Subject Specialist:
Bonnie Ryan,
Bird Library, Room 210,
O:315-443-4674,
bcryan@syr.edu

LIBRARY CONTACTS

SU Library website: http://library.syr.edu

Email (http://library.syr.edu/information/forms/ref_question.htm#ask)

IM Reference

Telephone, Bird Library Reference: 315-443-4083

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Core Print Resources
Developing Effective Research Proposals   H62. P92 2000  
Handbook of Research Methods   H62.S67 1995  

Choosing Key Terms

When you have chosen your research statement or question, take some time to break the statement down into key terms or phrases. You will use these terms in the various databases to find sources on your topic.

Example: Use of dialect to establish community/identity or as a social barrier.
Key Terms: Dialect, community, identity, social barriers

Some hints for choosing key terms:

Be flexible: After dividing you statement into key terms, think of alternative terms, such as synonyms, or broader, narrower, or related terms. Each database may use different keyword or subject terms to describe a topic.

Example: Dialect (broader- African Americans languages; narrower - Ebonics or Black English)

Think globally and chronologically: Consider terms that contain a geographic area, or a broad or specific time period.

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Catalog – This is what you use to find out if the Library owns a particular book, journal title, video or other type of media.  You can search by keyword, author (last name first), title, or subject heading.  Remember to use your subject headings to find more relevant resources on a topic.
The following list provides some relevant subject headings for sociology related topics:
              

Sociology	Community
Educational sociology	Equality
Race discrimination	Social justice
Marginality, Social	Social conflict
Employment	Social institutions
Social systems	Social structure
Culture	Population
Ethnic relations	Race relations
Socialization	Family
African Americans music	Crime
Sociology - Statistical Methods	Methodology
Experimental method	Research
Experiential research	Qualitative research
Quantitative research	Surveys

Databases – These are electronic indexes that you can search to locate journal articles, books, book chapters, dissertations and conference or proceeding papers.  Some databases provide full text access; others only provide you with the citation.  The Library owns over 300 databases.  Some are very subject specific (e.g. Sociological Abstracts, America: History and Life); others are interdisciplinary (e.g. Expanded Academic, Wilson Select).  To access any of the databases from off campus, you will be prompted for a user name and password.  Your user nameis your ten digit ID # (make sure that you use all ten digits) and your password is your last name in lower-case letters.  For additional assistance with this, please go to the instructions for remote access.

Recommended Databases

Sociological Abstracts - This is the premier sociology databases with records covering sociology, social work, and other social sciences from 3,000 journals. Covers 1963 to the present; updated six times per year.

Search tips:

Boolean search operators - AND, OR, NOT
AND retrieves only records that contain all search terms.  Use this to narrow or limit a search.  e.g.  gender AND technology.
OR retrieves all records that contain one or both of the search terms.  Use this operator to  expand a search. e.g.  population OR globalization
NOT eliminates records that include a search term or group of search terms.
 Use this operatorcarefully to limit a search, as you may unintentionally eliminate relevant records.   e.g. women NOT gender

Plurals - use + to search for a word and its plural form e.g.  experiment+   searches for experiment and/or experiments

Truncation - use * (asterisk) to search for a term and its variations
                         e.g.  comput*   searches for computer, computers, computing

Wildcards -  use ? alone or with a number to represent additional characters.  Helpful when
                       unsure of spelling or different spelling variations
                         e.g.  colo?1r   searches for color, colour

Web of Science - Citation index to 8700 authoritative, high impact journals, including 200 open access journals, covered by Science Citation Index ExpandedTM, Social Sciences Citation Index, and Arts & Humanities Citation Index. Backfile data to 1995.

Social Sciences Abstracts - Index with abstracts to more than 400 international, English-language periodicals. Indexing from February 1983 to the present. Abstracts from January 1994. Updated monthly.

Psychology databases - This section includes access to three databases indexing sources in the field of psychology. The most frequently used is PSYCINFO.

Education databases - Includes access to many databases indexing sources in education. The best databases to use for the purposes of this class are ERIC (Cambridge Scientific) and Education Abstracts.

GenderWatch - Full text publications that focus on the impact of gender across a broad spectrum of subject areas.

JSTOR - Full text archive of scholarly publications in mathematics, science, and the social sciences.

International Index to Black Periodicals -This database indexes over 150 international scholarly and popular periodicals in Black studies, many in full-text format.

Locating Journal Articles
1.    Go to the Database Main Menu to locate a relevant database.  You can choose a database by using the general subject categories of Social Sciences, Humanities, Science & Technology, Newspapers, etc. or you can choose an interdisciplinary database.  Remember, some of the databases offer full text of the articles online, but others you will need to locate the journal article either through one of the e-journal packages or in print. 

2.     If the database is not full text, write down the full citation of the article that you want.  Full citations include:  author’s name, journal name, title of article, dates, volume & issue # (if available) and page numbers.

        Example:  Morris-Roberts, Kathryn. 2001. “Intervening in Friendship Exclusion? The Politics of Doing  Feminist  Research with Teenage Girls.” Ethics, Place and Environment 4.2 :147-153.

3.    With this information go to the Full Text Journal Locator (you can access this through the E-Journals link on the  Library webpage) to see if we have the article available full text through another database.  If we do, use an advanced search in the database to locate the article.

4.     If the article is not available full text online, go to the Summit online catalog, to find a call # for the journal that you are looking for.  Using the call # and the article citation, go to the relevant floor and locate it. However, current issues (from the last year) are kept on the 2nd floor in the Current Periodicals area.

5.  If the Library does not own the journal that you need, you can request it through interlibrary loan (ILLiad). This is a free service that you can use as often as you like.  Generally, you can borrow a book for 4-6 weeks and a journal article is photocopied and yours to keep.  Please note:  It can take 7-14 days to receive materials through Interlibrary Loan.

Statistical Sources
Reference Shelf-Statistical Sources
Numeric Data Services

Searching the Web
Evaluating Internet Sources
Here are some criteria you should consider when reviewing any website:

Authority * Is the article signed? * Who is the author? * What are the author's credentials? * With which institution(s) are they affiliated? * Is the publication scholarly or popular? Are there footnotes?A bibliography?	Objectivity * Who is the audience? * What is the purpose of this site? * Does the author state the goals for this web page? * Does the site inform, educate, persuade or act as a soapbox? * If the author is affiliated with an institution, does this affiliation bias the information presented?
Accuracy * Is the web site well organized? * Has the author used good grammar? Are there spelling errors? * Are the graphics appropriate for the content? * Is the information complete and accurate?	Currency *When was the web site created? If it has been updated, is there a revision date? * Do the links work? * Is the page maintained regularly?

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Style Guides
Citation Support

This page offers help in citation support packages, style manuals, and information on plagiarism.
American Sociological Association style guide