SOCI 1510_Class Project Tips

 SOCI 1510 class page   http://courses.unt.edu/rseward/
(includes instructions on this project) 

Dr. Seward/ Spring 2008/ Room 110, Wooten Hall, 12:30

This class project tips page at: http://www.library.unt.edu/research-tools/class-pages/soci-1510-individuals-in-society/

ANALYTICAL BOOK REVIEW

 Identify a book (book selection) explain your interest (what attracted you to this topic and why)
identify key sociology concepts (notes, textbook, )
what are the main points made or expected to be made in the book (author's argument, perspective, and purpose)

 

BOOK SELECTION "Identify a book" to review.

Helpful book title to select a book:

Title: Required reading : sociology's most influential books / edited by Dan Clawson.
Imprint (publisher info):  Amherst : University of Massachusetts Press, c1998.
Location: WILLIS LIBRARY-2nd FLOOR
Call #:  HM73 .R45 1998

There is a electronic book version of this text as well.

Required reading : sociology's most influential books (online)

To access netlibrary books, click on the "An electronic book accessible through the World Wide Web; click for information" link

(Note on netLibrary: netLibrary e-books can be accessed online. They no longer need to be checked out but they usually prevent more than one person accessing the same book simultaneously. )

 

Helpful online source that include reviews and critiques of  sociology books

Published Book Reviews (for example purposes only!)

Title:     Annual review of sociology [electronic resource]

                  (Pernament Url link to this record: http://iii.library.unt.edu/record=b2677196

Step 1: "Click on the following link" of the database with the date range you need.

Example: Full text available from Annual Reviews: 01/01/1997 to present

Step 2: If you are off campus you will be prompted to enter your EUID and EagleMail password.

 Try keyword searches with the book title in quotes) 

(Note:  You need your EUID/password to access any of the electronic databases, journals, articles, or books

If you need to reset your password, please go to the university helpdesk page: https://ams.unt.edu/

 

COMPARATIVE ESSAY

 

UNT Library Catalog (for Books and other non-article items in our collection)

Search as a keyword, subject search, journal title search, etc)

 

Here are some helpful book on cross-national/comparative studies:

TITLE: Comparative Methods In The Social Sciences / edited By Alan Sica

Call #:HM585. C64 2006 volumes 1-4

LOCATION: Willis Library, 2nd floor

TITLE: The Comparative Method:Moving Beyond Qualitative and Quantitative Strategies

 

Call #: H61. R216 1987
LOCATION: Willis Library, 2nd floor
URL to record: http://iii.library.unt.edu/record=b1385037

 

  For books on cross-national studies, try browsing the subject term Social Sciences--Comparative Method

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Electronic Resources (to access abstracts and full text articles online search these abstracts/indexes/databases)

 

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~ SAGE JOURNALS ONLINE

ACCESS

 1. From the library homepage, click on Electronic Resources

2. From the A-Z list, Click on the letter S

3. Scroll down and click on the name "Sage Journals Online"

3. If off campus, enter your EUID and EagleMail password

SEARCH STRATEGY 1: SEARCHING ALL SAGE CONTENT AVAILABLE TO UNT

1. Once you are in the database, click on the Advanced Search Tab

2. Enter your search terms.

Use "OR" for words that mean the same thing. This is helpful when you are not sure which term the database uses.

For example, in box one and two enter
cross-national studies OR comparative studies

3. Since this is a tricky database to serach, leave your search fields at the default---all fields. Enter other search terms in the next row after the AND (Use AND to link differnt terms to your search. It narrows the search)

For example, in box two and three in the second row enter your countries such as
United States and Canada

4. You can add yet another row now (based on your topic/sociological concept or return to this step after doing a basic search. You can always go back to this page by selecting "modify this search" which will appear on the right side of the screen after you do your search.

5.  Search within : If you want full-text access (not abstracts) be sure to click the SAGE Content Available to Me

button. This is a very important step.

6.  Date Range:

Limit your search to articles from a certain timeframe (for example January 2000 - February 2008)

7. Click the red Search button at the button

[For this particular search you get 335 results for a comparison between United States and Canada. If you click the Modify this search tab, and add a row you can insert your topic (For example, socialization gets you 74 hits; deviance gets you 24 hits, poverty gets you 124, etc. This illustrates how adding a term via AND reduces your results.]

