Sociology
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Social Sciences Full Text This link opens in a new windowSocial Sciences Full Text™ provides access to a wide assortment of the most important English-language journals published in the social sciences. This resource provides detailed indexing for over 625 periodicals dating back as far as 1983—nearly 400 of which are peer-reviewed.
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Communication & Mass Media Complete This link opens in a new windowCommunication & Mass Media Complete provides the most robust, quality research solution in areas related to communication and mass media. This database originated with the acquisition and subsequent merging of two popular databases in the fields of communication and mass media studies -- CommSearch (formerly produced by the National Communication Association (NCA)), and Mass Media Articles Index (formerly produced by Pennsylvania State University). Communication & Mass Media Complete provides an invaluable resource for students, researchers, and educators interested in any and all aspects of communication and mass media.
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PsycInfo (APA PsycInfo) This link opens in a new window
The PsycInfo® database, American Psychological Association’s (APA) renowned resource for abstracts of scholarly journal articles, book chapters, books, and dissertations, is the largest resource devoted to peer-reviewed literature in behavioral science and mental health. It contains records and summaries dating as far back as the 1600s with one of the highest DOI matching rates in the publishing industry. Journal coverage, which spans from the 1800s to the present, includes international material selected from periodicals in dozens of languages.
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HeinOnline This link opens in a new windowHeinOnline 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 With more historical content than any other database, HeinOnline provides access to 300+ years of information on political development and the complete history of the creation of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.
Other good bets!
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Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new window
Our largest scholarly, multi-disciplinary full text database contains full text for more than 4,600 scholarly publications, including more than 3,900 peer-reviewed publications.Access provided by the New Jersey State Library. .
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SPORTDiscus (Access Available until 1/1/2026) This link opens in a new windowSPORTDiscus is a database that covers sport, physical fitness, exercise, sports medicine, sports science, physical education, kinesiology, coaching, training, sport administration, officiating, sport law & legislation, college & university sport, disabled persons, facility design & management, intramural & school sport, doping, drugs, health, health education, biomechanics, movement science, injury prevention rehabilitation, physical therapy, rehabilitation, nutrition, exercise physiology, sport & exercise psychology, recreation, leisure studies, tourism, allied health, occupational health & therapy, public health and more. With full bibliographic coverage, this database includes over 750,000 records with journal and monograph coverage going back to 1800; over 20,000 dissertations and theses and reference to articles in 60 different languages. The content also consists of international references from journal and magazine articles, books, book chapters, conference proceedings and more
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ERIC This link opens in a new window
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Education Full Text This link opens in a new windowEducation Full Text™ provides full text of articles from over 350 journals as far back as 1996, in addition to indexing of more than 770 periodicals dating back to 1983. Content includes in-depth coverage of special education and more than 100,000 controlled and cross-referenced names of educational tests. Subject coverage includes adult education, multicultural/ethnic education, teaching methods and much more.
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Film & Television Literature Index with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Film & Television Literature Index™ with Full Text is the definitive online tool for film and television research. Subject coverage includes film & television theory, preservation & restoration, screenwriting, production, cinematography, technical aspects, and reviews. The database provides cover-to-cover indexing and abstracts for more than 380 publications (and selected coverage of 300), as well as full text for more than 120 journals, and 100 books. In addition, Film & Television Literature Index with Full Text includes Variety movie reviews from 1914 to the present and over 36,300 images from the MPTV Image Archive.
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MLA International Bibliography with Full Text This link opens in a new windowAn index to the content of journals, books, proceedings, and other resources in the disciplines of languages, literature, linguistics and folklore.
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GenderWatch This link opens in a new windowGender studies - scholarly journal articles, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, regional publications, books and NGO, government and special reports
This is a database of unique and diverse publications that focus on how gender impacts a broad spectrum of subject areas. With its archival material, dating back to 1970 in some cases, GenderWatch is a repository of important historical perspectives on the evolution of the women's movement, men's studies, the transgender community and the changes in gender roles over the years. Publications include scholarly journals, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, regional publications, books and NGO, government and special reports.
