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Social Problems Research Guide

Suggested Databases

Below are two key databases you can search to find scholarly articles.

Since sociology is a wide-ranging field, you may find it helpful to search additional databases collections in related disciplines--like education, psychology, women's studies, and criminology.

Google Scholar is a search tool from Google, separate from its main search engine, with its own URL (http://scholar.google.com). According to Google, its purpose is “to search specifically for scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports from all broad areas of research.”

Setting up Google Scholar to connect to our library resources: Please see How to Set Up Google Scholar for Off-Campus Use for instructions.  If we have access to the resource you will see the "Find it @A&M-SA" link.

You will need to enter your A&M-SA network username and password to get into the library's databases from off-campus. If you need assistance with this, please visit our Off-Campus Access page. If you are on-campus and using either the Internet Explorer or Firefox browser, you will be automatically recognized as a member of the A&M-SA community.

Limitations: You can not limit your search to peer reviewed articles only.  Google Scholar does not always connect to our sources. A book or journal article may be in the library even if you cannot access it through Google Scholar links. Never purchase an item without checking the library's resources first. Remember, you can also borrow items from other libraries for free.  You can read more about searching effectively in Google Scholar here.  

 

 

Looking for information on local or national issues or events?  Search one of the newspaper collections that the library subscribes to below. We have collections that contain U.S. as well as international newspapers. Newspaper articles would be considered a popular source. 

Search Tips

Search Tips

  • Enter each search term or concept in its own box  to use the 'and' connector to find articles with both of those terms.
  • Quotation marks searches the database for those words together as a term, such as "minimum wage".
  • An asterisk (*) searches the database for that word plus any variants of the root word. For example, work* will search for work, worker, workforce, and workplace. 
  • Use the OR between words to search for synonyms, such as "poor" OR "poverty". Different authors will use different words for the same thing.
  • Use the database limiters to filter for a particular source type, such as peer reviewed journals or year published.

Popular vs Scholarly

What is a Scholarly Article?

Many professors require students to cite scholarly journal articles in their research papers. Scholarly articles are written by scholars who are experts in their fields. The articles are published in journals to share their original research and scholarly ideas with others in their discipline.  

The most prestigious academic journals subject articles to the peer-review process. This means that, before an article is accepted for publication, it is reviewed by several experts in the field, who suggest possible changes, and recommend to the editor of the journal whether or not to publish the article

Many databases allow you to restrict your searches to scholarly journals, sometimes called "refereed" or "peer reviewed" journals.

Types of scholarly articles

There are two different kinds of scholarly articles sociologists cite frequently in their work.  

  • Research articles present the findings from a specific study.  They typically start with a review of the literature and a description of how the study contributes our knowledge of the subject.  They then describe their research methods (qualitative, quantitative, or mixed) and present their findings. 
  • Review articles summarize the research being done on a particular topic and/or the theoretical approaches commonly taken.  They will often reference many research articles recently published on a topic.  Review articles are a great place to start if you want to learn more about a subfield of sociology! 

Take a look at a sample issue of the American Journal of Sociology for some examples of research articles. 

Take a look at a sample issue of the Annual Review of Sociology for some examples of review articles. 

What is a Popular Article?

Popular articles inform readers on a particular topic or event, but are generally written by non experts or specialists. They are written for a general audience and sometimes are meant to entertain readers. They also often don't contain a lot of sources.. Examples would include newspapers, or magazines such as Time or Newsweek.  In some cases your professor may let you use popular sources such as these in addition to scholarly articles. Check your assignment details or talk with your professor before you cite popular sources.

What is a Trade article?

Some articles don't fit into either of the two above categories. Trade journals/magazines are written by professionals in a given profession or trade. The articles may or may not be reviewed, and are published by professional associations or publishers known to publish subject-specific content. The articles published in these publications take the research that is published in the academic journals and provide practical application for the research. The articles may or may not include references. An example of a Sociology trade journal is Contexts