VLGS Subscription Databases
Below is a sampling of databases that are useful for food and agriculture research.
Click here to access the full list of VLGS environmental databases. Click here to access the full list of VLGS databases.
To access databases either on or off campus, log into the school's portal when prompted.
If you're looking for a refresher on searching for articles, JSTOR has a great article that walks through the various techniques, which can be used for any database.
- Academic OneFile This link opens in a new windowGale Academic OneFIle covers a number of academic disciplines and includes thousands of articles relating to food and agriculture from scholarly and general interest journals. Contains full text for most of the articles.
- Agricultural & Environmental Science Collection This link opens in a new windowThis database includes the leading agricultural journals published in North America. Provides full-text resources from around the world, scholarly and trade journals, magazines, technical reports, conference proceedings, and government publications. Includes citations and abstracts from AGRICOLA, TOXLINE, and Environmental Sciences and Pollution Managements.
- Animal Studies: Law, Welfare and Rights This link opens in a new windowHeinOnline’s Animal Studies: Law, Welfare and Rights database includes more than 2,300 titles and nearly 650,000 pages relating to the background and evolution of the basic rights of animals. From philosophical books dating back to the 1800s to relevant government documents and videos, brochures, and scholarly articles, the database provides an overview of foundational animal-related legislation, while following the evolution of animal rights throughout the years.
- Ebook Central This link opens in a new windowA collection of thousands of online books and other materials on a variety of subject areas, including food and agriculture. They can be searched full-text. All ebooks are also listed in the JULIEN library catalog by title, author, subjects, and often table of contents.
- EcoAméricas This link opens in a new windowEcoAméricas, a monthly publication covering development and the environment, includes food and agriculture news in Latin America for an international audience. The Search option allows searching back to 1998. Includes a Guide to the environmental agencies of 24 Latin American countries.
- Environment Complete This link opens in a new windowEnvironment Complete offers coverage of environmental aspects relating to agriculture, sustainable agriculture, and water and agriculture, as well as food, food safety, food additives, dietary supplements, and other areas of environmental studies. Contains full text for most of the thousands of articles included and a selection of monographs dating back 100 years.
- Greenwire This link opens in a new windowGreenWire provides daily coverage of environment and energy issues, including those related to food and agriculture. It covers politics and policy with news stories and special reports. Greenwire not only covers major regulations, legislation, and court cases, but explains the issues with depth and breadth. Coverage goes back to 1996.
- Exploring Race In Society This link opens in a new windowExploring Race in Society includes articles from academic journals, agency reports, research by non-profits, primary source documents, and speeches from BlackPast, a leading source on African American history and experience. Content covers issues related to race, including those of Indigenous communities. Many documents relating to food and agriculture equity issues and racial discrimination are included.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowA large and eclectic collection of full-text non-law journals in a number of subject areas that support research in environmental law, including ecology, economics, business, agriculture, population studies, sociology, and statistics. Includes Ecology back to 1920 and the Journal of Ecology back to 1913.
- Onefile: Agriculture This link opens in a new windowWith an emphasis on titles covered in the USDA's Agricola database, Gale OneFile: Agriculture contains a combination of citations and full text for articles in more than 600 journal titles focused on agriculture-related fields.
- OneFile: Environmental Studies and Policy This link opens in a new windowGale OneFile: Environmental Studies and Policy includes articles related to environmental concerns with perspectives from the scientific community, governmental policymakers, and corporate interests, including soil science and management; agronomy; food, crops, and environment; and fundamental soil science.
- Policy Commons This link opens in a new windowThis collection of fact-based research from the world’s leading policy experts provides access to millions of reports, working papers, policy briefs, data sources, and research from think tanks and governmental entities. Policy Commons also includes research that has disappeared from inactive think tanks. It includes documents related to many aspects of food and agriculture law and policy.
- Politics Collection This link opens in a new windowThis collection provides abstracts, indexing, and full text coverage of journal articles, country reports, dissertations, think-tank reports, working papers, government documents and more, including full-text articles from many leading political science and international relations journals. This collection provides access to PAIS, Policy File Index, Political Science Database, and Worldwide Political Science Abstracts. Agriculture and food issues are covered extensively.
- Social Science Database This link opens in a new windowSocial Science Database offers indexing and full text for hundreds of academic journals, providing extensive coverage across a wide range of social science disciplines, including anthropology, communication, economics, political science, psychology, and sociology, which often intersect with food and agriculture issues.
- Social Sciences Citation Index (Web of Science) This link opens in a new windowA multidisciplinary index to journal literature in the social sciences. It offers the option to identify citing references, similar to KeyCite and Shepard's. Includes articles relating to food and agriculture.
- Trends & Policy: U.S. Environment This link opens in a new windowThis unique resource includes content from a variety of sources connecting policies to trending topics. Included are public laws, hearings and reports, Executive Branch reports and data, and current and historical news in extensive contextual topic pages. Click Browse Topics for topics such as Agriculture and the Environment, CAA, CWA, Environmental Justice, Fishing and Fisheries, Green Revolution, and Sustainability.
Kanopy and Docuseek
The Kanopy and Docuseek streaming film collections include educational films and documentaries on politics, current affairs, science, nature, technology, and environmental sciences. You can search by keyword, such as agriculture or food. Both databases include public performance rights for group and individual viewers as long as it is not for commercial benefit.
Westlaw and Lexis
For effective food or agriculture law and policy research, you can search for sources as you normally would, including using the Advanced Search option. You can also check out the following:
Research assistance, technical support, and customer service are available 24/7 on Live Chat or by clicking on Help. Students can call 1-800-850-9378 for Westlaw and 1-800-45-LEXIS for Lexis.
Need a reminder about research best practices? Our Lexis+ and Westlaw representatives recorded research refresher videos just for VLGS! They cover important research skills, such as how to perform a Boolean search. The Westlaw video also comes with a handout that covers the video's material. You can view the videos using the links below.
Westlaw, Lexis, and HeinOnline 50 State Surveys
- Lexis 50 State Statutory and Regulatory Surveys50 State Statutory and Regulatory Surveys is a survey topic with different subtopics, including Water Quality.
- Westlaw 50 State Statutory Surveys: Environmental Laws50 State Statutory Surveys: Environmental Laws is a survey topic with different subtopics, including Genetically Modified Food.
- Westlaw 50 State Regulatory Surveys on Westlaw: Environmental Laws50 State Regulatory Surveys: Environmental Laws is a survey topic with different subtopics, including Permits for Groundwater and Surface Water Discharge.
- HeinOnline National Survey of State Laws: Food LawsFood Laws is one topic in this database, which provides an overall view of state laws on a variety of legal topics. Animal Welfare, Beer Law, and Marijuana Laws are other topics of possible interest.
