Research Guides: Sociology: Locate information

Locate

When do you need for your research: books, magazine, journals or newspapers? Check out this research guide The Best Source Types.
How do you know if an article is scholarly? Check this research guide Scholarly vs. Popular.

Capitalize your connectors AND/OR

1. Phrase Search-keep a phrase together so it will not get separated and lose intended meaning

Examples

"yellowstone park"

"sandy hook"

2. Truncations - to search words of various endings

Examples

comput* -computer, computers, computerize computerized, computerinzing, computational, computation

wom?n - woman or women

girl*-girl, girls, girlish

3. Boolean Operators - use AND/ OR/ NOT to connect your keywords - Boolean Machine.

Examples- AND

california AND parks

"yellowstone park" AND "wild life"

Examples- OR

women OR girl* OR female*

research OR survey or case stud*

Examples- NOT (AND NOT)

yellowstone NOT park

clinton AND NOT hillary

4. Use parenthesis and quotation marks for logical execution of search terms

"sex* harassment" AND ("work place" OR office)

Databases
All the databases of Rider Libraries by subject or by the names of the databases.
One Search
Search for Rider University libraries' books, CDs, DVDs and articles from multiple databases. Capitalize Boolean connectors OR/AND as you connect keywords (Advanced Interface).
Access World News
This database covers the local, regional, national and international level news sources.
CQ Researcher
Cover current controversial subjects and gives opposing view points of the issue.
Points of View Reference Center
Essays presenting multiple sides of a current issue.
Social Science Full Text
Journals published in social sciences.

HeinOnline
HeinOnline Academic includes more than 100 million pages of multidisciplinary content in more than 100 subject areas, including history, political science, criminal justice, religious studies, international relations, women’s studies, pre-law, and many more. With more historical content than any other database, HeinOnline provides access to 300+ years of information on political development and the complete history of the creation of government and legal systems around the world. Among the many databases included, HeinOnline’s journal collection features nearly 2,800 periodicals relating to a variety of subject areas, with all coverage dating from inception to the most currently published issues in most cases.

ABI/INFORM
Business resources
Statista
One of the world’s largest statistics portals.

Sample One Search: Find articles on "discriminate gays in the workplace"

Limits to Online Access & In Library for full text articles and ebooks.
Limit by Subject OR Abstract terms
Capitalize AND and OR to connect your keywords.
Limit to Publication dates (2005 - present)
Periodicals means popular magazine, Academic Journal is peer reviewed journal
You may limit to Content providers (databases)

Search strategies: (discriminat* OR prejudice) AND (gay* OR lesbian* OR homosexual*)

Limit by Databases

Find a perfect article but how do you know if you have access to the text? This Find Research Guide can help you.

If the library does not have a journal or book you are looking for, you may request Interlibrary Loan. Here is the online request form.

Sample topic: Find library's books on "discriminate gays in the workplace"

Library Catalog ( Tutorial on How to Search Online Catalog )

Advanced Search

Search library catalog

catalog 3

The Moore Library is a Federal Depository Library. The Library selects federal documents offered by the Government Printing Office (GPO) and provides free access of these documents to the Rider University community and the general public.

Use Libraries' Government Resources Research Guide to locate Federal State and International government documents.

The following are some major search engines for government documents:

