Research Guides: Sociology: Home

Welcome

This guide will help you find the many sociological resources the library has to offer. It covers the research process from finding background information on your topic to searching for and evaluating scholarly literature to how to cite those sources.

There is a lot here to search through. If you have any questions, please come visit us at the reference desk or use the Ask Us! boxes to contact us.

Simple Search Tools

Use these to improve your database and catalog searching.

AND

Searches for results with all words
smoking AND cancer

Searches for results with either search word
If combined with AND, words connected by OR need to be in parenthesis
Great for synonyms and related concepts: (smoking OR tobacco) AND cancer

Quotations

Combines multiple words into one search term
Great for names: "Martin Luther King"

Research Methods

The Practice of Research: How Social Scientists Answer Their Questions by Shamus Khan; Dana R. Fisher
Call Number: H62 .K4554 2014
Publication Date: 2014
This unique reader for research methods courses looks at how social scientists ask and answer questions. The Practice of Research presents a practical guide to doing research by excerpting well-known studies by some of the most distinguished social science researchers in the field today. The excerpts represent nine methodological approaches and are accompanied by reflections where authors reveal how they resolved some of the challenges that face almost all research projects.
Using Basic Statistics in the Behavioral and Social Sciences by Annabel Ness Evans
Call Number: HA29 .E787 2014
Publication Date: 2014
This text introduces the essentials of the statistical technique. Rather than rote memorization of formulae, the emphasis is on developing an understanding of the underlying logic of statistics. Toward that end, the author uses an informal prose style, and avoids overwhelming the reader with complex notation and derivation. There are numerous exercises and problems graded for difficulty. A list of Greek symbols used in statistics is found inside the back cover for quick reference.
Ethics in Social Research by Kevin Love; Christopher Pole
Call Number: ebook
Publication Date: 2012
Recent shifts in the economic, cultural and theoretical context within which Higher Education institutions organise and pursue research activities, alongside other factors has prompted a reconsideration of the role of social research - its purpose, its practice and its ethical alignments. Blending practice-based reflection with philosophically informed theoretical work, this volume brings together a field of leading and rising academics from sociology and social theory to consider - for the first time in a published collection - both contemporary ethical issues in social research, and the increasing impact of ethics on social research.