Some terms you can try combining with your topic:
- Social aspects
- Psychological aspects
- Economic aspects
- Attitudes
- Social life and customs
- Psychology
- Social conditions
Narrow by choosing a:
- ✔️Topic
- ✔️People/Group
- ✔️Place/Location/Setting
- ✔️Time Period
- ✔️Point of View (POV): Disciplinary perspectives. (Psychology, Sociology, Education, Business, Biology, etc.)
PUT THAT ALL TOGETHER.
(Adapated from Wilsey Library (St. Ignatius College)
Refine by Narrowing:
Who: Specific group: Gender, sex, age, race/ethnicity, cultural group, socioeconomic status, nationality
What: Key issues. Subtopics. What gaps or unanswered questions?
Where: Geographical or other location/setting? (Town or state might be too narrow, depending on topic)
When: Current? Historical? Was there a significant event that led to the study of your topic?
Why: Significance. Why are you interested? Why should others be interested?
How: What kinds of information do you need?
- Background and context (encyclopedic sources, handbooks, (e)books on the topic)
- Primary sources (interviews, memoirs, personal narratives, statistics, newspaper articles); original scientific research articles
- Secondary sources (magazine articles, scholarly articles, ebooks)
Library One Search ; CQ Researcher
Assignment: Sociological Issues paper/Annotated Bibliography/Literature Review and Research Proposal
Search Tips:
- Try One Search - Advanced search page.
- Limit your keyword search in Abstract (AB) or Subject (SU) fields to narrow down search results
- Capitalize search connectors AND & OR
- Note the use of quotes for phrase search (e.g. "special olympics") and * for wild card search (e.g. girl* for girls, girlish).
- Check databases on the side to see which databases provided the articles. Target on the relevant databases (e.g. Social Science Full Text, ERIC for education subjects, etc.)
- Limit results by publication Date for recent items.
- Limit to Online Access & In Library for ebooks and full text articles.
- Limit by Peer Reviewed, Language or/and Databases.
Sample Topics:
1. Race and crime
immigran* AND crime* AND (teen* OR adolescen* OR youth*)
2. The effect of human trafficking on males who are trafficked
"human trafficking" AND (male* OR men) [Subject]
AND (male* OR boy* OR men) [Abstract]
3. Interracial adoption
(interracial OR transracial) AND adoption AND health* AND child*
5. Social media and depression
("social media" OR youtube OR instagram) AND depression AND (teen* OR young adult*")
6. Effects of divorce on children
divorce AND child* behavior AND (academic OR social)
8. Fast food chains in low income neighborhood
"fast food" AND (chain* OR restaurant*) [Subject]
AND (income OR wealth OR poor OR rich OR poverty) AND (neighborhood OR school*) [Abstract]
9. Needle exchange programs
"needle exchange program*" AND HIV AND prevention AND (united states OR government)
Sociological Issues Paper
In the spirit of Mills’ “Promise”, you will submit a brief paper identifying three
sociological issues of interest to you and how those issues relate to more personal “troubles” that
might be experienced by individuals. More details will be made available in a specific writing
prompt for this assignment. This paper will be due on Wednesday, February 12.
Annotated Bibliography
You will complete an annotated bibliography surveying the literature related to a topic of
sociological interest of your choosing. This annotated bibliography should in include no fewer
than 10 citations from peer-reviewed sources. More details will be made available in a specific
writing prompt for this assignment. Your annotated bibliography will be due on Wednesday,
April 2.
Literature Review & Research Proposal
Based on the library research you will complete for your annotated bibliography, you will
develop a formal literature review of your chosen topic of sociological interest that. This
literature review will conclude with a hypothesis or question that could be investigated through a
specified theoretical lens. In addition to the literature review, you will also propose a research
project that could be reasonably completed to test or explore your hypothesis or question. More
details will be made available in a specific writing prompt for this assignment. Your finished
paper is due to my mailbox in the Sociology Department (FA 279) no later than 12 noon on
Monday, May 5, during final exam week.