SOC 341 - The University Libraries

SOC 341 - Sociological Perspectives

Group Study Rooms: Information about places for groups to study in the library

Encyclopedias (selected)

Specialized books such as the following titles can provide background information on your topic or help you with definitions of words you may not understand. The Reference Department of The University Libraries has several of these in sociology (HM call number), anthropology (GN), psychology (BF), education (L), and so on. Bibliographies at the end of each article may refer you to other useful sources. Note the names of authors writing extensively on the subject, then try the databases to look for journal articles they may have written.

Encyclopedia of African-American culture and history, editor-in-chief Colin A. Palmer.
Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2006

Also in print. Location: Ref E185 .E54

Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations

Detroit: Gale, 2007

Also in print. Location: Ref G63 .W67

Encyclopedia of Latin American history and culture, Barbara A. Tenenbaum,
editor in chief. New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1996

Ref E185 .E54

Encyclopedia of World Cultures. Timothy J. O'Leary and David Levinson,
ed. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1991-1996

Ref GN 550 .E53

Countries and Their Cultures

Melvin and Carol Ember, ed.

Also in print. Location: Ref GN307 .C68

Encyclopedia of cultural anthropology, David Levinson, Melvin Ember, ed.

New York : Henry Holt and Co., 1996

Ref GN 307 .E52

St. James encyclopedia of popular culture, Tom Pendergast, Sara
Pendergast, ed; with an introduction by Jim Cullen.

Detroit: St. James Press, 2000

Also in print. Location: Ref E169.1 .S764

Ref BL80.2 .L463
Religion : a cross-cultural encyclopedia, David Levinson. Santa Barbara,
Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 1996

Ref HC 59.7 .K87
Encyclopedia of the Third World. George Thomas Kurian, ed. New York:
Facts on File, 1992

Subject Databases to Locate Magazine and Journal Articles

What are scholarly journals and how do I find them?

Databases are computerized subject guides to magazines, journals, newspapers, and other materials. For more choices than those listed below, go to The University Libraries home page, then click on Databases. Click on the starting letter of the database or click on a department name.

Tips:
-When searching your topic remember to try a variety of subject headings for the same concept.
-Click here for tips on using the search connectors AND, OR, and NOT in your search strategy.

REMEMBER: To get to the full text of the journal article you must go through the Library's web pages. We have paid for access to the journals. You cannot go to the publisher's page to get an article. Use Journal Finder if you have the name of the journal.

Humanities and Social Science Retrospective
--Indexes the core scholarly, English-language journals published between 1907 and 1984
--Includes citations to more than 1 million articles, including book reviews.
--Continued by Social Sciences Index

SocIndex with Full Text (SIFT) (EBSCO)
--Offers comprehensive coverage of sociology, encompassing all sub-disciplines and closely related areas of study. These include criminology & criminal justice, demography, ethnic & racial studies, gender studies, marriage & family, political sociology, religion, rural & urban sociology, social development, social psychology, social structure, social work, socio-cultural anthropology, sociological history, sociological research, sociological theory, substance abuse & other addictions, violence and many others.

--Covers articles from over 4,000 journals and the full text of more than 700 books and 6,800 conference papers.

--Abstracts of some of the core journals date as far back as 1895.

Sociological Abstracts
--Abstracts (no full text) for a couple thousand journals, plus books, conference papers, and other materials in sociology, social psychology, social work, community development, demography and feminist studies.

--International in scope. Many foreign language titles.

--Major journals in these fields available in UNCG library but others are not.
--Dates of coverage: 1963 to present.

Expanded Academic ASAP (InfoTrac)
--This large general and interdisciplinary database covers a wide range of current events, news, and scholarly materials from over 8,000 journals and magazines including some full text from about half of the titles.

--Subject areas include sociology, social work, and family studies. Most materials are available in the UNCG library.
--Dates of coverage: 1980 to present for the database; full text coverage varies by title

Academic Search Premier
--Provides citations or abstracts for over 8,000 scholarly journals covering topics across the disciplines including sociology.

--Full-text for over half the journals dating back to 1990 with some back to 1975.
Dates of coverage for non full-text titles: approximately 1984 to date.

