PAIS: Public Affairs Information Service , subscription database.

Unique Features - Or Nearly So.

• PAIS is the only scholarly index which routinely includes government documents, and among the few wich include working papers. These can be vital in sociological research. This feature pairs PAIS, one of the oldest and most selective scholarly databases, in an unlikely way with the modern open Internet Google search feature. Both can identify important "Grey Literature" including these types.
• PAIS, unlike any other database known to scholarly research, will almost always identify another key resource that no other database has found. Never very many, but almost always something that matters. Not to check it is done at one's own peril.

PAIS, the Public Affairs Information Service,  is an essential index in Sociology and indeed in all the social sciences, covering the broadest range of materials and social issues.  It is based on social science holdings of New York Public Library.  It includes journal articles, books, reports, government documents, working papers, all together an unusually broad range of materials. Although not as many hits will be found here on any given subject as in many other indexes, ones found here are almost always important ones, key to solid coverage of topics in Sociology.  Database begins in 1915 and comes up to date.

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