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Finding Information for Sociological Research |
Library Catalog • Scholarly Databases • Library Services • Datasets • Internet Resources
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Finding Information for Sociological Research |
Library Catalog • Scholarly Databases • Library Services • Datasets • Internet Resources
The Library's home page (library.stmarytx.edu/acadlib) is the easiest place to find most of these resources, plus many more. Links to all Library resources in this guide can be found on the home page. Add the Library home page to your Favorites today! |
The Library's Catalog
The Catalog contains records for all of our circulating and reference books (those shelved on the 3rd and 2nd floors of the Library, respectively). There are also records for our CDs, DVDs, VHS tapes, government publications, thousands of electronic-only books and other materials. Links to electronic publications appear in the cataloging record. For tangible materials in the Library, the location informaiton given includes the floor of the Library and the item's call number. Ask for Reserve materials—both those items assigned for particular classes and material permanently on Reserve, such as DVDs—at the Circulation counter.
Some searches in the catalog can be successful by typing keywords into the initial search box that is displayed. When you search by keyword in this box, however, you are using an uncontrolled vocabulary. The search program will look for the word(s) you type no matter where they appear in a cataloging record: title, author, subject, contents, etc.
All material in the Catalog is also described using a controlled vocabulary of Library of Congress subject headings. You might have better luck using the Advanced Search option and searching in these subject headings. Many of these terms can be further subdivided by geography, dates, or sub-concepts.
No matter what, if you have difficulty finding what you need on your own, don't hesitate to ask a Librarian for assistance. We can suggest alternative words to search, better search strategies, or different resources to try. |
In addition to tangible books and government publications, you can also find records to electronic-only government publications and books in the catalog. These titles will either have no "location" noted in the Catalog, or will have "Blume Online Service" given as the "location." Government publications, as well as some other freely available electronic material, can be accessed from on or off-campus without any sort of St. Mary's authentication. For electronic books available through NetLibrary, you must create a free account with this service through an on-campus computer. Then you may access these titles from off-campus by using your NetLibrary login. For more information on finding electronic books, check this information page.
Academic Search Complete is a good, general database that covers all subjects and includes a substantial number of full-text articles directly attached to their citations in the database. You can check the "Full-Text" box on the main search screen and only retrieve citations with attached articles. If you do a search without the full-text box check, and the full text of an article you need is not available in the database, we might have the journal in print on the First Floor of the Library. Or you can request the article from another library on Inter-Library Loan.
Another tip for help finding substantial, academic articles, is to check the boxes for Scholarly (peer-reviewed) Journals or References Available. You can even stipulate the minimun number of pages you want the articles to contain.
Another database that is a good source of social science articles is Project Muse. In addition to being focused on the humanities and social sciences, you can limit your search even further, to particular disciplines such as Sociology, Women's Studies, Cultural Studies, etc. Otherwise it works much the same as Academic Search Complete. For full-text citations only, check their "Full Access" box.
Other databases might be useful, depending upon the topic you need. Consult "Databases Listed by Subject" to see what other databases are available in broad subject areas. Or check with a Reference Librarian for other databases or other resources to try.
If you're having trouble deciding about whether a periodical is scholarly or not, take a look at this guide developed by one of our reference librarians: What is a Scholarly Journal? (library.stmarytx.edu/acadlib/subject/misc/scholjrn.htm)
If you have a citation for an article, obtained through a database or from another source, such as a bibliography or list of references, you can determine whether we have access to the journal through our Periodicals List, available through a link on the main Library webpage entitled Locating Journals. This can be a faster way of retrieving the full text of an article, if it appears in a journal we have access to through one of our databases.
If you need a book or a journal article that we do not have either in print or electronically, we can borrow it from another library for you, through Inter-Library Loan or ILL . Receiving the material throught this service can take up to a week or two, so be sure not to leave your ILL requests to the last minute. You can also check other local libraries' catalogs easily through our website; look for the "Other Libraries" link. WorldCat is another service available for checking library catalogs around the world, and there is a link to it on the Library home page.
Currently enrolled students have access to all our subscription databases and services from off-campus as well as from any campus computer connected to the internet. Here is a page explaining how to gain this access from off-campus.
There are many freely available sources for datasets on a variety of topics. The U.S. government provides a great deal of data. A new site just getting underway that promises to be an excellent way to search for data is Data.gov (www.data.gov). It links to a fairly limited number of datasets at present, but will be growing and you should keep it in mind. A good general index to government data is USA.gov's "Data and Statistics General Reference Resources." (www.usa.gov/Topics/Reference_Shelf/Data.shtml)
Here are some specific data index pages from individual govenment agencies:
Some universities also provide free datasets for research use. You can use some of the academically-oriented internet search tools listed below to find these sources. Here are just two examples:
As you well know, not all information on the internet is reliable or suitable for college-level research. However, there are some good collections of resources compiled by experts and recommended for academic use. Here are a few of these academic "meta-sites" that are good substitutes for simple Google searching:
