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Library Liaison
Gwen Verkuilen
Contents
Introduction
Select Reference Resources
Find Journal Articles
Find Books
Selected Websites
How to Cite Your Sources
Course Guides
SO 228 – Sociology of Health
and Illness
SO 255 – Social Welfare:
Poverty and Public
Policy
SO 342 – Stratification
Department Website
Sociology Department
Sociology Department
Homepage
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The Sociology Subject Guide is intended to provide an introduction to sociology research resources. If you need in-depth assistance or if you have questions about any of the resources or services mentioned in the guide please contact the Sociology Liaison Librarian.
All of the titles listed below are located in Geisel Library's reference collection which is located on the first floor of the library next to the reference desk. Some titles have online equivalents; for those titles appearing in red, click on the title to access the electronic version.
Sociology
Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL)
Search through GVRL's collection of social science reference materials by individual title or search multiple titles at once. Titles of interest to the field of sociology include:
Oxford Reference Online (ORO)
Search through ORO's collection of reference materials by individual title or search multiple titles at once. Titles of interest to the field of sociology include:
Credo Reference
Search through Credo's collection of reference materials by individual title or search multiple titles at once. Titles of interest to the field of sociology include:
Encyclopedia of Sociology
Ref HM425.E5
International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences
Ref H40 .I5
Key Concepts in Critical Social Theory
Ref HM511 .C77
Social History
Encyclopedia of Activism and Social Justice
Ref HM671 .E53 (3 vols.)
Encyclopedia of American Social History
Ref HN57 .E58 (3 vols.)
Encyclopedia of European Social History from 1350 to 2000
Ref HN373 .E63
Encyclopedia of American Social Movements
Ref HN57 .E594
Social Work
Encyclopedia of Social Work
Ref HV35 .S6 (3 vols.)
Handbook of Social Work Direct Practice
Ref HV40 .H2827
Special Topics
Education and Sociology: An Encyclopedia
Ref LC189.95 .E38
Encyclopedia of Adolescence
Ref HQ796 .E58
Encyclopedia of Aging
Ref HQ1061 .E53
Encyclopedia of American Folklife
Ref GR105 .E53
Encyclopedia of Homelessness
Ref HV4493 .E53
Encyclopedia of Marriage and the Family
Ref HQ9 .E52
Encyclopedia of Urban Cultures
Ref HT108.5 .E53
Encyclopedia of Women and Gender
Ref HQ1115 .E43
Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences
Ref HQ1061 .H336
International Encyclopedia of Adolescence
Ref HQ796 .I58
International Encyclopedia of Men and Masculinities
Ref HQ1090 .I58
Research Methods
Encyclopedia of Measurement & Statistics
Ref HA29 .S2363
SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research
Ref H62 .H2455
Survey Kit
Ref HN29 .S724
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Search the following databases to locate journal articles in the field of sociology. Many of the databases will require you to use WebBridge to locate the full text of an article. To learn how to use WebBridge, please watch our video tutorial (3.5 mins; includes audio).
If you would like to browse Geisel Library's collection of sociology related print and electronic full text journals go to Journal Finder's Social Sciences Journals listing and scroll down until you see the heading for Sociology. You can then browse our journal collection by topic.
Core Sociology Databases
SocINDEX
SocINDEX, the core sociology database on campus, indexes over 590 academic journals, monographs, and conference papers related to the field of sociology. With thousands of full-text articles available, SocINDEX is an essential tool for researching how your topic has been examined by sociologists.
Academic Search Premier
Academic Search Premier indexes articles from a wide range of disciplines including the social sciences, humanities, and the hard sciences such as chemistry or biology. This is a good resource with which to begin your research, especially on a topic that is inter-disciplinary.
JSTOR
Search here for full-text articles from major journals in the humanities and social sciences, including Annual Review of Sociology, American Journal of Sociology, and the Sociological Quarterly. Coverage is generally from the beginning of publication to within 5 years of the current issue.
Project MUSE
Project MUSE provides full text access to more than 200 journals in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and hard sciences. As an interdisciplinary database you will be able to pull up research on your topic from a variety of different disciplines. Titles of interest to sociologists include: Demography, Journal of Social History, and Human Rights Quarterly.
PsycINFO/PsycARTICLES
Even though their primary use is for psychology research, PsycINFO and PsycARTICLES do index a number of journals in the field of sociology. Depending on your topic, it can be helpful and at times necessary to see how the field of psychology is researching your topic. Be aware that PsycINFO is an abstract only database, meaning that you will need to use WebBridge to locate an article in full text.
Sage Journals Online
Geisel Library receives full-text access to nearly 500 scholarly journals published by Sage. For most journals, full text is available for the last ten years. Limit your search to "SAGE Content Available to Me" to search all journal issues available through this subscription package. Click the Browse tab and select "SAGE Content Available to Me" to see a list of available journal titles.
