THE GENERAL RESEARCH PAPER BASED OK LIBRARY OR INTERNET DATA 65 A general research paper based on library or Internet data requires you to consult these data for two purposes: first, to refine the question that you will address in your paper (if a specific question hasn't already been assigned); and, second, to collect the information that you will use to support your paper's thesis. This information can be found both in print on paper and online electronically. Both kinds are increasingly interchangeable. The daily editions of the New York Times, for instance, originally emerge on paper but can also be read simultaneously online at the New York Times Web site. Then they are archived in libraries on microfiche or microfilm. CSA Sociological Abstracts, a reference source published in annual printed volumes generally shelved in the reference section in libraries, is also available in a computerized version on the Internet if your library has a license. Many scholarly articles published in professional journals that are shelved in library periodical rooms or library stacks can also be retrieved electronically through online library catalogs and read on screen. Not only are the boundaries among these different media increasingly blurred, but our Information Age presents us with mountains of data. Students often feel overwhelmed by so much information. For example, the student who was assigned a research paper on the topic of single-parent families began by entering "single-parent family" in her college's online library catalog and found references to 102 books, while the search engine Google Book Search returned over 3,433 entries. (A search for journal articles on this same topic using the library's subscription to the electronic database CSA Sociological Abstracts yielded 1,239 additional sources, while the search engine Google Scholar produced 24,100 hits.) To make matters worse, the research process, although in principle straightforward—determine what information you need, search for it, locate it, and record it—is rarely so simple. Instead, it is usually more a matter of lucky, imaginative guesses about keyword search terms and persistence in following clues to potentially good sources down branching paths. These branching paths will sometimes turn into frus-64 crating dead ends after much wasted time, but they also can change and enrich your understanding of the question addressed in your paper and what is involved in answering it. Finding your own path enables you to make your paper uniquely your own. Several strategies and techniques c^n help you with this general research procesiidetermining where to start, starching efficiently for potential sources with kevwords/^"aiWimg'tli?"TTtialitV 61 [XHWW'Jl Wfircfs, 8>rg4fcpuig track of your soLirces^wVe^wdtT'pi^eriT^fnese techniques in roug^nysequerttlal order, but the research process is inevitably messy. Once you are immersed in your topic, you must expect to have to circle back in order to search for and locate additional sources. You will evaluate their usefulness with criteria that will change and become more refined as you become more expert. You should resist any temptation to begin a genera! research project by starting to read through a mountain of hundreds, if not thousands, of available sources. Instead, begin by spending some time and thought on developing a good question and on preparing a record-keeping system. BEFORE YOU START: CHOOSING A TOPIC You often start a library research project not knowing much about your topic. How, then, do you begin to develop a good question? First, you must select a general subject area—an area that is relevant to the concerns of your couT^eaxKHnTrn^ you. One way to find a topic is to skim your syllabus and course readings. Be sure to consider the entire syllabus, since a topic that will be discussed later in the course might be the basis for a good research question. Your instructor can help at this stage by letting you know if your topic is too broad or too far afield. Next, even before searching the online library catalog or the Internet, con-strucFsome P£°!yjsionalquestions. For example, let's say you want to study the feminist movement in the United States. Ask yourself why this topic interests you. Your personal interest in a subject not only motivates you during the research and writing process; it can also guide you to ask a good question. Also ask yourself what specificjtsrject_of_the siibjecji^u_wjrrn^^^ for this particulaTcrass assignment and what specifically you want to know about it. In the case of feminism, for example, you may want to focus your research on differences in wages ("Are women's wages lower than men's?"), on power differences ("What determines the relative power of men and women inside families?"), or on ways people learn to fill the gender roles expected of them ("How are males and females socialized to enact sex-role stereotypes in their daily lives?"). Remember n?TiiaiiiIaio a wKiokHp'mi petspmive on the subject. The examples given in the previous paragraph are sociologically relevant because they are concerned with differences between groups of people (men and women) and because they focus on patterned relationships in the social 66 WRITING FROM VARIOUS DATA 50URCES THE GENERAL RESEARCH PAPER BASED ON LIBRARY OR INTERNET DATA 67 world. A review of Chapter I will help stimulate the sociological imagination you need to ask a good