Resources for Research in Sociology

by Hayati Abdul

clbha@nus.edu.sg

Library Tutorial for Hons Year Students

What shall we learn?

How to: Search Sociology databasesSociology databases using keywords, Boolean operators...

Navigate LINC+LINC+ and access relevant services and resources from Library Library portalportal.

By the end of session, we’ll learn how to:

Effectively search Sociology databasesSociology databases for journal articles, conference papers,...

Use LINCLINC++ and Library portal to locate relevant resources and services

Contents

Search StrategyDatabases for SociologyNewspapersOther useful sourcesLINC+Library portal

This is a hands-on session

Search Strategy

Boolean operators

AND = All terms must be present

OR = Any of the terms may be present

NOT = Excludes specific search term

parenthoodparenthoodANDAND

marriagemarriage

AgedOR

elderly

casino casino gambling gambling

NOTNOTInternet Internet gamblinggambling

Truncation

Most databases use asterisk * to retrieve variant forms of search terms:

gambl* =gambled, gambling, gamble(anything that comes after ‘gambl’)parent* = parenthood, parenting, parents(anything that comes after ‘parent’)

Note: Different databases use different wildcard symbols e.g. $, ?, !$, ?, !

Check database guides, Help menu...

Parentheses ( )

Use ( ) to execute commands inside innermost parentheses first

(low income or single) and families= low income familieslow income families

single parent familiessingle parent families(teen* or adolescen*) and pregnancy= teenage pregnancyteenage pregnancy

adolescent pregnancyadolescent pregnancy

Things to remember when searching databases

Enter search terms using natural languageIdentify keywords & list synonyms, alternative spellings...And, OR, NOT, *, $, ( ) are standard symbols & can be used in almost all databases.

Look for the following features in each database:Limit or refine search (by language, date...)Sort results (by date, relevance, times cited...)Descriptors, thesaurus, subjects for more search termsEdit or modify search Mark, save, print, email, export resultsLinks to abstracts, full-texts, citing articlesHelp menus, Search tips, User guides...

Best Best practicpractic

eses

Best Best practicpractic

eses

Databases“Overall, the ability to communicate with databases

as though you were talking to a colleague is pretty amazing, as long as you know what it can and cannot docan and cannot do.”.”

- - Thane, Librarians’ Rx, , Apr 2008

Databases for Sociology

Scopus Sociological AbstractsSocial Sciences Citation Index via Web of SciencePERINDProquest Theses & DissertationsExpanded Academic AsapSocial Sciences Abstracts

Scopushttp://www.info.scopus.com/setup/promo/

promo_material/docs/00000_Scopus_User_Guide_General_4WEB08.pdf

About Scopus

Provides indexing, abstracting of and citation linking to

peer reviewed & open access journals conference proceedings, books… web sources, author homepages, university sites, articles-in-press, preprint servers…

Coverage, 1966-Focused on Scientific, Technical, Medical & Social Sciences literature.

Content originates from Europe, Latin America & Asia Pacific region

Possible to Cross-search Scopus & CSA Illumina databases.

Lets search Scopus

religion, religions social control, deviance

“While religion has played an important role as an agent of social control, certain forms of religion have increasingly been seen as deviant in contemporary societies.” Discuss this apparent paradox.

religion* and social controland deviance

Let’s search Scopus

welfare state or welfare society

singapore

Is Singapore a welfare state? If yes, whyand from which perspective? If no, how wouldyou call the Singaporean social policy regime?

(welfare state) or (welfare society) and singapore

Let’s search Scopus

foreign workers singapore migration

How do micro-level and meso-level models of internationalmigration contribute to understanding the initiationand perpetuation of foreign workers in Singapore?

foreign workers and singapore and migration

Let’s search Scopus

Notes on Scopus

Basic SearchUse Boolean operators, such as OR, AND, NOT, also multi-character wildcard *

Default search in “Article title, Abstract, Keywords”Use Limit fieldsUse Refine resultsCombine Search HistoryIntegration with CSA Illumina databases

Click to search Sociological Abstracts

Advanced Search - Command Line search not really recommended

Sociological AbstractsCSA Illumina Quick Reference Guidehttp://www.csa.com/support/QRC.pdf

About Sociological Abstracts

Premier resource for research literature in Sociology

Provides indexesindexes & abstractsabstracts to journal articles, book chapters, conference papers & dissertations.

