SO229 Sociological Research Design

Library Research Guide

Library instruction provided for Professor Gail Murphy-Geiss’ Block 3, 2009 class.

Finding Books

• Search the Tiger Catalog for books available in Tutt Library.

Search TIGER for Keyword Title Author Subject Journal Title Go

Try searching “college* or universit*” and “alcohol*”.

• Search Prospector for books available from academic and public libraries in Colorado. Materials can come in as few as 3 days.

• Search Google Books to identify books by words in the text.

Finding Journal Articles

Google Scholar

SocINDEX

Coverage: 1895 - current

Indexes core sociology journals dating back to 1895. More focused on sociology as a discipline than Sociological Abstracts.

notextile.

JSTOR

Coverage: late 1800's - most recent 0-5 years

Archival access to many scholarly periodicals. Some titles include current issues while others have a moving wall imposed on them.

Finding Journal Articles in Subject Specific Databases

Try searching a subject specific database from Sociology Databases for more articles from individual disciplines.

For example, try searching Social Sciences Abstracts listed under Databases for Sociology, for the topic “voting behavior and gender*”.

Finding Full Text Versions of Articles

When searching article indexing databases, sometimes the full text of the article you need is not provided to you by the database. Or you have identified a citation in a bibliography or footnote and need to find the full text. There are two ways of finding the full text of any article that you need.

1. Check Find Journals to see if Tutt Library subscribes to an electronic version of your journal or magazine or if we own databases which may have your article in full text. Find Journals a.k.a Tutt Link a.k.a Full Text Online is available next to the citations in most of our databases and in GoogleScholar.

1. Request an ILLiad/Interlibrary Loan of your article directly from your database (use button or hotlink) or log into ILLiad and fill out an Interlibrary Loan Request Form. (Articles can come in as few as 24-48 hours.) You must be registered with ILLiad for either method to work – see First Time User Registration for Interlibrary Loan.

Finding Statistics

Look through the Sociology Subject Guide to find databases with statistics useful for your “Doing Sociology” paper.

The most useful statistical databases for this class are:

Inter-University Consortium For Political And Social Research

Coverage: N/A

Provides large data sets such as public opinion polls, attitude surveys, health information, results of research projects. Data may require use of specialized software such as SPSS or SAS.

Statistical Universe

Coverage: N/A

Access to US statistical information.

The Gallup Brain

Coverage: 1935 - current

A searchable, living record of more than 60 years of public opinon. Find answers to more than 125,000 questions and responses from more than 3.5 million people interviewed by The Gallup Poll since 1935.

GSS: General Social Survey
Large ongoing national survey. The version hosted on Berkeley creates tables and cross-tabulations based on variables you specify.

American FactFinder Data access and dissemination system that provides useful facts and information about your community, your economy, and your society. The system will find and retrieve the information you need from some of the Census Bureau’s largest data sets.

See also the list of Statistical databases available at Tutt Library.

Citing Your Sources

How to Cite Sources?

American Sociological Association Style Guide

Style guide / American Sociological Association
HM569 .A54 2007 (1st Floor North-Ref Desk, 1st Floor North-Reference)

Managing Your Bibliography

RefWorks

Creating a Survey

Colorado College has a license for the survey creation software Survey Monkey. Passwords are available at the Tutt Library Reference Desk.

Additional Assistance

Contact Reference Desk, 9 a.m. – 10 p.m., x6662, IM=tuttlibrarian

Contact Diane Westerfield, Electronic Resources & Serials Librarian/Liaison to Sociology and Career Center, diane.westerfield@coloradocollege.edu, x 6661, Tutt Library 208

Last revised, 11-03-10, dw. Based on K. Mrozek’s original page.