Special Topic Databases
Below is a list of popular sociology related databases, depending on your topic you may need to consult other subject specific databases. For assistance in choosing a database feel free to contact the sociology liaison librarian or view our article databases page.
Alternative Press Index (API) / Alternative Press Index Archive
Use API to locate articles on social, cultural, or political movements that exist outside the mainstream. Topics that are covered in this database include: gay and lesbian studies, feminism, socialism, and national liberation, among others. API is an abstract only database; you will need to use WebBridge to locate the article in full text.
Communication and Mass Media Complete (CMMC)
Use CMMC to research the role that media plays in society. With over 370 journals indexed, 240 of which are available as full text, CMMC is the core mass media journal database on campus. Search the database by keyword, making sure to use Boolean operators (ANDs/Ors) to link together concepts and like terms.
Contemporary Women's Issues on Health and Human Rights (CWI)
Use CWI to locate articles on women and the role that gender and sexuality plays in society. This is an abstract only database; you will need to use WebBridge to locate the full text.
Criminal Justice Abstracts
Use Criminal Justice Abstracts to locate research on various aspects of criminology, including: social work, behavioral science, juvenile delinquency, and substance abuse, among others. Be aware that Criminal Justice Abstracts is an abstract only database, meaning that you will need to use WebBridge to locate articles in full text.
ERIC
Use ERIC to locate articles on the topic of education. With over 1 million abstracts to journal articles and government reports, ERIC is the premier resource for locating research in the field of education. Search by keyword or by ERIC's thesaurus of subject headings to locate articles and documents of interest.
Worldwide Political Science Abstracts (WPSA)
Use WPSA to research topics relating to political science including public and social policy on the domestic and international levels. WPSA is an abstract only database; you will need to use WebBridge to locate articles in full text.
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Search the library catalog to locate books in Geisel Library. Most sociology books are located on the Upper Level of the library in the HM through HX sections.
To see what new sociology titles have been added to Geisel Library's collection go to the New Materials webpage and click on the link for Sociology & Psychology titles. Acquisitions for the most recent month are listed at the top of the page; to view previous acquisitions click on the months at the bottom of the page.
If you have searched the Geisel Library Catalog but could not locate a book on your topic try searching WorldCat, a database that allows you to search the collections of libraries throughout the United States. When you locate a title of interest, click on the ILL icon in the book's catalog record to request the item through interlibrary loan. Your book(s) will be available for pickup in the library within 7–14 days. For assistance in using this database please Ask a Librarian.
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Searching the World Wide Web can yield a vast amount of information, but in terms of quality and reliability, your results may be uneven at best. The ease and speed with which individuals can publish information on the web, regardless of accuracy or quality makes it imperative that you know how to evaluate the information you find on Internet. To learn more, see Judging What You Find.
One word of caution: never purchase an article found on the Internet, always check with a Reference Librarian to see if the article can be located in Geisel Library's print or electronic collection or through Interlibrary Loan.
Web Portals
Global Social Change Research Project
Prepared by Gene Shackman P.H.D., Applied Sociologist, and hosted by the International Consortium for the Advancement of Academic Publication (ICAAP), this site provides access to World Social Change reports as well as links to free information about long term changes in political, economic, and social systems.
Internet Crossroads in the Social Sciences (ICSS)
The Internet Crossroads in the Social Sciences contains over 700 annotated links to data-related resources on the Internet. Maintained by the Data and Program Library Service (DPLS) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the ICSS is searchable by keyword or browsable by topic.
Policy Archive
A joint project of the Center for Governmental Studies and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis Library, the Policy Archive contains full text documents, reports, and multi-media resources published by various think tanks, policy institutions, and non-governmental organizations. Resources are searchable by keyword or by subject browsing.
Research Resources for the Social Sciences
Craig McKie, of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario created this site for his graduate level course in research methods. The website organizes Internet resources by sociological topic including: demographics, economics, women's studies, and more.
Resources in Social Research Methods
Prepared by Gene Shackman P.H.D., Applied Sociologist, and hosted by the International Consortium for the Advancement of Academic Publication (ICAAP), this site links to free online books, manuals, and articles on how to do social research, including surveys, interviews, observations and more.
SocioSite
SocioSite, a web portal compiled by the Social Science Information System at the University of Amsterdam, provides links to Internet resources for sociology researchers. This website is unique for its international scope and for its Subject Areas link which directs you to resources on fairly specialized subject categories such as Activism, Men's Issues, and Sport.
Data and Statistics Resources
If you are interested in looking for data and statistics published by the United States government please consult the United States Government Information section of this webpage.
American Sociological Association: Public Data Resources for Sociologists
Search through the American Sociological Association's annotated list of publicly available data sets for primary and secondary analysis. A total of 40 resources are listed, make sure to click on the Next Page link at the bottom of the page to advance to the next screen.
Data on the Net
Data on the Net is a web portal to over 300 Internet data sources; search the website by keyword or by browsing through its alphabetic list of resources. Data sources focus on the social sciences with heavy concentration on international demographic resources and U.S. census and population surveys.
