Sociology 305: Sex and Gender in Society

Selected Resources, Spring 2008

Professor Smith

 

General Sources
Books
Articles
Internet Research
  
Writing and Citing

 

Begin with General Resources:

It's a good idea to start a research project by using some general resources. General resources (encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, etc) can help you with your research in 3 ways:

  • You will get familiar with topic-specific words, names, etc, that you can use while searching for more specific sources
  • Good reference works have bibliographies--you can always look those sources up yourself
  • You will get an idea about the breadth of a topic and how you should plan your next research step

Electronic Sources:

These are searchable online reference book databases. Each collection contains more than one book, and each collection has different books in it. if you don't find what you are looking for in one database, try another.

  • Credo Reference ~ over 275 electronic books, ranging from art to technology. Search across all subjects or select specific subject areas to search in.
  • Gale Virtual Reference Library ~ full text of over 50 reference sources. Do a basic Search to get the bog picture of what's available, or search by subject.
  • CQ Researcher ~ An excellent source for current hot topics. Each individual issue contains historical background, a timeline, current status, and potential future developments. The bibliographies are especially helpful in finding useful sources.
  • Greenwood Digital Collection ~ collection of electronic books, some reference and some not, with a searchable interface.
  • Britannica Online ~ same as the printed version, but searchable.

Print Sources:

Print reference sources can provide you with good general information, as well as an answer to the question "What do I look at next?". The library has an extensive collection of reference books--here's a small sample:

  • Bowling, Beatniks, and Bell-bottoms: Pop Culture of 20th-century America. R 306.0973 B787
  • Encyclopedia of Community: From the Village to the Virtual World. R 307.03 E56
  • Encyclopedia of Sociology, 2nd ed. R 301.03 E56 2000; also available through Gale Virtual Reference Library
  • Gale World of Sociology [through Credo Reference]
  • Greenwood Encyclopedia of Women's Issues Worldwide. R 305.4203 G816
  • Encyclopedia of Marriage and the Family. R 306.803 E56
  • Encyclopedia of Adolescence. R 305.235 E56
  • St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. R 973.9 S143; also available through Gale Virtual Reference Library
  • Human Sexuality: An Encyclopedia, R 306.703 H918
  • Eating Disorders Sourcebook, R616.8526E14d
  • Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women, R305.403 R869
  • International encyclopedia of women and sports R 796.082 I61

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Books and other media

The I-Share Online Catalog can also be used to find books and videos on your topic. Start with "Any word, anywhere" searches, but think about moving towards Subject searching--it can save you time and frustration. Examples of Subject searches:

  • Sex differences
  • Sex differences in education--United States
  • Sex role--Cross-cultural studies
  • Sex differences
  • Sex crimes in literature
  • Interpersonal communication--sex differences
  • Sex discrimination against men
  • Women authors, American
  • Men
  • Masculinity
  • Men's Studies
  • Women--Africa--Social conditions
  • Femininity
  • Femininism and art
  • Women's studies--methodology
  • Man-woman relationships--United States

Items at Other Libraries

  • You can use the Online I-Share Catalog to find and order books at 64 other libraries in the state.
  • If a library is close by, you can go there with your Jaypass to check out materials, or...
  • If you can't find find a book anywhere in the catalog, you can request it using our Interlibrary Loan article request form

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Journal and Magazine Articles

Before we get to the "where do I get articles" question -- Did you know there are more than one kind of article?

Most publications that come out with new issues on some timetable (librarians call them "periodicals") can be put into one of two, broad categories: Scholarly journals or Popular magazines. These publications have some big differences, and the kinds of information you get from each of them will be different. You can use both kinds of sources for your research paper--it's worth taking a minute to figure out what kind of source you are looking at. What are some of these differences?

Popular articles
Scholarly Articles
Are written for a general audience--not specialists
Are written for professionals or specialists in a field
Are written by journalists
Are written by specialists or professionals in a field
Are stories typically assigned to writers by an editor
Are written by scholars who are sharing their research with fellow scholars. These articles go through a process of peer-review
Are written in language aimed at non specialists--"anyone" can understand
May be written using highly specialized or technical language--the "jargon" of a field
Can be short, to the point, summaries of a story or idea
Are more lengthy, explore a topic in depth
Magazines are often filled with pictures, advertising for general products
Journals rarely have pictures (though there may be graphs of data) and only have ads for professional tools, if any at all
Never have a bibliography or list of references
Always have a bibliography or list of references

Journal and magazine article databases:

  • Academic Search Complete ~ A good place to start. Includes references to scholarly as well as popular periodicals.
  • JSTOR ~ Archival (older than 5 years) database with articles in scholarly journals in sociology, psychology, communication
  • SocIndex ~ online index to scholarly sociological literature--some full text
  • Annual Review of Sociology ~ this is largely an index--you will find citations--but there are lionks to full text in other databases

Newspaper article databases:

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Sociology Information on the Internet

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Research and Citation Resources

Research Skills

Citing Information

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This page was created by Peg Cook, Assistant Reference Librarian,
On February 21, 2008