Sociology 113: Social Issues and Cultural Intersections

Spring 2007

INFORMATION LITERACY TUTORIAL

The Five Colleges of Ohio Information Literacy Tutorial can provide you with additional guidance in undertaking the research process.

BOOKS AND VIDEOS

The CONSORT catalog can be used to locate books, video and sound recordings, and some government documents available in the Kenyon, Denison, Ohio Wesleyan and Wooster libraries. CONSORT also provides access to OhioLINK, which indicates the holdings of over 80 libraries throughout Ohio. You may borrow books directly from either CONSORT or OhioLINK. Requested materials typically arrive at Kenyon 2 to 3 working days after the request is made.

FINDING JOURNAL ARTICLES

Article indexes are produced by scholarly associations or companies trying to reflect all the publishing in a particular subject. Kenyon subscribes to more than 5,700 journals, with more than 4,500 available online. Keep in mind, though, that not every journal or book title indexed will be held in the Kenyon Library. Check CONSORT to see if we own an item. Use the InterLibrary Loan (ILL) office to request journal articles we do not own. (Estimated time for an item to arrive is at least 7-10 days).

Demonstration of Boolean Logic

SocINDEX
SocINDEX, a comprehensive sociology database, contains abstracts for more than 590 'core' coverage journals dating back to 1895. In addition, this file provides data mined from more than 500 'priority' coverage journals as well as 1,040 'selective' coverage journals.

Academic Search Premier (1965- )
An interdisciplinary index, Academic Search Premier includes citations and abstracts for over 4,300 popular and academic periodicals. The full text version of many of the articles indexed is available.

NEWS SOURCES AND PUBLIC OPINION

LexisNexis Academic: News
Newspapers can be a good source of public opinion in the form of editorials, letters to the editor, etc. You'll need to switch to the Guided News Search to find only editorial and opinion materials. Add search terms like opinion, op-ed, letters,or editor!, as in the example below.

To select a region of the country, go to the "Guided News Search", select the "U.S. News" category, and select a regional or state "news source".

The "Quick News Search" can find current information on your topic, but it doesn't allow this type of targeted searching.

Polls and Surveys [LexisNexis Academic]
The Public Opinion Poll database includes polls from 1935-present from numerous organizations, including Gallup, Harris, Roper, ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal.

The Polling Report
Provides access to a cross-section of current national polling data on a wide range of topics. There is an option to search by keyword or topic.

American Attitudes: Who Thinks What About the Issues That Shape Our Lives, 4th ed.
[Ref. HN90.P8 M58 2005]
This reference book contains a variety of survey and poll results.You also might consider comparing the 2nd (1998)and 3rd (2000) editions with the 4th.

REFERENCE SOURCES

Reference works, such as encyclopedias, handbooks, and dictionaries, are a good place to begin your research or search for ideas for a research topic. Listed below are some of the major reference tools in sociology; you also might try a Word search in CONSORT for your topic; you can limit by location to see only the only the materials in the KEN Reference collection.

International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences [Ref. H41 .I58 2001]
This 26-volume set brings together research from a variety of fields, including sociology, history, and economics. The articles are signed, with biographical entries on the authors provided in the first volume, and often include lengthy bibliographies to help further your research.

Survey of Social Science. Sociology series [Ref. HM17 .S86 1994]
This five-volume set provides introductory articles on numerous topics in the field of sociology, including bibliographies. When using subject encyclopedias, don't forget to look for an index (usually at the end of the set) as well as looking for your topic in the A-Z title arrangement.

Evaluating Research in Academic Journals [Ref. H62 .P97 1999]
This work provides a list of issues that come up in generating, publishing, and using research in the social sciences. Each chapter addresses a different part of a scholarly research article (abstract, literature review, methodology, results, and discussion) and suggests ways to consider the work in each section.

GETTING RESEARCH HELP

For individual reference assistance, contact:

Julia Glynn
Librarian and Technology Consultant
740.427.5834

Reference assistance is also available at the Information Desk in Olin Library. Stop by, call (740-427-5691), or E-mail InfoDesk@kenyon.edu
Hours