ProQuest Research Library
--Provides indexing and abstracting of approximately 2,600 periodicals and national and regional newspapers including some full text from over half of the periodicals.

--Covers a wide variety of subjects.
--Dates of coverage: 1971 to present

PsycINFO
--Provides citations and abstracts (no full text) for over 1300 periodicals written in over 25 languages, as well as book chapters, books, technical reports, and dissertations
--Covers psychology and related disciplines such as sociology, social work, medicine, nursing, and psychiatry.
--Covers such topics as behavioral assessment, community mental health and casework with special populations.
--Large number of foreign language titles. Jackson library owns or has access to many of the core, English-language titles and the database links to the full text of many of the articles..
--1872 to present

Lexis-Nexis Academic
--Full text articles from over 7500 journals, magazines, transcripts, newspapers, newsletters, and other sources including foreign materials.

--Especially strong in business, law, health, and general news information.

--Very useful for current information.

Family & Society Studies Worldwide
--Over 180,000 bibliographic records and abstracts drawn from over 1,000 professional journals as well as books, popular literature, conference papers, and government reports.

--Includes research, policy and practice literature in the fields of family science, human ecology and human development.

--Considerable Australian material. Limited number of indexed materials available in Jackson Library.

--Covers 1970 to present.

Looking for the full text of the article? Go to Journal Finder and enter the name of the journal.

Search Tips

Use the most specific terms you can think of in your search strategy. Remember to consider using synonyms for the same concept
e.g. adolescents, adolescence, teenagers, youth. If that doesn't work try moving to gradually broader terms

Broad subject headings work well for books e.g. Africa, health, children, population, social conditions.
Narrow subject headings may work better for journal articles because they tend to focus on a specific issue e.g. Ethiopia rather than Africa, AIDS or diet or food supply rather than health, adolescents instead of children, birth control or ethnic relations instead of population.
Try terms such as developing countries or third world to focus on problems in those regions.
Remember that most scholarly books have a bibliography at the end of the book or at the end of each chapter. These bibliographies are an easy way of identifying good journal articles that are relevant to your topic. Most journal articles also have a bibliography at the end so try using it to find additional information.

Citation Styles

APA, Turabian, and MLA Citation Styles

APA Examples

Text of an article from a print or microfilm journal:

VandenBos, G., Knapp, S., & Doe, J. (2001). Role of reference elements in the selection of resources by psychology undergraduates. Journal of

Bibliographic Research, 5, 117-123.

Text of an electronic journal article retrieved via a DOI number:

Smith, W.C. (1993). Role of early supervisory experience in supervisor performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78(4), 443-449.

doi:10.1037/002-9432.76.4.482

Text of an article from a publisher or organization website:

VandenBos, G., Knapp, S., & Doe, J. (2001). Role of reference elements in the selection of resources by psychology undergraduates. Journal

of Bibliographic Research, 5, 117-123. Retrieved from http://www.envplan.com/epa/fulltext/a40/a38255.pdf

Electronic copy of an article retrieved from a database:

Borman, W. C., Hanson, M. A., Oppler, S. H., Pulakos, E. D., & White, L.A. (1993). Role

of early supervisory experience in supervisor performance. Journal of Applied

Psychology, 78 (4), 443-449. Retrieved October 23, 2000, from PsycARTICLES database.

The title of the journal and the volume number are in bold. The issue number is not.

Remember to cite the database which actually has the article, not the database you used to find it.

ASA Style Guide ref HM586 .A54 1997

Online Catalog

In keyword searching, the computer hunts for all of your words in the title, subject or notes lines. A subject search will tell the computer to look for your terms only in the subject headings for that book. Always use keyword searching if you want to combine terms using or and and. For example, if you are looking for an encyclopedia on culture in a particular country, try the following search strategy:

(culture or cultural) and encyclopedia? and Japan.
The ? will find the words encyclopedia of encyclopedias

The University Libraries' Catalog

Internet Sources

Access the Internet search engines

Evaluating Web Pages for information on determining whether you have found a reliable web site. Much information on the Internet is not credible so it is wise to check

Author Info: Nancy Ryckman