Welcome to the Sociology Research Guide
The purpose of this research guide is to help direct anyone doing sociology research to good-quality places to search for information. Whether you are just starting to research or you are having trouble finding information on a topic, this is a good resource that you can use. Librarians often know tips and strategies for researching that can make your searching easier, so please reach out to us any time you need help!
ProQuest Sociology gives users access to the full-text of more than 310 journals in sociology and social work. This collection provides full-text coverage of many core titles included in Sociological Abstracts and Social Services Abstracts.
Archive holds the complete digitized back runs of core scholarly journals, some dating as far back as the 1600s.
Articles on all areas of sociology, including social behavior, human tendencies, interaction, relationships, community development, culture, and social structure.
ProQuest Central brings together 30 highly used ProQuest databases to create the largest single academic research resource.
Researchers can choose to search individual databases for targeted research or search all at once to find relevant results and information from other disciplines.
Social Sciences: articles, full text and citations
(1983 to present) -- Covers the latest concepts, trends, opinions, theories, and methods from both applied and theoretical aspects of the social sciences.
Suggested Databases
Newspaper Databases
You have access to several newspaper databases through MGA Libraries. Every student is eligible to register for a free New York Times Online account where they can read current and older, archived New York Times articles. These are some of the major newspaper databases you have access to. For the full list, click here.
Google Scholar
Google Scholar is an alternative to GALILEO and is often good for finding scholarly articles, including some that might not be available in MGA Libraries. You will need to type your keywords in one search bar and connect them together. Some examples of the way a search might look are listed below. See how Boolean Operators like AND and OR are used in one box.
cyberbullying AND prevention OR intervention
"domestic violence" OR "intimate partner violence" AND "risk factors"
"body worn cameras" OR "body cameras" AND police OR "law enforcement"
Citing Your Sources
The standard citation style for citing sociology and other social science research is APA (American Psychological Association). This will be the citation style you will use unless your professor tells you to use a different style. Be careful about using any online citation generators, including in GALILEO and Purdue OWL. Always look at the citation examples and verify that everything in your citations are capitalized and punctuated correctly and in the right order before submitting. Purdue OWL is a great place to see what your in-text and reference citations should look like and to see how to format your paper.
Occasionally, we have faculty that require MLA for citing instead of APA. If your professor tells you to use MLA, this is a great place to help with your citations.
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Roberts Memorial Library, Office 201
Walk-ins welcome any time I'm available.
jessica.williams4@mga.edu
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