Library Guides: Sociology: Articles

Tutorials

Tutorial: Finding Articles
Learn the process for finding articles using indexes. This is essential background information for all students. Estimated reading time: 20 minutes.
Using Sociological Abstracts Effectively
Learn to make use of the full functionality of this database.
Tutorial: Scholarly Articles
Scholarly articles: what they are, how to find, recognize, read, and use them. Includes exercises. Estimated reading time: 20 minutes.
ProQuest Guide to Sociological Abstracts
Recognizing Scholarly Resources: JABsa
Part of the "Scholarly Articles" tutorial, this section provides a formula for judging the scholarship of a resource.
Tutorial: Keyword Searching
A short tutorial providing background on how keyword searching works, with tips to improve your search results. Estimated reading time: 10 minutes.
Using Google, Google Scholar and Other Internet Search Engines
A guide on using internet search engines, with a section on using Google Scholar and setting it to recognize you as a Trent student.

Recent Articles from Sociological Forum

The journal is peer reviewed and committed to publishing high quality, cutting edge research on substantive issues of fundamental importance to the study of society.

What is Interlibrary Loan?

Interlibrary loan is a system that allows you to request material from other libraries to be sent to Trent for you to borrow. Normally, there are no costs to use the ILL service. Plan ahead because it can take a few days or even weeks for material to be sent, depending upon availability.

Visit the Interlibrary Loan page for more information.

Omni finds articles, as well as books and other material.

For more control and in-depth searching, use an index (database) to find citations to articles on your topic. Follow the links to the full article. See the "Finding Articles" tutorial for details.

Databases

To find articles, you search an index (a database) for descriptions of articles on your topic.
From there, follow the links to the full article. See the "Finding Articles" tutorial for details.

Successful searching requires two things: search in the right place, and select the best search terms.
For the right place, select a database that covers your topic appropriately.
For search terms, select a few key terms that you expect to find in a description of your topic.

Major Scholarly Databases

The most important database to use for finding articles in Sociology is Sociological Abstracts. This database covers thousands of scholarly journal in Sociology. It's available to search alone, or as part of the ProQuest Sociology Collection.

You may also want to search Scholars Portal Journals and/or Social Sciences Citation Index (from Web of Science).There will be some overlap, but you may find different results in different databases, depending on your topic.

Sociological Abstracts This link opens in a new window
- Contains indexes and abstracts of scholarly literature in sociology and related social sciences. It covers topics such as social behavior, human interaction, social institutions, and theory, providing access to journal articles, books, conference papers, and dissertations.

Sociology Collection This link opens in a new window
- Access to a wide range of scholarly journals, magazines, and reports on sociological research, covering topics such as social behavior, societal trends, criminology, education, and social issues.

Criminal Justice Abstracts with Full Text This link opens in a new window
- This database contains international journals, magazines, and reports on criminal justice and criminology. It provides access to full-text articles, abstracts, and indexing for key sources, encompassing topics such as crime prevention, juvenile justice, law enforcement, corrections, and forensic sciences.

HeinOnline This link opens in a new window
- This legal research database provides access to collections of law journals, historical legal documents, government publications, case law, and international legal materials.

Social Sciences Citation Index This link opens in a new window
- A multidisciplinary citation index that provides access to high-impact scholarly literature across the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. It allows researchers to track citations, measure research influence, and identify key studies and emerging trends.

Scholars Portal Journals This link opens in a new window
- An index of academic journals across various disciplines. It provides metadata and links to full-text articles, facilitating efficient searches for scholarly content.

Other Useful Databases

These databases might also be useful, depending on your topic and your research needs. They're in alphabetical order.

Academic OneFile This link opens in a new window
- A collection of peer-reviewed, full-text articles from leading academic journals and reference sources, covering a wide range of subjects including the arts, business, health, history, law, literature, science, and social science, making it a valuable resource for scholarly research and study.
Academic Search Elite This link opens in a new window
- Contains peer-reviewed journals, magazines, and newspapers across various academic disciplines.
Annual Reviews This link opens in a new window
- Authoritative reviews, summaries, and critical analyses written by leading experts covering the latest in the fields of the biomedical, physical, and social sciences.
CAIRN.INFO This link opens in a new window
- This indexing and abstracting database contains academic resources written in French. The collection covers the humanities and social sciences and includes journals, eBooks, and conference proceedings.
Canadian Business and Current Affairs Database (CBCA) This link opens in a new window
- Canada's largest and most comprehensive bibliographic full-text reference and current events database, providing access to scholarly journals, trade publications, magazines, reports, radio and television transcripts, news, dissertations, and more from a Canadian perspective spanning various subject areas such as business, economics, politics, arts, sports, and more.
CPI.Q Canadian Periodicals (Gale OneFile) This link opens in a new window
- Gale OneFile Canadian Periodical Index provides access to a wide range of Canadian magazines, journals, and newspapers covering diverse topics such as current events, culture, business, health, and more.
Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) This link opens in a new window
- Access to abstracts of educational research, including journal articles, reports, conference papers, and other resources.
GenderWatch This link opens in a new window
- Access to academic journals, magazines, reports, and other documents that explore gender dynamics, roles, and experiences across various cultures and contexts.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
- Access to a vast collection of scholarly journals, books, and primary sources across various disciplines.
SAGE Journals Online This link opens in a new window
- Access to a collection of peer-reviewed scholarly journals across various disciplines, including social sciences, humanities, business, and health.

Troubleshooting Searches

Too few articles:

Check for typos and spelling. Consider using both American and British spellings (eg. behaviour or behavior).
Remove long phrases.
Make sure you're using a database that is likely to include information on your topic.
Try using other synonyms and alternate words joined by the Boolean Operator 'OR' (e.g. aboriginal or indigenous or First Nations).
Check your Boolean logic. Are you using 'AND' when you should be using 'OR'?
If you have found at least one good article, look at the references of this article to find other related articles OR use the 'Find citing' or 'Find related' buttons when available in the databases.

Too many articles:

Add another concept to your searching using the Boolean operator 'AND'.
Add Limits (e.g. Peer Reviewed, Date of Publication, Language, Publication Type, etc.).
Check your Boolean logic. Are you using 'OR' when you should be using 'AND'?
When Keyword searching, try searching just in the Title field. This is not recommended for all searches, as you will eliminate relevant articles that don't have those keywords in the title, but it will likely find a few articles to get you started.
If you're searching in a database that covers all subjects (e.g. Academic Search Elite, Web of Knowledge), look for a database that is subject specific.