Sociology

Books | Journal Articles | Internet Sites | Statistics

This guide is designed to help you use our website to find information in sociology. The Liaison Librarian for the School of Arts and Social Sciences is Judy Hibberd at Coffs Harbour (judy.hibberd@scu.edu.au, phone 6659 3238).and Merilyn Edgar at Lismore (merilyn.edgar@scu.edu.au, 6626 9407).

There are a number of steps in the research process and working through them systematically will help you find all the information you need for your topic.

Getting started

If you’re not sure what your subject is all about, check a dictionary or a subject encyclopedia so you understand a bit more about what you’re looking for. Dictionaries provide definitions and explanations; encyclopedias and handbooks provide summaries or essays on particular topics.

There are a number of titles in the reference area – call numbers for sociology are generally in the xxx

xreferplus is a digital reference library, with over 100 searchable reference books from a collection of leading publishers. Use it to find facts, words, concepts, people, places and sayings that you need.

You can also access reference information online. This link provides access to dictionaries and encyclopedias via the Library Website.

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Using the Library Catalogue

Use the Library Catalogue to search for books about your topic. Books can provide comprehensive information, historical background or summaries of past research on particular topics. You can search the catalogue by title, author, keyword or subject to find the library location number.

Some subject keywords for sociology are:

• Deviant behavior
• Ethnic relations
• Interpersonal communication
• Social conflict
• Social structure
• Race relations
• Sex roles
• Social policy
• Women

The numbers for sociology include:

You can request books that are not held at your campus via the catalogue using the Request function.

An item listed as ‘Online book’ can be accessed online by following the links, and clicking on the prompt to view the book. You will have to download the ebrary reader the first time you read an online book.

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Journal articles provide up-to-date information on your topic. The most efficient way to locate articles is to search electronic databases. Journal databases provide either a citation with/without an abstract, or the full text, of articles from a wide variety of journals.

If the database does not provide full text of an article, then the SFX linking software will help you track down the full text. Click on the symbol to link to a list of access options available for that article, including the full text of the article in another database, if available.

Refer to General Tips for Database Searching, for help.

Key Databases:

The following databases will provide useful information on your topics.

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Databases are created, maintained and delivered electronically by different companies or information services, often referred to as vendors. This means that, even though the principle of searching using keywords and phrases is the same for all databases, the methods you use will be different for each.

Every database will have a range of Help screens available to guide you step-by-step through the process of searching for and retrieving articles. There is usually a Help button somewhere on the first screen of each database to start you off. Take a look at the database guides available from the guides page.

For guided instruction try the Web-Ezy tutorials.

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If you have the internet but don’t know where to start, let Web-Ezy take you on a guided instruction in:

• Understanding your topic
• Searching the Catalogue
• Finding Journal Articles (Current Contents, Informit, Expanded Academic Index, ProQuest, PsycINFO)
• Searching the Internet
• Acknowledging your sources

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Internet Sites

Sites listed on this guide are regularly reviewed to check for academic quality, authenticity and currency.

Academic Info: Sociology Links to indexes and directories, internet studies and organisations

Resources for Methods in Evaluation and Social Research lists free resources for methods in evaluation and social research

Australian Institute of Family Studies includes a useful collection of links to information resources and networks, government sites, discussion lists, social data archives, publications and legal information.

Sociosite gives access to a huge number of Web resources covering subjects from Youth to activism.

Socioweb Guide to sociological resources on the Web.  Includes information about leading sociologists, learning sociology, sociological theory, surveys and statistics, journals, topical research

Organisations

The Australian Sociological Association (TASA)

International Sociological Association (ISA)

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The most comprehensive source of Australian statistical information is published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. All ABS publications (from 1998 onwards) are available electronically from their website. Access is avaialable via the library databases or by going to http://www.abs.gov.au.

Data on the Net lists sites of numeric Social Science statistical data, data catalogs, data libraries, social science gateways, addresses and more.

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Modified 15 May, 2006