Sociology 434 Research Strategies

Research process

Getting Started

Assignment

• Nature of assignment
• Types of publications (primary/secondary/tertiary; scholarly/popular)
• Types of periodicals: scholarly journals, magazines and newspapers
• Number of sources
• Citing your Sources : Online

  MLA handbook. REF LB2369 .G53 2002
  Writing research papers : a complete guide / James D. Lester, James Lester, Jr. Reserve Room: LB2369 .L4 2002

Develop topic – write down specific alternative words – narrow topic
Search for books

Think of different ways to express the same idea:

Legal Issue	Group of people	Other terms

• Boolean
  • Put your words together to search
  • Boolean "and" puts terms together, both concepts must be in the records retrieved (limits)
• Boolean "or" allows you to search closely related terms -- either can be in the records retrieved
• Truncation: Symbol used at the end of a word to retrieve variant endings of that word.
  • Allows you to search the "root" form of a word with all its different endings.
  • Broadens or increases search results. Truncation = OR
  • Example: teen* retrieves teen OR teens OR teenager OR teenagers
  • However: comp* retrieves computer, computers, but also compromise, compete etc.

• Subject headings
• Call numbers

How call numbers work:

• The first letter or letters represent broad subject areas
• The first set of numbers represent a more specific subject within that broad subject area
• The next set of letters / numbers represent the shelf location in that specific subject area

• Ebooks
• Map it / send text

Search articles

• Specific databases
• Databases by Subject
• Metasearch

Resources found

• Save/email/print
• Citation style formated

Google books Google Scholar / VPN
Evaluate