LibGuides: Sociology Guide: Sociology 307: Research Methods I

Finding Articles

What is the Broad topic of your research - sociology? criminal justice? human resources? anthropology?

First go to the database(s) best for your general topic.
Check out the Search Tips tab on the Sociology Guide to find some tips on searching the database.
- Look for subject headings and use wildcards and quotation marks to do the best searches you can.
Are there other disciplines that might have useful information?
- Sociology crosses many disciplines so try searching other databases as well.

Which database to search

These are the best databases for sociology at South Dakota State University.

SocIndex This link opens in a new window
The database features more than 2.1 million records with subject headings from a 20,000+ term sociological thesaurus. This product also contains extensive indexing for books/monographs, conference papers, and other non-periodical content. Searchable cited references are also provided.
Social Sciences Citation Index - Web of Science This link opens in a new window
A multidisciplinary index to the journal literature of the social sciences. It fully covers over 2,900 journals across 50 social sciences disciplines. It also indexes individually selected, relevant items from over 3,500 of the world's leading scientific and technical journals. Coverage from 1969 to present.

The databases below are not as sophisticated for searching but contain a lot of articles in sociology.

JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Includes more than 1,700 leading academic journals and 45,000 Ebooks in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, as well as other materials valuable for academic work.
Sage Journals Collection This link opens in a new window
This comprehensive bibliographic and full text database includes more than 645 journals. Topics covered include the humanities, social sciences, medicine, and science and technology.
Oxford Journals This link opens in a new window
The Oxford Journals online collection includes over 170 titles. Some of the subjects covered include: Life Sciences, Mathematics and Physical Sciences, Medicine, Social Sciences, Humanities and Law. The benefit of utilizing the online version of the Oxford Journals is the ability to access finished manuscripts of journals before they are released in print.
Taylor and Francis Journals This link opens in a new window
Multidisciplinary database of over 1600 journals and reference works published by Taylor and Francis. Coverage varies by journal and full-text varies by subscription.
Wiley Online Library This link opens in a new window
Wiley Online Library includes access to over 1500 peer-reviewed journals, over 10,000 online books, and hundreds of reference works, laboratory protocols, and databases and is one of the world's most extensive multidisciplinary collections of online resources, covering life, health, social and physical sciences, and humanities.

These are the best databases for criminal justice at South Dakota State University.

SocIndex This link opens in a new window
The database features more than 2.1 million records with subject headings from a 20,000+ term sociological thesaurus. This product also contains extensive indexing for books/monographs, conference papers, and other non-periodical content. Searchable cited references are also provided.

National Criminal Justice Reference Service Abstracts
Covers criminal justice, juvenile justice, and substance abuse resources housed in the NCJRS Library collection. Includes over 210,000 summaries of Federal, State, and local government reports, books, research reports, journal articles, documents, and unpublished research. Documents date from the 1960's to the present. Federally funded resource sponsored by U.S. Dept. of Justice and Executive Office of the President. Updated weekly.
Homeland Security Digital Library
Over 100,000 documents relating to homeland security from the federal, state and local governments as well as non-profits and private entities.

The databases below are not as sophisticated for searching but contain a lot of articles in criminal justice.

JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Includes more than 1,700 leading academic journals and 45,000 Ebooks in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, as well as other materials valuable for academic work.
Sage Journals Collection This link opens in a new window
This comprehensive bibliographic and full text database includes more than 645 journals. Topics covered include the humanities, social sciences, medicine, and science and technology.

Highwire
Provides access to over 1700 books and journals many of which SDSU subscribes to or which provide free full-text.

Oxford Journals This link opens in a new window
The Oxford Journals online collection includes over 170 titles. Some of the subjects covered include: Life Sciences, Mathematics and Physical Sciences, Medicine, Social Sciences, Humanities and Law. The benefit of utilizing the online version of the Oxford Journals is the ability to access finished manuscripts of journals before they are released in print.
SpringerLink This link opens in a new window
Multidisciplinary database covering over 2500 journals and 53,000 books published by Springer. Browse by topic or publication type as well as searching by subject.
Wiley Online Library This link opens in a new window
Wiley Online Library includes access to over 1500 peer-reviewed journals, over 10,000 online books, and hundreds of reference works, laboratory protocols, and databases and is one of the world's most extensive multidisciplinary collections of online resources, covering life, health, social and physical sciences, and humanities.

These are the best databases for anthropology at South Dakota State University.

