LibGuides: Sociology and Social policy: Home

Step 1: Search the Library catalogue for books

LibrarySearch
Search the library catalogue to find books on your topic.

Search tips:

Choosing keywords. Try searching on alternative keywords if you don't get the results you expect.
Phrase searching. Try putting common phrases in quotation marks, e.g. "industrial revolution".
Truncation/wildcard. Put an asterisk at the end of the stem of the word to search for any letters which come after it, e.g. film* will find film, films, filming, etc.
Refining to ebooks. Use the ebook filter.

Finding a Book (video)

Step 3: If the library doesn't have the book/article

Document Delivery Service
Guide to using the Document Delivery Service

Sage Research Methods

Supporting research at all levels Sage Research Methods brings you books, chapters, reference works, journal articles, and instructional videos. See Case Studies of real research projects and practice on Datasets (these can also be used for teaching).

The Methods Map can help those less familiar with research methods to find the best techniques.

More tips, videos and guidance available a the Sage Research Methods help pages.

Step 2: Search databases for research articles

The databases in the list below contain research, mostly links to journal articles. Choose a database appropriate for your specific topic.

Search tips:

Choosing keywords. Try searching on alternative keywords if you don't get the results you expect.
Combining search terms. Combine concepts with AND. Combine alternative keywords with OR, e.g. (cbt or cognitive behaviour therapy) AND (resilience or coping)
Phrase searching. Try putting common phrases in quotation marks, e.g. "long term conditions"
Truncation/wildcard. Put an asterisk at the end of the stem of the word to search for any letters which come after it, e.g. stress* will find stress, stressful or stressed
Refining search. Refine your search using the filters available, e.g. date, language
Evaluating results. Read the abstract and subject headings to decide whether the article is relevant to your research.
Finding full text. If you don't see a PDF link, look for the Find@Stir button - this may take you to the full text. You can also download the LibkeyNomad browser plug-in, which will provide access to articles. If we don't have the article, see Step 3 (If the library doesn't have the book/article).

Literature Search Planning Template

Literature Search Planning Template

Step 2: Recommended Resources from the A-Z

Use these databases to find journal articles.

SocINDEX with Full Text
Provides full text access to articles realted to all aspects of sociology and the social sciences
Scopus
The largest international abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature and quality web sources. Searches 45.5 million records from 5,000 different publishers covering many different subjects.
Web of Science Core Collection
Provides access to the Citation Indexes for: Science; Social Sciences; Arts & Humanities; Conference Proceedings and Books. Use for finding journal articles and conference papers. Databases can be searched simultaneously or select specific databases using the More Settings option.
PsycINFO
Index to over 1.5 million journal articles, book chapters and dissertations all in the field of psychology and psychological aspects of related disciplines, such as medicine, psychiatry, nursing, sociology, education, pharmacology, physiology, linguistics, anthropology, business, and law. Journal coverage starts in 1887.
CABI Digital Library
The CABI (Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International) Digital Library provides abstracts to global research in environmental sciences, agriculture, health and nutrition and tourism. It includes CABI Compendium giving extremely useful datasheets, images and maps related to Aquaculture, Invasive Species and other topics and some full text articles relating to nutrition and food science.
Social Services Knowledge Scotland
A gateway to information and resources about social care in Scotland. Some information is freely available, other information is only available to holders of NHS Scotland Athens accounts. Includes information and resources previously accessible from ReSearchWeb which was discontinued at the end of March 2010
Public Affairs Index
An index to articles related to global public policy ranging from public health, the environment, housing, human and civil rights, international conflict and natural disasters
Political Science Complete
Provides full text access to articles and conferences paper related to all aspects of political science.
Criminal Justice Abstracts with full text
Provide full text of articles related to criminology, criminal justice, criminal law, policing, prisons, substance abuse and addiction, probation and parole.
CrimRxiv
CrimRxiv is a repository and hub for open access (free) criminology and criminal justice publications
Sage Research Methods Collection
Helps researchers and students with their research projects. Includes more than 800 ebooks with supporting dictionary articles, journal entries, videos and cases. Also provides access to more than 150 teaching datasets taken from real research projects, to support quantitative and qualitative analytical methods.
There is an excellent help page at: http://sagepub.libguides.com/research-methods/researchmethods
Sex & Sexuality
This collection explores changing attitudes towards human sexuality, gender identities and sexual behaviours from the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries. Investigating the breadth and complexity of human sexual understanding through the work of leading sexologists, sex researchers, organizations and personal accounts.
Social Care Online
Produced by Social Care Institute for Excellence, Social Care Online provides access to resources for all aspects of social care. Includes policy documents, government publications and practice orientated books and articles. From 1st April 2013 it will be necessary to register and sign in to download material from Social Care Online. Registration is free.

Academic Liaison Librarian

Clare Crowley

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Step 5: Cite your references

Evaluation Tips

It is important to critically analyse information before you use it in an essay, report or assignment. These websites suggest how to evaluate the quality of different types of information. For further assistance with this, please ask in the Library.