Librarian
Start Your Research with The Basics
- Virgo: UVa Libraries Catalog This link opens in a new windowVirgo lists books, journals, videos, audio, manuscripts, and Internet resources owned or licensed by the University Library (Main, Brown, Clemons, etc.), Health Sciences Library, Law Library, and Darden School Library.
- Sociology Research GuideIf you get lost, you can also search the Sociology Subject Guide for good places to start your research.
Take Advantage of Library Help & Tools
Librarians love to meet with students! Feel free to contact me directly for a one-on-one research consultation. My contact info is on this page.
- Ask a LibrarianWe are always available to help with your research. You can chat, email, phone, text, or come visit a library in person!
- ZoteroZotero is free software that helps you collect, cite, and share research. It is extremely helpful when you are writing your paper and need to construct a bibliography.
- SourceDorks Peer-to-Peer Research HelpUndergrads helping undergrads!
"Need help finding credible sources for your upcoming paper? Has your teacher banned Wikipedia? Meet with one of the SourceDorks! The SourceDorks will help you find sources relevant to your paper, narrow down a big topic, get peer-reviewed sources, and use sources your teacher will love!"
Focus on Peer Reviewed Articles
Databases are really great when you want to find something specific to your discipline, or you want to be sure that you are getting the best resources available! These are your best bets for sociology.
Here are tips for using databases:
- Remember that if you are off-grounds when you want to access these databases, be sure to go through a library website so you are prompted for your NetBadge computing ID. You will then be able to view the articles without having to pay for them.
- Use the the "Find @ UVA" button to get the full text.
- Limit your search results to "peer-reviewed" articles to get articles evaluated by experts.
- SocINDEX with Full Text This link opens in a new windowSocINDEX with Full Text offers comprehensive coverage of sociology, encompassing all sub-disciplines and closely related areas of study. These include abortion, criminology and criminal justice, demography, ethnic and racial studies, gender studies, marriage and family, political sociology, religion, rural and urban sociology, social development, social psychology, social structure, social work, socio-cultural anthropology, sociological history, sociological research, sociological theory, substance abuse and other addictions, violence and many others.
- Social Sciences This link opens in a new windowSearch for journal articles in many social science areas including world and US politics, sociology, economics, education, government and social policy, law enforcement.
- SSRN: Social Science Research Network This link opens in a new windowSocial Science Research Network (SSRN) is devoted to the rapid worldwide dissemination of social science research and is composed of a number of specialized research networks in each of the social sciences. The SSRN eLibrary consists of two parts: an Abstract Database containing abstracts on over 542,600 scholarly working papers and forthcoming papers and an Electronic Paper Collection currently containing over 445,100 downloadable full text documents in Adobe Acrobat pdf format.
- Social Sciences Citation Index This link opens in a new windowPart of Web of Knowledge/Web of Science. Daily updates make it a good source for recent information. Gives number of times each article has been cited. Use Journal Citation Reports (JCR) to find impact factors for journals in science, social sciences, and technology.
Methods
- SAGE Research Methods Online This link opens in a new windowSAGE Research Methods is a methods library with more than 1000 books, reference works, journal articles, and instructional videos by world-leading academics from across the social sciences, including the largest collection of qualitative methods books available online from any scholarly publisher.
Additional Social Science Databases
- Political Science Complete This link opens in a new windowPolitical Science Complete provides nearly 340 full-text reference books and monographs and more than 44,000 full-text conference papers, which includes those from the International Political Science Association. The database also provides a subject-specific thesaurus with more than 23,500 terms to provide subject searching guidance to researchers.Subject coverage includes comparative politics, humanitarian issues, international relations, law and legislation, non-governmental organizations and political theory.
- Communication & Mass Media Complete This link opens in a new windowCommunication & Mass Media Complete provides coverage of journals in communication, mass media, and other closely-related fields of study. It provides indexing and abstracts for more than 570 journals, and selected coverage of nearly 200 more, for a combined coverage of more than 770 titles. Furthermore, this database includes full text for over 450 journals.
- APA PsycINFO This link opens in a new windowBeginning in the 1800s, covers journal articles in more than 30 languages and books in English about psychology and related disciplines including medicine, psychiatry, nursing, sociology, education.
- Policy File Index This link opens in a new windowPolicy File Index is a unique resource for U.S. public policy research in that it grants users access to timely, updated information from over 350 public policy think tanks, nongovernmental organizations, research institutes, university centers, advocacy groups, and other entities. Over 75 public policy topics are covered, from foreign policy to domestic policy. The majority of Policy File Index records link directly to the full-text report, paper, document, or other source.