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.
- Google ScholarGoogle Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites.
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.
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.
Additional Resources
- 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.
- International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral SciencesFully revised and updated, the second edition of the International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences offers a source of social and behavioral sciences reference material that is broader and deeper than any other. It comprises over 3,900 articles, commissioned by 71 Section Editors, and includes 90,000 bibliographic references as well as comprehensive name and subject indexes.
- Anatomy of An Annotated BibliographyHow to construct an annotated bibliography entry. What it is, what it contains, example entry, questions to ask yourself.
Get Social Science Data
- ICPSR This link opens in a new windowThe Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) provides a vast archive of social science data for research and instruction. Users may view documentation, download raw data, and search a bibliography of data-related literature. (You must create a personal ICPSR account with your virginia.edu email address in order to download data.)
- Social Explorer This link opens in a new windowInteractive Maps and Reports provide easy access to demographic information about the United States. Data comes from the Census beginning in 1790 and from the Religious Congregations and Membership Study beginning in 1980. Also has crime and health data.
- Statistical Abstract of the United States This link opens in a new windowThe Statistical Abstract of the United States is a one-volume, comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States. Use the Abstract as a convenient volume for statistical reference, and as a guide to sources of more information both in print and on the Web.
- Historical Statistics of the United States This link opens in a new windowQuantitative historical data covering American population, work and welfare, economic structure, governance, and international relations from colonial times to the present.