Project MUSE This link opens in a new window
Provides full-text/image access to articles from more than 150 scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, and mathematics from many of the world’s leading university presses and scholarly societies.
SocIndex This link opens in a new window
The database features more than 2.1 million records with subject headings from a 20,000+ term sociological thesaurus. This product also contains extensive indexing for books/monographs, conference papers, and other non-periodical content. Searchable cited references are also provided.
Social Sciences Citation Index - Web of Science This link opens in a new window
A multidisciplinary index to the journal literature of the social sciences. It fully covers over 2,900 journals across 50 social sciences disciplines. It also indexes individually selected, relevant items from over 3,500 of the world's leading scientific and technical journals. Coverage from 1969 to present.

The databases below are not as sophisticated for searching but contain a lot of articles in anthropology.

JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Includes more than 1,700 leading academic journals and 45,000 Ebooks in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, as well as other materials valuable for academic work.
SpringerLink This link opens in a new window
Multidisciplinary database covering over 2500 journals and 53,000 books published by Springer. Browse by topic or publication type as well as searching by subject.
Taylor and Francis Journals This link opens in a new window
Multidisciplinary database of over 1600 journals and reference works published by Taylor and Francis. Coverage varies by journal and full-text varies by subscription.
Wiley Online Library This link opens in a new window
Wiley Online Library includes access to over 1500 peer-reviewed journals, over 10,000 online books, and hundreds of reference works, laboratory protocols, and databases and is one of the world's most extensive multidisciplinary collections of online resources, covering life, health, social and physical sciences, and humanities.

Finding Books

Books tend to have broader topics than articles so you may have to think big to find a book.
If your search results include articles, click on Books and More in the dropdown box by the search to limit to the library's catalog.

Types of Articles

Journals are scholarly, reliable information. You still need to evaluate the information, even the best experts make mistakes.

Published for scholars, researchers, and experts in the field
Authors are named and their expertise is described
Articles are long and typically report on research
Information sources are attributed and there are often long bibliographies
Illustrations included are used to clarify the text

Examples

Reay, Mike. 2010. "Knowledge Distribution, Embodiment, and Insulation." Sociological Theory 28(1):91-107. doi: 10.2307/25746215. (all the examples below come from this article)

Author information - Notice the author's address is included to indicate that his is at Swarthmore College
Note that this article runs from page 91 through 107 so it is 17 pages long.
Source information
- An in-text citation is circled in red
- Beginning of the bibliography is circled in blue
There are no illustrations including tables or charts in this article

Peer Reviewed Journals

Peer reviewed journals are a special class - they are the creme de la creme of information sources.

What does peer review mean?

Articles submitted to a journal.

The journal send the articles out to 1 to 3 experts in the field without identifying the author.

The experts review the article and send it back to the journal with recommendations for improvements or approval.

The article is sent back to the author with the recommendations and a tentative approval or rejection of the article. The reviewers remain anonymous.

If improvements are made and there was a tentative approval, the article is resubmitted and published.

In other words, the information is vetted by experts before it is even published.

Most databases allow you to limit your results by peer-reviewed journals.

Published for entertainment
Authors may be identified but not always
- They are often journalists and expert in reporting but not in the fields they report on
Articles are usually short
Sources are not cited
Illustrations are included for entertainment and advertising

Example

Keller, A. G. 1916. "Sociology and Science." Nation 102(2653):475-78. (all examples below come from this article)

Author identified but there is no information on his or her expertise in the area
Note that this article is only 4 pages long
There is no bibliography
This magazine does not have a lot of illustrations but it is unusual in this regard
- Think of People Magazine, Car and Driver, Time, or Newsweek for more typical examples

Authors may be acknowledged but often not
- Authors are journalists who are experts in reporting but often not in the topics on which they are reporting
Short articles
- Often just a few column inches
Focused on news topics - either events or human interest

ProQuest U.S. Major Dailies This link opens in a new window
Provides access to The New York Times, Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, and Chicago Tribune. Full-text access from 1980 to the present.

Interlibrary Loan

Although Briggs Library has an extensive collection, you may need items that are not available at the Library. No worries! You can request those articles, books, and other materials through Interlibrary Loan.

Keep in mind that the process may take several days for articles and ebooks and longer for print books. We encourage you to start your research early!

Many of our databases have an Interlibrary Loan Request button for articles not available in that particular database. Before submitting the loan request, be sure to check our Journals List for the title of the source or periodical (i.e. New York Times).

Accessing Library Databases and Journals From Off Campus

We license many of our databases for use by SDSU students, faculty, and staff. To access them from off campus, you will need to log into our proxy server.

Students: Use your jacks e-mail username and password (use the whole e-mail address as the username).

Faculty/Staff: Use your campus login credentials.

Jeopardy Labs Review

Let's review with a game of Jeopardy!

Search for an item from thousands of libraries worldwide: Enter title, subject or author

WorldCat.org >>