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Sociology

This research guide is designed for students in sociology at CSUDH.

Best Databases for Sociology

These databases are all subscription resources paid for by the library and your tuition. Most academic research is only available through expensive subscriptions, however, that's changing with the open access movement. To learn more about open access publishing models and how can you find and support freely available research check out our Open Access guide.

Searching in a library database

All Sociology Topics

Education

Criminology

Family, Social Psychology, & Gender

Public Health & Medical Sociology

Writing Literature Reviews

Writing Literature Reviews

Literature reviews are a genre of writing that you can find at the beginning of a scholarly journal article and as a standalone piece of work. Reviews summarize, analyze, and synthesize existing research on a topic often pointing out gaps in the literature or future directions for research. 

How can I conduct my own literature review? Start by identifying your research question and building your search strategy. Large comprehensive indexes are a great place to systematically search a lot of sources at once. We recommend OneSearch or Scopus as multidisciplinary resources to start followed by narrower discipline specific databases.

Interlibrary Loan (ILL)

If a book or article isn’t available through one of the library’s subscriptions, you can request it through Interlibrary Loan. Interlibrary Loan is a resource sharing service with libraries across the country that provides research materials at no cost to you. If you're requesting an article or book chapter, you'll receive a copy as a PDF. 

First, check to see if it's available in OneSearch or another library database. Look for the Find It @ CSUDH Lib button. 

Find it @ CSUDH Lib button.

You can also borrow books from other CSU campuses and have them delivered to the CSUDH Library. Look for the Request through CSU+ option in OneSearch

For more information about borrowing books from the library, check out the Library's "Borrowing Materials" page.