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SOC 290: Research Methods in Sociology

Finding Scholarly Articles

You will want to use the database Sociology Collection to search for articles from journals in Sociology. Be sure to select the "Peer Reviewed" option to limit your results to peer reviewed journal articles.

Using the Advanced Search function can help locate better information.  Here's an example:

Depending on your topic, you may also want to search for journal articles in related fields.  Here are some possible databases in Psychology, Anthropology, and History:

Other Places to Search

JSTOR is a collection of some multidisciplinary journal articles and book chapters and might also be useful.  Has full text.

Google Scholar may also be a possibility, but use it very carefully.  We lose the ability to have edited, verified collections with this tool.  To get the most full text, go to the Menu bar in the upper left, click on Settings, then click on Library Links. Choose University of Maine - Full Text, then click on Save.

Finding Books

Search the URSUS catalog for books about your topic . 

You may find that using the Advanced Search capability will help you find the best results.  Below is an example of an Advanced Search using Sociology and Incarceration, with Sociology as a Subject Term, limited to electronic books: 

Citation Help

In many databases, you can find a way to copy and paste the citation for your reference list.  However, it is important to be familiar with the correct format, as these services are not always correct.

For this course, you will be using the American Sociological Association citation style (ASA):

Example:

Bledowski, Piotr, Joanna Felczak, Ewa Galecka-Burdziak and Marek Góra. 2023. "Incarceration Experience at Older Ages. Does Employment Protect against Recidivism?" Economics & Sociology 16(1):11-28. doi:10.14254/2071789X.2023/16-1/1.

NOTE: - When copying the ASA formatted citation from the Sociology Collection database, the title of the article had to be fixed.

Getting Access to Full Text

Many articles will be available in the databases with files you can download.  However, sometimes you will need to click a link that says " Access full text" or "Check 360 link for full text."

This process will check Fogler Library's subscriptions for access to the article.

If we do not have access, you can then use our free Interlibrary Loan service to request the article.  Generally, you will see a link that will take you to the ILLiad service, but you can also access it here.

The first time you use the ILLiad service you will need to create your free account.  You generally get access to the article within one business day.

Selected Journals

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