Coverage, 1979-Culture, social structure, social differentiation, social psychology, sociology of the arts, business, education, studies in violence and power and more……

Search LINC+LINC+ for full-texts of references retrieved

Some overlap in literature coverage between Scopus & Sociological Abstracts

Let’s search Sociological Abstracts

aging or retirement

singapore and government and family

(aging or retirement) and singapore and government and family

Successful ageing for Singapore: the roles of the government and family

Lets search Sociological Abstracts

surveillance technologiessystems, computers,

organization, workplace*, work environment*

How are surveillance technologies changing the nature of the modern organization?

surveillance and (workplace* or work environment*)

Quick SearchQuick Search Searches single words or phrasesQuick search = anywhere searchEnter Boolean operators in search box

AND, OR AND, OR andand NOT NOT

Advanced SearchAdvanced SearchAllows for more complex searchesCombine terms using Boolean operators from drop-down listsUse drop-down menus to select specific fields:

Anywhere, Keywords, Author, Title, Descriptors…

Notes onSociological Abstracts

Notes on Sociological Abstracts

LimitsLimitsDate

Use drop down menus to limit to range of years Latest update

limits results to include only most recent records

Journal articles, English limits search to journal articles & English records

QuickBibQuickBibUse records to create bibliography in ASA style.

Notes on Sociological Abstracts

Displaying and viewing recordsDisplaying and viewing records

Click on View record for more details, including abstract Results displayed by All Publication TypesResults can be sorted by

Most recent or Relevance

Click on Edit Search to modify search Add or remove term(s) to refocus search

Managing search resultsManaging search resultsMark, print, mail, save & exportExport to EndNote Web

Social Sciences Citation Index

(via Web of Science)

Quick Reference Guidehttp://scientific.thomson.com/media/scpdf/webofscienceqrc.pdf

About Social Sciences Citation Index

It is a multidisciplinary database covering the journal literature of the social sciences, 1980-

General SearchGeneral SearchSearches by topic, author, etc., like any other article database.

Cited referenceCited referenceA unique search tool that lets you use a particular article or author as a starting point to see who has cited that work since it was published.

Let’s search SSCI via Web of Science

welfare state or welfare society

singapore

Is Singapore a welfare state? If yes, whyand from which perspective? If no, how wouldyou call the Singaporean social policy regime?

(welfare state) or (welfare society) and singapore

Lets search Social Sciences Citation

Index

surveillance technologiessystems, computers,

organization, workplace, work environment*

How are surveillance technologies changing the nature of the modern organization?

surveillance and (workplace* or work environment*)

Lets search Social Sciences Citation

Index

responses, research telephone surveys

Measures to improve return rates in a telephone survey

responses and research and telephone surveys

Notes on Social Sciences Citation

IndexEnter search terms in search fields

Topic, Author, Title or Publication NameTopic, Author, Title or Publication Name

Use quotation marksquotation marks “ ... “ to look for exact phrase.

Search using AND, OR, NOTAND, OR, NOT and SAMESAME (same sentences) to create logical search statements.

Truncation symbols **,??, $ $ can be used to search for variants of words

Nest search operators inside parentheses ( )( )

Notes on Social Sciences Citation

IndexOn search result list, click on the article's titlearticle's title to view its abstract abstract & other details

May refine resultsrefine results by different criteria like subject areas, document types, languages, ... etc.

Sort results by date, number of times cited, date, number of times cited, relevance.relevance.

Click to access articles online.

Create Personal ProfilePersonal Profile to create Saved Searches and Search Alerts.

PERINDPeriodical Indexto articles relating

to Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei &

ASEAN

How to searchhttp://www.lib.nus.edu.sg/lion/d/perind.html

About PERIND

Good source for research relating to Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei & ASEAN, 1980s-

Index to journal articles, book chapters and conference papers relating to humanities, social sciences, business, architecture, building, science, technology, law & medicine

Uses Boolean operators, truncation (Boolean operators, truncation (**), drop-down list), drop-down list to search on specific fields

Save selected records using IE function File> Save as>filename...

Lets search PERIND

social security singapore

What potential problems does the existing social security

system in Singapore pose?

social security and singapore

Lets search PERIND

singlish identitygender, class

Analyze either the gender or class dimensions of Singlish and its relationship

with the formation of “Singaporean” identity.