usa.gov
Access locate federal, state and local government information.
Science.gov
access to more than 200 million pages of authoritative federal science information including research and development results.
Data.census.gov
The new Census platform searching for U.S. population, housing, and economic conditions.
American FactFinder
Search engine for population, housing and economic statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau. After July 1, 2019, all new data (previously released on American Fact Finder) will be released on https://data.census.gov. AFF will remain as an archive system for data and functionality that are not yet available in https://data.census.gov until March 31, 2020.
Catalog of U.S. Government Publications
Comprehensive government documents catalog covering Government Publications Office (GPO) since 1994. Links to documents available online.
govinfo
Official mobile friendly federal government website for the public to access critical federal documents easily. Included are documents from all three government branches: Executive, Legislative, and Judicial. Executive: Budget and Presidential materials. Legislative: Congressional Bills, Public and Private Laws, Statues At Large, U.S. Code. Judicial: U.S. Courts Opinions, Independent Counsel Investigations.
Congress.gov
Congress.gov is the official website for U.S. federal legislative information. The site provides access to accurate, timely, and complete legislative information for Members of Congress, legislative agencies, and the public. The scope of data begins in January 1995, when the 104th Congress convened. Congressional documents from the first 100 years of the U.S. Congress (1774-1875) can be accessed through A Century of
Federal Agencies Directory
Government Resources of Rider University
Including Federal, NJ state and international documents.
Rider University Library Catalog
Documents are integrated with the Library's other materials and can be searched using the Library Catalog. Use Advanced search interface, enter keyword(s) in the first search box. In the second search box, enter the issuing agency as the author - a department or a committee, started with "United States." Use the abbreviated "dept" instead of the whole word "department" (e.g. dept of homeland security). If you do not know which department is the issuing agency, enter "United States." Choose "Author" in the drop down menu (as shown in the image below).

General Search Tools

Statista
A Rider subscription database for researching statistical information. Need to log in with Rider Easy Pass if you access this from an off-campus site
Data.census.gov
The new Census platform searching for U.S. population, housing, and economic conditions from the 2010 Census, American Community Surveys and future census information.
Census of the United States Research Guide
A research guide explaining how to use data.census.gov and search the basic and advanced search interfaces, how to export and print table and create maps.
Previous U.S. Census and Population
Check the individual Decennial Census publications.
Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2013 - Current
This database includes U.S. statistics from 2013 to current.
Rider's print Statistical Abstract of the United States (2013-2019) are on the Reference shelf by the book number
REF HA202.S722.
Statistical Abstract of the United States - Historical
Statistical Abstract of the U.S. from 1889 to 2012 and Historical Statistics of the U. S suppliments.
USAGov: Data & Statistics
Data.gov
The central clearinghouse for federal open data, including hosting the Public Data Listings required under the 2013 Federal Open Data Policy, but Data.gov also hosts state, local, and tribal government sources voluntarily.
Government Resources of Rider University
Including other statistics on national, New Jersey, and international topics.

HeinOnline
HeinOnline Academic includes more than 100 million pages of multidisciplinary content in more than 100 subject areas, including history, political science, criminal justice, religious studies, international relations, women’s studies, pre-law, and many more. With more historical content than any other database, HeinOnline provides access to 300+ years of information on political development and the complete history of the creation of government and legal systems around the world. Among the many databases included, HeinOnline’s journal collection features nearly 2,800 periodicals relating to a variety of subject areas, with all coverage dating from inception to the most currently published issues in most cases.

General Social Survey (GSS) is a sociological survey used to collect information and keep a historic record of the concerns, experiences, attitudes, and practices of residents of the United States. GSS results are made freely available to interested parties over the internet, and are widely used in sociological research.

GSS Data Explorer
On this site, you can explore and analyze the GSS data you need, create data visualizations, and generate custom extracts to analyze in your statistical program. You need to register to extract data on this site.
GSS tutorial
From YouTube
National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD)
This online Survey Documentation and Analysis uses the Survey Documentation and Analysis (SDA) program developed and maintained by the Computer-Assisted Survey Methods Program at the University of California, Berkeley. A selection of NACJD data collections is available for online data analysis. Users can perform certain statistical procedures on the data, create custom subsets, or browse the codebook on the Web, without downloading the entire collection and importing the data into a statistical package.
World Values Survey
The WVS seeks to help scientists and policy makers understand changes in the beliefs, values and motivations of people throughout the world.

One Search
Access World News
International Documents
Under Rider's Government Resources research guide.

Information can also be found under the individual country's official government websites.