Sociology

Depending on your topic idea, you'll want to find background information, perhaps from an encyclopedia. Why? Encyclopedias can help you to:

• Understand the scope of your topic--is it too broad or too narrow?
• Understand how your topic is broken down into sub-topics.
• Identify concepts or themes relevant to your topic.
• Identify important terms and vocabulary that can be used in further searching.

   Annual Review of Sociology

Use the Annual Review of Sociology to find overview essays or literature reviews that will list many important articles and books on a topic. These essays are incredibly useful starting points.

In addition to the titles listed above the library has some databases that you can search for more encyclopedia and handbook information. These resources cover all disciplines (not just sociology), so to see just sociology or social science titles, browse by subject area to get a more focused list.

You may want to get an idea of how much information exists on your topic idea and what kinds of things sociologists are writing about it. It can be useful to do a quick search in the following databases:

Our catalog is called "Library Search". Like a "traditional" library catalog, it will connect you with the books in our collection, but it will also retrieve journal articles on your topic.

For a more focused search try Sociological Abstracts for journal articles, or the Sociology Collection database group. Articles may be linked to other databases, so if you don't see the article itself, trying clicking the "Check for Full Text" button.