(gender or class) and (singlish or singapore english)

and identity

Journal Citation Alerts

Major Sociology journal publishersSageJSTORInformaWorldSpringerLinkProject Muse Cambridge Journals OnlineOpen Access Journals

Journal Citation Alerts

I’d like to receive citation alerts from Sage journals on the following topic:

“The ethnicity factor in policingThe ethnicity factor in policing” Access the Sage Publications platform via library portalLook for the option “Alerts” (in this case, it is found under My Tools tab)You will be asked to sign in (register for an account if necessary)Do a search on your topicSave your alert request

Newspapers

E-Newspapers

International & local newspapers:

New York Times, Asian Wall Street Journal, Business Times, The Straits Times, more…

Two major databases

FactivaFactivaLexis/Nexis Lexis/Nexis AcademicAcademic

Click to viewE-newspapers

Access Factiva directly

Newspapers

Press ClippingsIn-house collection of articles from Straits Times and Business TimesArticles about Singapore, Malaysia, ASEANCheck LION under Press Clippings Collection - Subject Headings ListAvailable from Singapore-Malaysia Collection (SMC)

MicrofilmsThe Straits Times from 1880 -

Let’s search Factiva or LexisNexis

workfare income supplement

singaporewelfare or recipient*

Discuss the extent to which the Workfare Income Supplement scheme reflects a majorchange in the social policy of the government.

workfare income supplement and (welfare or recipient*) and singapore

Lets search Factiva/LexisNexis Academic

public transport singaporedemand* OR prefer* OR usage OR choice*

Why do people use/not use public transport in Singapore?

(demand* OR prefer* OR usage OR choice*) AND public transport* AND singapore

Other Useful Sources

Foreign Theses

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Database

Index to Theses with Abstracts Accepted for Higher Degree by the Universities of Great Britain & Ireland

Australian Digital Theses Database

NUS Theses & Academic exercises

Search LINC+,LINC+, by keywordskeywords:ph dm soc scacademic exercise

Search LINCLINC, by call no, HM15 200* (for 2000-) in Theses CollectionTheses Collection

sociology national university singapore

Statistical SourcesEIU Country Data

Inter-University Consortium for Political & Social Research

SingSTAT Time Series

Statistics on Singapore :

World development Indicators

Yearbook of statistics, Singapore

Resources on WWWAmerican Sociological Association

Anthro.Net

British Sociological Association

Dead Sociologists' Society

Electronic Journal of Sociology

Intute: Social Sciences

Resources for Methods in Evaluation and Social Research

Social Science Research Network (SSRN)

Sociolog

Sociosite

SocioWeb

Statistical Resources on the Web: Sociology

LINCThe enhanced Library

catalogue

consumption of culture

LINC+ Results Display

Relevance sorting

Book cover

Refine limits

Limit by tags

Browse up to

5 recently added titles

Read summaryRead summary,

Choice Review

Library portalResources & services

E-forms Document Delivery Services Recommend new titles

Subject Guides Library Instruction ONline EndNote X2® Getting Help

Materials Not Found in Library

Document Delivery Services (DDS)Journal articles, Book Chapters, …Request via E-Forms (Library Portal)

All requests must be approved by Supervisor

DDSDDS

Recommend Books for Purchasing

E-formsSubmit e-form for “New Book” Or email to clbfrm01@nus.edu.sgNo endorsement from supervisor needed1 to 3 months to process

Recommend new Recommend new titlestitles

Writing & Citation Style

Refer to Sociology Sociology subject guide under Research and Writing

Writing for social scientists : how to start and finish your thesis, book, or article The sociology student writer's manual

Library Instruction Online How to cite referencesHow to cite references

American Sociological Association StyleAmerican Sociological Association Style

Bibliographic management software EndNote/EndNote Web

Subject Guides

Good starting points for researchClick to search for

Sociology subject guide

Library Instruction ONline

Click here

Or click here

EndNote X2®

A software thatA software thatstores and organizes citations found from many stores and organizes citations found from many sources sources

inserts these citations into a Word documentinserts these citations into a Word document

automatically format your references according to automatically format your references according to a predefined citation style a predefined citation style

Endnote training sessions for FASS:Sept breakPlease look out for Events Events announcement inLibrary portal!

We are here…

Advisory Service atInformation Desk,Central Library,Level 5.

Email me: clbha@nus.edu.sg

Tel: 6516 2028

E-resource day

9 September 2008 , Central Library Forum

Participate in our Online Quiz and Treasure Hunt to win prizes such as an Asus Eee PC, iPod Nanos, MP3 players, laptop bags, book vouchers, flash drives, optical mice, and other great prizes!

Listen in & Learn ! Our e-resource providers will be conducting talks throughout the day touching on the scope, coverage, and strengths of the various e-resources.

Some of the e-resources highlighted are: Business Source Premier, Scopus, Web of Science, Engineering Village 2, Proquest Dissertations & Theses, SciFinder Scholar, LexisNexis Academic and the list goes on!