CCC Library's Guide to Social Sciences Research

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SOCIOLOGY edition
Overview
Plagiarism
Evaluating Information
Reference Resources
Online Resources
Government Data
APA Style

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Welcome!
Welcome to the CCC Library guide to research in sociology. This guide attempts to
answer many of your research-related questions and provide you with a
foundation in information literacy.
Overview
Plagiarism
Evaluating Information
Reference Resources
Online Resources
Government Data
APA Style

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Plagiarism
Plagiarism is an important topic on college campuses, and one students need to be
aware of. Plagiarism is a kind of cheating, and the consequences of getting caught
can be severe. So what exactly is Plagiarism and how do you avoid it? View the video
on the next slide to find out.
Overview
Plagiarism
Evaluating Information
Reference Resources
Online Resources
Government Data
APA Style

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Evaluating Information
Being able to critically evaluate the information you encounter is a hugely valuable skill.
Why? Because not everything you read is true. And sometimes information can be
technically true, but still be so biased, selective, or leading as to make the information
essentially useless for research purposes.
You may encounter other problems with certain websites and articles as well. The
information may simply be too out-of-date to be useful. Sometimes the authors aren’t
experts on what they’re writing about. And sometimes the problem isn’t the accuracy of
the information, it’s the lack of detail and substance. Would you really want to use a book
written for a juvenile audience as a source in a college paper?
Whether you’re getting information from a book, magazine, newspaper, cable news
channel, online forum, medical website, or email, there are simple criteria you can use to
evaluate the information you encounter. This presentation will introduce you to the five
criteria we recommend you apply to your potential sources whenever you conduct
college-level research.
And being a critical consumer of information is helpful not only in your classes, but also
in your daily lives. Just as you need the information in your college papers to be based on
reliable, quality sources, you also want the health advice, product reviews, and other
kinds of information you personally use to be reliable.
Overview
Plagiarism
Evaluating Information
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Evaluating Information cont.
These are the five criteria to be aware of whenever you evaluate your information
sources. We’ll look at each in detail.
• Currency
• Authority
• Accuracy
• Purpose
• Relevance
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Evaluating Information cont.
Authority
Who’s writing for the webpage? Are they an expert or just another anonymous internet
writer with an opinion? What are their credentials? What about the website itself? .EDU
and .GOV websites are usually the most reliable. This is because .EDU sites are hosted by
colleges and universities, and they tend to be very protective of their reputations for
quality and accuracy .GOV sites are maintained by the federal government. The
government produces lots of research and collects lots of statistics, so definitely use .GOV
sites whenever possible. You may also see .ORG, .COM, and .NET sites .ORG sites have
been traditionally more reliable than COM sites. This is less the case today, as anyone can
now register for a .ORG site. Be wary of .COM sites, but don’t feel like anything from a
.COM is dubious. Some of the best research-quality websites around are .COMs. COMs
are like the wild west—there’s no law. So just be extra careful when evaluating them. As
far as .NET sites go, you won’t find many, as it’s a domain used primarily by internet
providers, not necessarily content providers.
Overview
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Evaluating Information
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Government Data
APA Style
Currency
Most websites have a “last date edited” at the bottom of the page. This lets you know
that the site is being actively maintained. This is important for two reasons. One, if the
website hasn’t been touched since 2003, it may mean the site has been largely
abandoned by the creator, so any mistakes aren’t being fixed. Two, if a website isn’t
active, the information may not be timely anymore. Also, are there dead links? This is
another sign that the website’s author is no longer actively maintaining the site.

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Evaluating Information cont.
Purpose
What is the reason why the information exists? What are the biases of the authors or
the organization behind the information? Bias isn’t necessarily bad. Just because the
author or organization has a particular point of view doesn’t mean that their
information is inaccurate or lacks authority. That said, you will want to be aware of
the biases of the authors or groups. And in order to write a well-rounded paper, you’ll
likely want to collect information from the other side as well. When all your
information comes from one side of the debate, your paper will lack balance and
perspective.
Relevance
What is the importance of the information for your needs? The information source
may meet all other criteria for good information, including currency, authority,
accuracy, and purpose, but will the information help you answer your research
questions?
Overview
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APA Style
Accuracy
How can you tell if information is accurate? It can be difficult. Does the website
provide citations for the information it presents? Are the grammatical or typographical
errors? Uncited statistics and spelling errors should make you wary of using a website
for research.

