Starting Research: Sociology

Basic resources for starting research in Sociology.

Databases and Indexes

Sociological Abstracts: (1963-present) Abstracts of articles in over 1,500 journals, conference papers, books, and dissertations in the social and behavioral sciences.

Social Sciences Abstracts (1983-present) Abstracts of articles from over 550 sources in the social sciences. Includes articles, interviews, obituaries, biographies, and book reviews on anthropology, political science, economics, psychology, geography, and sociology. Materials from 1974-1993 may be searched in the paper Social Sciences Index and materials from 1965-1974 may be searched in the paper Social Sciences & Humanities Index (request either from offsite storage).

PsycINFO (1887-present) Covers psychology and related disciplines including sociology, medicine, psychiatry, nursing, education, sport, pharmacology, physiology, and linguistics. Worldwide coverage includes references to over 1300 journals, dissertations, and book chapters.

Academic Search Premier: (dates vary by publication) An extensive multi-disciplinary database providing full text for thousands of publications, including thousands of peer-reviewed journals

Library Catalogs

Grinnell College Libraries: Burling Library, Kistle Science Library and beyond.

WorldCat: A huge catalog of books, web resources, and other materials held in libraries around the world. Most items in WorldCat are available through interlibrary loan.

Center for Research Libraries: Journals, foreign dissertations, newspapers, and microform collections available through interlibrary loan and electronic delivery.

Reference Sources

Encyclopedia of sociology: Burling Ref HM17 .E5 1992 (4 volumes)

Encyclopedia of social theory: Burling Ref HM425 .E47 2005 (2 volumes)

The Cambridge dictionary of sociology: Burling Ref HM425 .C36 2006

The Blackwell dictionary of sociology : a user's guide to sociological language:
Burling Ref HM425 .J64x 2000
Also available electronically.

Search the library catalog for additional reference sources by limiting Location to Reference or using the keywords encyclopedia* or dictionar*.

Selected Web Sites

American Sociological Association

Style and Citation Guides

American Sociological Association Style Guide
Perm Reserve and Science Library Perm Reserve HM569 .A43x 2007
(Ask at circulation desk in Burling or Science Library)

List of style guides and information on citing sources from Grinnell College Libraries

RefWorks A web-based service that allows you to import citations, create bibliographies, and more. Sign up for an individual account and get started right away, or ask a librarian to show you how RefWorks works.

Resources at Grinnell

Department of Sociology

Related Research Guides

Starting Research: Psychology

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