NationMaster.com
NationMaster.com gathers statistics from a variety of statistical sources such as the CIA World Factbook, the United Nations, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), presenting them in an easy-to-use graphical format. Broad categories pertaining to sociology include Immigration, Labor, Lifestyle, Health, and others.
SourceOECD
Hosted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), SourceOECD allows you to search through the enormous OECD collection of statistics and publications. Subjects included are wide ranging from information technology to birth rates to environmental issues and concerns. If you have any questions on how to navigate this database please contact the Sociology Liaison Librarian.
UNICEF Statistics Page
Use the Customized Statistical Tables feature on UNICEF's website to generate downloadable tables of country-level data on a variety of social and economic indicators; available statistics have a particular focus on children's issues such as education, malnourishment, and immunization.
United Nations Statistics Division
The United Nations has a wealth of statistical information available on its website, nearly all of it being available for free on the Internet. Click on the Statistical Databases tab to search through its list of databases. If you have any questions on how to navigate any of these databases please contact the Sociology Liaison Librarian.
World Development Indicators Online (WDIO)
WDIO contains country-by-country time series data on over 600 development indicators, including variables related to health, education, trade, the economy, and the environment. The step-by-step data selection procedure enables easy creation and download of data tables for analysis. If you have any questions on how to navigate this database please contact the Sociology Liaison Librarian.
Special Topic Statistics
AgingStats/ChildStats
These 2 U.S. government websites offer data on a number of key indicators that portray the well-being of older Americans and children from a demographic, economic, and health perspective.
GenderStats (World Bank)
GenderStats provides easy access to country-level data on gender related statistics on issues such as poverty, education, nutrition, and labor force participation. Although the focus is on women, some indicators relate to both sexes.
PopNet: Population Reference Bureau (PRB)
PopNet includes access to articles in the journal Population Today as well as other articles and statistics compiled by PRB staff. To search through PRB’s available statistics, click on the DataFinder tab; from there you can compile a statistical profile according to a specific country or region with variables of your choice.
United States Government Information
FedStats
FedStats is a gateway to statistical information published by over 100 agencies, sub-agencies, and quasi-government agencies of the U.S. federal government; search the website by subject, geographic region, or government agency.
USA.gov
The United States government produces an enormous amount of information that is of value to the social researcher. Most government agencies will post their research on their website, making it readily available for public consumption. Browse the USA.gov website by government agency or search the site by keyword. For more assistance in locating government information consult our Government Documents webpage or try searching Google's U.S. Government search engine.
U.S. Census Bureau
The U.S. Census Bureau has a number of entry points to U.S. census data; the most comprehensive of which is American FactFinder. Through American FactFinder you can pull up census data on various geographic regions including state, county, city, or census tract. In addition to the traditional demographic and population data, American FactFinder also makes available industry and economic reports; examples of these reports include: Minority and Women Owned Businesses, Software Publishers Economic Fact Sheet, and Exports by State Fact Sheet. If you need historical census data try Historical Statistics of the United States or contact a Reference Librarian.
Public Opinion & Survey Resources
Gallup Brain
Use Gallup Brain to access "125,000 questions and responses from more than 3.5 million people interview by The Gallup Poll since 1935." Gallup Brain also contains Gallup documents – survey analysis that is published in Gallup Poll Tuesday Briefing and Gallup Management Journal. Gallup Brain supplements other Gallup publications owned or made accessible by Geisel Library.
Access restricted to Saint Anselm College community.
General Social Survey (GSS)
Developed by the National Opinion Research Center in 1972 to monitor social change in America, the GSS allows researchers to analyze change in U.S. societal opinions over time. Variables are searchable by keyword or by browsing through its alphabetic list of subjects. Examples of survey topics include: opinions on southern whites, step-children, global warming, taxes, and labor unions, among a host of other topics.
International Social Survey (ISS)
The ISS bridges the U.S. focused GSS with similar surveys conducted by governments and research firms in the international community. Topics included in the ISS include: family and gender roles, social inequality, role of the government, religion, and others. Click on the archive and data link to access the ISS.
Pew Research Center
The Pew Research Center conducts and publishes surveys and social science research in a number of areas including: media, politics, demographics, culture, and societal attitudes. To view their research, search the site by topic or publication name.
Professional Associations
The following list of associations is only a sampling of the international, national, and regional professional associations that exist to support sociologists. Only those associations that have a wealth of information on their websites have been included in this list. Other sociology related professional associations exist; contact the Sociology Liaison Librarian if you are having trouble locating a professional association in your subject or geographic area.
American Sociological Association
International Sociological Association
National Association of Social Workers
New England Sociological Association
Society for the Study of Social Problems
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Sociology researchers tend to use the ASA (American Sociology Association) citation format. Always check with your professor for the required citation style.
If you need to consult the ASA Style Guide while in the library stop at the reference desk and ask for call number: Ready Ref HM569 .A54.
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