Los Angeles Valley College Library: Sociology Research Guide : Find Sources

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Also known as "Scholarly Articles," "Peer-Reviewed Articles," or "Academic Articles," these are:

Written and reviewed by scholars and provide new research, analysis, or information about a specific topic.
- "Review" means the article is approved by other experts before publication
Usually focused on a narrow subject or a single case study
Intended for an academic audience

Find Sociology Articles:

Sociology Database (Proquest) This link opens in a new window
Covers the international literature of sociology and social work, including relevant titles from related fields such as social policy, social care, social services, social anthropology, gender studies, gerontology, social psychology and population studies. It includes hundreds of full-text scholarly journals, as well as dissertations and other sources.
SocINDEX with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Research database covering sociology and related disciplines, including social work, gender studies, criminal justice, social psychology, racial studies, and religion. This database provides access to over 900 full-text, peer reviewed journals as well as 440 full text journals indexed in Web of Science or Scopus.

Full List of Social Science Databases

Unlike journal articles, scholarly books:

Are written on a broader, general subject
May contain a collection of related chapters by different authors
Contain less recent information

Remember: you may only need to read one chapter of a scholarly book!

Find Books & eBooks:

OneSearch This link opens in a new window
OneSearch is the Library's "discovery" platform. It searches our collection of print books and provides access to ebooks and articles from select databases.

List of eBook databases

A piece of paper filled with charts, graphs, and numbers Statistics provide an interpretation and summary of data. For Sociology research, you may be particularly interested in statistics about income, education, social mobility, and diversity within various communities.

Key Features of Statistics:

Numbers that can answer questions that start "how many...?" or "how much...?"
Result of data analysis
Numbers that tell a story (unlike raw data, which still needs interpreted)

Find Statistics:

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR)
An integral part of the infrastructure of social science research, the ICPSR maintains and provides access to a vast archive of social science data for research and instruction (over 16,000 discrete studies/surveys with more than 70,000 datasets).
Pew Research Center
Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. They conduct public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research. They do not take policy positions.
List of Statistical Websites (US Government & International)
US Government websites, international statistical organizations, and national statistical agencies of other countries are all good places to find statistics and data.

Video: Types of Sources

In the following video [3:54], you will learn how to select a resource appropriate to your information need, the importance of analyzing a resource’s capabilities and constraints, and how to determine if a resource has quality information.

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Sociology Research Guide

Citation Resources

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