SOC 355 (Fall2021)

Outline of the Library Presentation: 

It is highly recommended that you view all the videos below if you are a first time learner to access and research for primary research articles.  However, if you have some experience on the area, you can selectively view the sections/videos below.

Section 1: Prepare for Your Research:

• Options for topic selection:

  • Option 1: You can select a topic which you are familiar with, or curious about.

  • Option 2: Browse searching the SocINDEX. By trying different keyword/topic searching, you will see what topics/articles come up most and what other researchers were writing about. You can, then, choose the topic, in which you are most interested.

• Why you should use scholarly/peer review articles, not magazine articles:

  • Example of a scholarly article

  • Summary: Scholarly articles vs. Magazine articles

  • Optional: To learn the difference between Scholarly articles vs. Magazine articles (Video: 7:05 minutes)

• Topic formulation and analysis from descriptive phrases and keywords identification.

  • Example of Topic Analysis

  • To get a copy of the "Topic Analysis" Worksheet (PDF)

  • Optional: Analyzing the topic before starting research, and Identifying the keyword (Video: 7:02 minutes)

Section 2: Search for Articles & Searching Practice:

• Library Web site navigation demonstration

• OneSearch for books/ebooks (6 minutes tutorial);  OneSearch URL: https://www.csudh.edu/library/

• Search these databases on Sociology (URL: A-Z Databases: Sociology (csudh.edu))_

  • Sociological Abstracts (https://libguides.csudh.edu/sociological-abstracts)

  • Social Science Full text (https://libguides.csudh.edu/social-sciences)

  • SocINDEX (https://libguides.csudh.edu/socindex)

Section 3: Download PDF Doc & Text-to-Speech for listening:

• Download PDF articles onto your local drive
• Instruction on using Text-to-Speech to convert to MP3 for listening