This guide suggests resources and strategies for research in sociology.

Background Information  |  Facts & Figures  |  Find Articles  |  Find Books  |  Criticism & Reviews  |  Primary Sources  |  People  |  Organizations  |  Web Resources

Background Information (Overview Sources)

Encyclopedias and other reference works are an excellent place to start a research project or simply learn more about a particular topic.  They provide topic summaries, context, and bibliographies for further reading.

Encyclopedia of Sociology
    (R 301.03 En19)
The Encyclopedia of Aging
    (R  305.260321 En19)
Encyclopedia of Native American Shamanism
    (R 615.8820899 L9952e)
The International Encyclopedia of Sociology
    (R 301.0321 In8)
Survey of Social Science.  Sociology Series
    (R  301.03 Su79)

Use dictionaries, statistical works, atlases, handbooks and similar works to find and check facts about topics, people, or events.

The ABC-CLIO Companion to the 1960s Counterculture in America
    (R 973.92303 H18a)
The Blackwell Dictionary of Sociology
    (R  301.03 J63b2)
A Concise Glossary of Cultural Theory
    (R 306.014 B79c)
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Sociology
    (R 301.03 C748)
Dictionary of Cultural Theorists
    (R 923 D5615)
 

Search indexes, abstracts, and databases to find journal, magazine, and newspaper articles.  For a complete list of Kent Library's online indexes and databases, see the Find: articles page (http://library.semo.edu/find/articles.asp).

Paper indexes useful in locating scholarly/peer-reviewed articles include:

C.R.I.S.:  The Combined Retrospective Index Set to
    Journals in Sociology,1895-1974
    (located in the Indexes/Abstracts area, main floor)
Sociological Abstracts, 1953-
    (located in the Indexes/Abstracts area, main floor)
Social Science Index, 1974-
    (located in the Indexes/Abstracts area, main floor)
Social Science and Humanities Index, 1966-1974
    (located in the Indexes/Abstracts area, main floor)

The following online databases also cover scholarly/peer-reviewed sociology titles:

Sociological Abstracts  
JStor
Academic Search Elite
PA Research II
Wilson Web Omni File
 

Use the Kent Library Catalog (http://library.semo.edu/find/books.html) to find books, periodicals (journals, magazines, & newspapers), videos, government documents and other materials.

Keyword searches allow you to use your own words as search terms.
Subject heading searches use Library of Congress subject headings. Printed volumes of these headings are located near the Reference Desk on the main floor.

Sociology subject headings include:

applied sociology
crime--sociological aspects
culture
ethnic relations
race relations
social institutions
sociology
 

Browse the shelves by call number.  Use the Dewey Decimal chart (http://www.oclc.org/dewey/about/hundreds.htm) to get you in the right subject areas or try the following:

List call# areas here.
301-307

Learn about important people, such as authors, researchers & historical figures related to this topic or field.

The Twentieth-century sciences; studies in the biography of ideas
    Stacks 509.04 T918
 

Professional organizations and/or societies often provide very useful topic related information.

American Sociological Association
    http://www.asanet.org/
Association for Humanist Sociology
    http://www.humanistsoc.org/
Society for Applied Sociology
    http://www.appliedsoc.org/
 

Information about Internet Resources in Social Theory, Organisation and Technology (STOT)
    http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/stt/stt/stt.htm
WCSU List: Sociology Internet Resources
    http://vax.wcsu.edu/socialsci/socres.html
WWW Virtual Library:  Sociology
    http://socserv2.mcmaster.ca/w3virtsoclib/
Yahoo! Directory Social Science > Sociology
    http://dir.yahoo.com/Social_Science/Sociology/
 

For a list of Web searching tools, see the Find: web resources page (http://library.semo.edu/find/webpages.html).