Holistic overview of key theories with case studies, covering a range of topics including conflict, economics, environment, and more. - The Routledge handbook of gender and developmentPrint version
Reference point for international gender and development policy making and practice. - Routledge handbook of NGOs and international relationseBook version
Covering contrasting theories, regional dimensions, and contemporary challenges facing Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs).
Databases and journals
Use databases to search across many academic resources (including peer-reviewed journals) at the same time.
Refer to the A-Z Ejournals and Databases page for a comprehensive list of available resources.
Core Arts and Humanities databases:
The selection of multidisciplinary databases below will retrieve results from different subject areas.
- Discovery (EBSCO)Use Discovery to look for books, ebooks, journal articles and more. It's a great place to start your search but does not give you everything the Library has.
- Google ScholarGoogle Scholar is one of the most popular ways to find academic sources for study and research. Did you know you can use it to search for journal articles that the University of Melbourne has access to? You can do this through the link above or set up your Google Scholar preferences to include Library content.
- JSTORJSTOR is one of the largest databases the Library has access to. It is a multidisciplinary database so it looks in thousands of journals in over a hundred subjects - many of them related to arts and humanities. Highly recommended as your first or second place to search.
- ProQuest CentralCovering more than 160 subjects areas, ProQuest Central is the largest aggregated database of periodical content. This award-winning online reference resource features a highly-respected, diversified mix of content including scholarly journals, trade publications, magazines, books, newspapers, reports and videos.
- Scopus (Elsevier)Scopus is another large, multidisciplinary database. It looks through journals, books, and conference papers. It has some advanced tools that can help you discover new research quickly - the 'times cited' and 'related articles' links are great time-savers. While it doesn't always have full-text PDFs it is still an excellent place to look for your research.
- Web of ScienceWeb of Science is a massive, multidisciplinary database which includes a large amount of humanities and social sciences material from as far back as 1900. Like Scopus it has some advanced features that allows you to quickly link to related research.
There are many areas of focus within development studies. Here is just a small selection of databases relevant to each area that you may want to start with:
Multidisciplinary
- Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts : ASSIAIncludes journals on health, social services, psychology, sociology, economics, politics, race relations and education.
- CAB AbstractsInternational coverage of life science topic areas, including agriculture, environment, veterinary sciences, applied economics, food science and nutrition.
- CIAO*Columbia International Affairs Online (CIAO) covers theory and research in international affairs, offering books, journals plus publications from NGOs and policy briefs.
- Current Contents Connect (ISI)Database covering Social & Behavioral Sciences (SBS); Arts & Humanities (AH); Business, and science disciplines.
- OxResearch Database (Proquest)Covering world and regional economic and political developments using a political, social and economic framework.
Agriculture and/or food supply
- ANR Research (Informit)Australian government initiative - database of research projects on agriculture and natural resources.
Economy and industry
- Global Financial DevelopmentDataset of financial system characteristics for 203 economies including measures of financial depth, access, efficiency and stability.
Education
- AEI-ATSIS - Australian Education Index – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Subset (Informit)Covering education and training relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, including learning and teaching language, literacy, teacher training, and professional development
Health
- EMBASEInternational resources on public health, health policy and management, environmental health, and other biomedical and pharmaceutical topic areas.
Region-specific information
- Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander combined Informit Indexes (Informit)Resources on Australian Indigenous culture, including land rights and Native Title, the stolen generations, deaths in custody, arts, music, environmental issues, literature, Indigenous languages, law, and education.
- African e-Journals ProjectJournals from and about Africa.
- PERIND (Informit)Indexes articles on Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei and ASEAN (as an entity).
Books
You can access print and eBooks via the Library Catalogue. To find books on a particular subject, try a keyword search:
To improve your searching skills, see the Research Essentials Library Guide. Note that you can search the catalogue in non-Latin scripts (including Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, Japanese and Korean).
For information on access and loans, including material from other libraries, see the borrowing from the library page. The eBook Guide provides information on eBook access.
Theses
Country information
- World Development Indicators OnlineStart with this library database, which contains the most current and accurate global development data available from officially-recognized international sources, and includes national, regional and global estimates.
- EIU Country DataAnnual, quarterly and monthly economic indicators and forecasts from the Economist Intelligence Unit.
- IMF eLibraryAnalysis and research on trade and aid, demographics, policy advice, poverty reduction, and more.
- OECD iLibraryPublications and data sets released by the OECD.
- World Bank e-LibraryFinal, peer-reviewed versions of the World Bank's formal publications, plus books, reports, and working papers.
Streaming videos and media
- Kanopy (Kanopy)Explore over 20,000 online educational videos covering a wide range educational disciplines including literacy, mathematics, history and issues in society. International and Australian content.
- Alexander Street VideoVideo, audio and text-based resources covering a range of disciplines, including social studies. Almost every video is fully transcribed, plus indexed for subjects, people, places, release date, language, publisher, and video type.
Research methods
To get started, try some of the resources below:
- SAGE Research MethodsExplore key concepts and methods on research and scholarly writing. This database includes case studies.
Websites
You can find relevant information and resources for your research on the websites of professional organisations and bodies, institutes, NGOs, government departments, etc.
This guide gives a few suggestions to get you started and to give you an idea what to look for. It is by no means comprehensive. If you are a coursework student, check your LMS to see if your lecturer has provided website recommendations.
Tip: if you want to limit your Google search results to organisational, governmental, or educational websites, use Google's advanced search option to limit the site or domains to .org, .gov, .edu.
General overviews
- ELDISIncludes over 40,000 summaries and links to full-text research and policy documents from over 8,000 publishers
- Global Development NetworkPublic international organisation that generates policy-oriented social science research in developing and transition countries.
- ReliefWebNews and information on global crises and disasters, including reports, maps and infographics. From the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
- UN Human Development ReportsProduced by the UN Development Program (UNDP) from 1990 - present, these focus on development beyond economic terms and centralise people, opportunity and choice. Includes country profiles and statistical data.
Agriculture and food supply
- CGIAR Consortium of International Agricultural Research CentersGlobal partnership that unites organizations engaged in research for a food-secured future.
- International Food Policy Research InstituteGenerating research-based food policy solutions. Division of CGIAR.
Economy and industry
- International Labour OrganizationResponsible for drawing up and overseeing international labour standards. Specialised division of the United Nations.
Health and science
- The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS)Organisation promoting the advancement of science in developing countries, with annual reports and open access publications.
Human rights and society
Referencing and citing
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