 

 SEARCH STRATEGY 2: PICK JOURNALS YOU WANT TO SEARCH FROM THE LIST

Follow all the steps above except step 5. Again, step 4 (modifying your search is optional, but can be done at the end)

5. Search within: Here search journals that would probably include cross-national studies by checking them off on the list.

Here are the results of a basic sample on using this search strategy
(notice the Journal Titles listed. These may apply to you)

Results: 24 found for United States and Canada in All fields AND socialization in All fields, published Jan 2000 to Feb 2008 in selected journals: Comparative Political Studies, Cross-Cultural Research, Cultural Studies <=> Critical Methodologies, Current Sociology, and Journal of Sociology.

 

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~ EBSCOHOST

 

ACCESS

 1. From the library homepage, click on Electronic Resources

2. From the A-Z list, Click on the letter E

3. Scroll down and click on the name "EbscoHost"

3. If off campus, enter your EUID and EagleMail password

 

4. Now you will be directed to a page where you can pick several databases provided by the electronic index EbscoHost.

The following should cover both interdisciplinary and sociology specific topics for a broad search.

Check the boxes of these databases (or at least the first two):

---  * Academic Search Complete (this is interdisciplinary, covers many majors)

---  * Social Science Abstracts
Others, based on your topic: Abstracts in Social Gerontology, Family Studies Abstracts, Race Relations Abstracts, Urban Studies Abstracts, America: History & Life)

 

5. Click the "Continue" tab at the bottom

6. Before you enter your search terms, click the Advanced Search tab at the top.

7.  Now you are ready to search. Notice that the default is a "Select a Field (optional)" category next to each search box. This is a funny way of saying a keyword search.

 

Note: Difference between a keyword and Subject search:

Keyword= searches anywhere in the document (like a basic Google search)

      Good if you don't know what SU Subject Terms to start with.

 

Subject (SU) Search= the specific term used in this database for your topic

       Prefered becuase when you have the subject term your results will be more on topic usually.

       Hard to guess these though, so sometimes best to start with keyword and look at subjects of articles that work for you

 

SAMPLE SEARCH:

In box one, enter the subject term: Comparative studies

AND in box two, enter the subject term: United States

then in after the second AND box, enter your second county (country of comparison)

Search following databases: Academic Search Complete, Social Sciences Abstracts, Abstracts in Social Gerontology, Family Studies Abstracts, Race Relations Abstracts, Urban Studies Abstracts, America: History & Life

Limit your results--check these boxes:
Full text (complete articles)
Scholarly (peer reviewed) journals  -- often seen as the best in the field. Weeds out magazine articles, etc.

 

So, Comparative Studies in Su Subject Terms AND United States in Su Subject Terms AND Canada 
= 16 results (full text and scholarly)

If you add a row, and pick Crime, you will get one result

 

Note: Difference Full-text or abstract in EbscoHost

 

An article is in full text, if you see and HTML or PDF link, or if you click the Article Linker button and it directs you to another database with that article.

Remember that Full-text is a limter option you can choose in the beginning of your search to limit results to full-text 

If not, click the "Check the UNT library Catalog"  and it will tell you if the journal that carries this article is available in print here at the library or in remote storage. If you want something delivered to you  or the main library, fill out a Library Delivery Request Form

.

Not in our collection?  Use InterLibrary loan 

service. Create an ILLIAD account and request your article (or other item) to be delivered to a UNT library from the library who has the book or article in their collection.

 

NEED HELP?

No problem! This is a lot of information and we have library departments here to help you.

Technical difficulties: See our Tips and Tricks Page
and/or we can contact the library's technical department, LAN. Help Request form online

Research Assistance:  Ask a Librarian services (reference desk, chat, e-mail, phone, and assistance by appointment)

 

For an appointment or research assistance with the Sociology librarian

E-mail: lilly.ramin@unt.edu

Call: 940-565-3981

 

BEST OF LUCK WITH YOUR RESEARCH ! ! !