Introduction to Sociology

Scholarly journal articles

Here is a selection of databases that will help you find peer-reviewed articles. Contact me for further suggestions.

 Key Article Databases

  Sociological Abstracts (ProQuest)

Covers scholarly journals in the field of sociology.
[Details]

  Social Sciences Full Text (EBSCO)

Index to international, English language journals in psychology, sociology, anthropology, geography, economics, political science and law.
[Details]

  Social Services Abstracts (ProQuest)

Covers current research focused on social work, human services, and related areas.
[Details]

  ERIC (ProQuest)

The ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) database is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education to provide extensive access to educational-related literature. It indexes both journal articles and reports from government and private agencies.
[Details]

  Academic OneFile (Gale)

A premier source for peer-reviewed, full-text articles in the areas of the physical sciences, technology, medicine, social sciences, the arts, theology, literature and other subjects.
[Details]

Watch this short tutorial to learn the ins and outs of Sociological Abstracts:

  Your gateway to the full text of journal articles!

Content is available via the following links:  Click on the Article link(s) to go to the full text.
Request from Villanova document delivery or another library:  Submit an interlibrary loan request online. It takes on average 3-5 days for the article to arrive via email.

Full text linking:

Formatting references in APA style

What is a scholarly journal article?

A scholarly journal article is a lengthy journal article based on primary research or original theoretical speculation and published in what is often referred to as a peer-reviewed journal. Most scholarly journal articles in the social sciences include the following elements:

Author name and affiliation
Abstract
Introduction & literature review
Data & measurement
Analysis & results
Conclusion
Bibliography

For a more detailed description of the differences between scholarly journals and popular magazines click here.
Below is an image of part of the first page of a scholarly article:
[Renzulli, L. A., & Evans, L. (2005). School choice, charter schools, and white flight. Social Problems, 52(3), 398-418. ]

You can find a detailed description of the peer-review process on Wikipedia.

Why not Google?

Why not? Here are some arguments in favor of library databases:

Timeliness: Google favors older publications, which is a problem in the social sciences.
Full text availability: Links to the full text will not work when you are off campus and Google will not link you to interlibrary loan forms or print holdings.
Quality: Google does not limit to peer-reviewed journals
Quantity: Too much to sort through!

Basic Research

The Library has a large number of subject specific online encyclopedias with up-to-date articles on your paper topic. They will lead you to exhaustive and well-researched articles that are written and signed by scholars.

• Sage Reference Online
  Search or browse specific encyclopedias such as the Encyclopedia of Educational Psychology or the Encyclopedia of Activism and Social Justice or the whole collection of online encyclopedias by Sage.
• Encyclopedia of Sociology
  Access to the new edition of the Encyclopedia of Sociology currently only works from on-campus. Off-campus access will be available shortly.

Here is a link to a 2008 article on school choice from 21st Century Education: A Reference Handbook. Notice the long and detailed bibliography that could jump start your research.

Books

• The Library's online catalog

keyword search:  "charter schools" AND statistics
subject search:  "charter schools" AND "case studies"

• WorldCat
  A catalog of library holdings worldwide. WorldCat will indicate any local library holdings and also offers an inter-library loan request option.
• E-Z Borrow and Interlibrary Loan
  Interlibrary loan is available for books and journals that are not owned by Falvey. EZ-Borrow is usually faster than interlibrary loan, since the books come from a local library network. EZ-Borrow can be used for books that the Library owns, but that are currently checked out by somebody else.

Citing Your Sources

• Documenting Sources in APA Style
  Research and Documentation Online by Diana Hacker. Includes sample paper and list of cited reference in APA style.
  Sample APA style paper and list of cited references.
• Export references in APA style for your cited reference list
  Check off all articles in which you are interested and click on Save, Print, Email. The QuickBib feature has a selection of styles available from which you can choose. APA is the most widely used style in the social sciences.

  

• Refworks
  Never type a bibliography again! RefWorks will help you easily gather, manage, and store bibliographic citations for all types of information, as well as generate footnotes and bibliographies.

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