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Print Resources
CCC Library uses the Library of congress system to organize its books. The Library of
Congress system arranges books by subject area. You can browse what’s available on a
particular sociology-related topic by finding that topic’s call number range on the
shelves. Some popular sociology Library of Congress ranges are found below. Search the
CCC Library Catalog for specific authors, titles, and topics.
Sociology Reference
HM, HN, HQ, HS, HT
HM - Sociology
HN - Social History
HQ - Family, Marriage, Women
HS - Societies, Clubs
HT - Communities, Classes, Races
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Reference Resources
Many information resources are only available in print. Experienced student researchers
will often use a mix of electronic and print resources when writing research-based papers.
Beloware twoexamples ofsociology print resources at the CCC library.
Dictionary of Sociology
Dictionaries define terms. Subject dictionaries, like the Dictionary
of Sociology, define the terms used within a particular discipline.
This dictionary has over 2,500 sociology-related entries written by
experts in the field.
REF HM425 .D5735 2009
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REF HN57 .S622 2009
This 10-volume encyclopedia covers the social, working, and
economic conditions of 20 century United States. Each volume
covers a different decade.
Social History of the United States
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Online Resources
Many information resources, especially journal articles, are only available online.
Experienced student researchers will often use a mix of electronic and print resources
when writing research-based papers. We will now look at some of the best and most
useful sociology online resources at CCC library.
NCLIVE
NCLIVE contains the bulk of the databases available to CCC student researchers.
Because different databases contain different information formats and cover different
subject disciplines,
There are two basic ways to find articles in NCLIVE, one way is easy but inexact—the
other is more powerful but also more time consuming. We’ll look at both.
Get to NCLIVE by directing your browser to www.nclive.org
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Online Resources
NCLIVE
Basic Search
Basic searches allow you to search all of the databases contained in NCLIVE at once.
For many purposes this is the quickest way to find the information you need. But be
aware: Basic Search presents results in all formats.Overview
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Online Resources
NCLIVE
Searching Specific Databases
If you only want to find articles (not videos, ebooks, etc.) or have certain kinds of subject-
specific research topics, searching individual databases may be a more effective way to do
your research.
You can look for the
“Browse” section on the
main NCLIVE page and
click on “Articles.” Here
you will find a list of
article databases.
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Overview
Plagiarism
Evaluating Information
Reference Resources
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APA Style
You can browse the
complete list of NCLIVE
databases by selecting
“Browse Databases”
from the top menu.

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NCLIVE
Which databases are most likely to contain sociology-related articles? These three
databases listed below are good places to try first. Articles can appear in many
different types of periodicals: newspapers, scholarly journals, trade journals and
popular magazines. On the next few slides, we will look at the first two types.
ProQuest Central
General reference database containing over 8,000 titles in full-text for over 175
subjects from magazines, journals and newspapers, including peer-reviewed and
scholarly works.
ProQuest Sociology Database
Sociological and social work research including culture and social structure,
history and theory of sociology, social psychology, substance abuse and addiction,
and more.
ProQuest Social Science Database
Research covering topics in sociology, social work, anthropology, and politics.
Overview
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Newspaper Articles
Newspapers have been around since the 1600's. Newspapers were made possible by
the printing press, and served a purpose books could not--they featured current
information. Today newspapers have that same advantage over books. While books
contain far more depth than newspaper articles, they can take months or even years to
write and publish. By contrast, newspapers will report on events the very next day, so
the information is much more up-to-date. Unfortunately this also means that
newspaper articles contain far less background information and detailed analysis. So be
aware when you use newspaper articles for your research that you're sacrificing depth
for immediacy.
NCLIVE provides these terrific places to search for newspaper articles. Finding relevant
newspaper articles is easier for researcher than ever. Databases let you search through
hundreds of newspaper titles at once.
US Newsstream
News content from many national and international newspapers, newswires
and selected news magazines.
Infotrac Newsstand
Full text access to more than 1,100 major U.S. regional, national, international
and local newspapers, as well as thousands of images and radio and TV
transcripts. Includes full text of The New York Times (1985-present).
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Scholarly journals are also called academic journals, research
journals, or peer-reviewed journals. Scholarly journal articles
have a much lengthier, more elaborate review process to
undergo before they can be published. Generally this involves
peer-review, in which a group of experts in the field evaluate
the article for accuracy, relevance, and quality. Unlike trade
journal and newspaper articles, scholarly journal articles
typically involve original research of some sort. For example,
when new scientific discoveries are made, these appear in
scholarly journals. In fact, all of the great debates in both the
humanities and the sciences take place in scholarly journals.
Because of the length of time it takes for researchers to research and write scholarly
articles, and the length of time it takes for the articles to undergo the review process,
it can be a year (or several years) before scholarly articles on a given topic or event
appear. If your topic is very current, don't expect to find many relevant scholarly
journal articles. Here are two:
Scholarly Journals
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ProQuest Central
General reference database for over 175 subjects from magazines, journals
and newspapers, including peer-reviewed and scholarly works.
ProQuest Research Library
General reference database from business and political science to literature and
psychology.
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The federal government collects a massive amount of statistical information, and much
of that information is published online and in print. Let’s look at a few of these
resources now.
Government DataOverview
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FedStats
https://fedstats.sites.usa.gov/
FedStats provides access to the full range of official statistical information
produced by the Federal Government without having to know in advance which
Federal agency produces which particular statistic. FedStats offers convenient
searching and linking capabilities to more than 100 agencies that provide data and
trend information on such topics as economic and population trends, crime,
education, health care, aviation safety, energy use, farm production and more.
Statistical Abstract of the United States
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ProQuest Statistical Abstract of the United States
is the authoritative and 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. Sources
of data include the Census Bureau, Bureau of
Labor Statistics, Bureau of Economic Analysis, and
many other Federal agencies and private
organizations.
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https://factfinder.census.gov/
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The Census Bureau collects a vast amount of data, much of which is made available
online. You can search through much of that information at American FactFinder.
American FactFinder collects data from a variety of sources including:
• The American Community Survey
• American Housing Survey
• Annual Economic Surveys
• Annual Surveys of Governments
• Census of Governments
• The Decennial Census
• Economic Census
In addition, data from three annual economic surveys conducted by the Census
Bureau can be found on American FactFinder:
• Annual Survey of Manufactures
• Business Patterns
• Nonemployer Statistics
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19. Menu American FactFinder
https://factfinder.census.gov/
• Enter the state,
county, city, town, or
zip code of a
community
• Choose “Guided
Search” for step-by-
step access to Census
Information.
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Using American FactFinder is simple:
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APA Style
Creating a “references” page can seem like a huge amount of work. Formatting citations
properly can seem unnecessarily difficult or needlessly complex. But there are important
reasons why instructors require proper citations. We’re going to briefly look at why
citations are important and provide some tips for getting started. Understand that
citation formats weren’t developed with college students in mind. They actually first
emerged from the world of scholarly publishing.
The history of scholarship and scholarly research is much like a brick wall being built.
Each new research article, each piece of new knowledge, rests on the work of others.
Let’s say someone makes a scientific discovery. Another scientist comes along and, using
that initial discovery as a base, expands on the original research and develops a new
theory to explain the discovery. Later someone else comes along and reads the second
researcher’s work. He or she then sets up a new experiment, writes an article about the
results, and publishes their work. This is how new knowledge is usually created—by
expanding on the work of the people who came before, adding to it, altering it, even
attacking it. Alternately, think of scholarship as a long chain of ideas going back dozens,
sometimes hundreds or even thousands of years. Every new article or discovery adds a
new link.
What holds this long chain of knowledge together? Citations. Citations tell readers what
previous scholarship informs the work of an author or researcher. It basically shows us
the pedigree of scholarly ideas. So you see how important it is that article authors
provide lists of the resources and articles they used in their research.
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you’re taking part in that long chain of knowledge generation.
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APA Style cont.
But why are there so many different citation styles? Why can’t everybody agree to use
just MLA, or just APA, style? The different citation formats emerged because different
disciplines have different priorities when it comes to presenting their research.
The Modern Language Association (that’s the MLA in MLA) first began formalizing its
citation style in 1951, though the organization itself had been around since the 1880’s.
The MLA citation style represents the values and priorities of the language and literature
fields of study and is designed for simplicity and ease of use. The APA format (that’s the
format of the American Psychological Association) is even older, dating to the 1920’s. But
don’t let the name fool you. In addition to psychology, the fields of nursing, history,
business, and others often use APA format. Just like MLA format was designed specifically
for researchers in the fields of language and literature, APA was designed as the ideal
citation format for psychology and other similar fields. AMA style, produced by the
American Medical Association, is tailored to support, you guessed it, medical research.
Why are the styles all different? Because the fields of study are different— because the
literature looks and reads differently.
So what are the advantages of properly citing your sources? We mentioned plagiarism
before. Plagiarism is taking the words or ideas of another author and using them as your
own. Plagiarism is among the most serious offenses a young scholar can make, so
anything that helps you avoid it is valuable to know and use. And beyond just avoiding
plagiarism, when you cite, you’re doing what all researchers have to do. By using the
established knowledge in books and articles to produce your own original knowledge,
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So how do you actually create your citations? It’s remarkably easy once you know how.
Nearly all citations for articles from newspapers and journals are actually created for you
within whatever database you used to find the articles. This makes articles found in
databases among the easiest resources to cite.
If we wanted to cite this
NCLIVE article, we only
need to click on the
“Cite” button to the right
and the database will
provide the citation in
several different styles.
Just copy/paste the one
you need onto your
references page.
NOTE: auto-generated citations like these are not 100% error-free, so double- check any
auto-generated citations, whether from a database or a citation builder website, for
accuracy.
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APA Style cont.
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Databases also let you email
yourself articles. When you
use this option, you can also
request the citation
information in a particular
format by selecting “Include
bibliographic citations at the
end” and then choosing a
format.
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What about books? While websites exist that generate citations based solely on a book’s
ISBN number, these sites sometimes have a substantial error rate in their citations. Better
are citation building sites.
To learn more about APA formatting and constructing citations from scratch, please see
CCC’s APA Guide.
An example is KnightCite,
produced and maintained by
Calvin College. You select the
preferred citation format, say
APA, choose the resource type
(let’s say it’s an encyclopedia),
then you plug in information
about the work. The site will
generate a citation based on
the information you provided,
which you can copy/paste to
your works cited page.
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Overview
Plagiarism
Evaluating Information
Reference Resources
Online Resources
Government Data
APA Style