question. DETERMINING YOUR FIRST SOURCE(S) Quality, not quantity, is what counts in a good research paper. Finding enough sources is usually easy, given the problem of information overload. Finding the right sources can be a challenge. Should you start with a newspaper, a professional journal or magazine article, a general or specialized encyclopedia article, a government Web site, a book, or what? IX you have an appropriate destination in mind, you are more likely to have a successful journey and to avoid detours and dead ends. Planning your initial search for the best sources involves several factors: how recent the information that you need is, how milch you alreadyjinow about the topic, and the Wfo^S^nsraJjfiSEarch paper that'sTJeen assigned. A general research paper can have different objectives such as: (I) summarizing the scholarly literature on a topic, (2) comparing and contrasting the opinions of sociologists and the general public aTScatraTong^S^^ applying ^oao)o^ait^one^an^xpn - cepts to current events, or (4) analyzing*socio1ustOTical change by examining mligazine and newspaper arcfhvesT"™™*""™" Different sources contain information from authors with varying degrees of professional expertise. Here is an example illustrating how the student researching the topic of the single-parent family would look in different sources for different kinds of information. Newspaper: immediately newsworthy current events and local coverage: for example, City Council budget provisions for day care or stories about single parents on welfare. Most newspapers now have Web sites, though many charge for displaying items in their archives. Magazine: recent current affairs and enduring popular topics; for example, a cover story on the state of marriage in the United States or a proftle ranking Fortune 500 companies with the best day care programs. While most magazines have Web sites, many do not post the full content of their paper editions. Journal: scholarly research results of specialists' studies conducted in the last few years; for example, case studies of economic and educational prospects of children growing up in single-parent homes. Most scholarly journals have electronic editions, though you may need to access them through a university computer or they may require that your browsing program have a university proxy setting. Your library can tell you how to set that up. Book: in-depth coverage of a topic or collections of scholarly articles compiled over the last few years: for example, a history of family struc- ture in the United States or a long-term study of single-parent families in Canada. Encyclopedia: the big picture of what is known about a topic; for example, ways in which parents influence the social development of children or the forms of family organization in different cultures. There are general encyclopedias online, such as Wikipedia, but they should be used cautiously and cannot substitute for more serious academic scholarship. Internet: spans the range above; for example, information obtained from instantaneous chat room discussions for single parents to archived statistical government information from the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. These sources represent layers of information processed_over time. Consider, then, which layer y'ou will protvihlv need mctsc. especially at the beginning of your search. For example, a student researching the legalization of same-sex marriage would need to rely on newspapers, magazines, and the Internet in order to read up on recent developments in the Hawaii and Vermont legislatures. A student investigating the disappearance of the gift economy in South Pacific societies would consult books and scholarly journal articles. Aiming in the right direction will make finding what you need more likely. Consider, too, how much you know about your topic. If you don't know much, you may need to begin with an overview in a general or specialized encyclopedia, either online or in print, ff you have already been studying the topic in class and are therefore able to understand the details, you may want to begin with a recent professional journal article. A sociological principle can also guide you in your selection of sources: there are strong relationships between the quality of the information and the social setting of the source. Some journals and magazines, some book publishers, and some authors are more reliable than others. Most students would intuitively know that tabloid magazines are not appropriate for college research papers (unless they were the topic being researched), but they are an extreme example. In general, we can identify a few guidelines for choosing reliable sources: * Academic journals are more reliable than popular magazines. Some academic journals, such as American Sociological Review, may be difficult for undergraduates to read, especially the articles with complex statistics. But you can get the gist of such articles and consult the bibliographic references at the ends of the articles. Although popular magazines should not be excluded altogether, you should be cautious of their contents. ♦ University presses (such as the Cambridge University Press or the Harvard University Press) are generally less likely to print poorly researched books than are commercial presses (such as Doubleday Books or Penguin Books). For commercially published books, those written by academics are usually 68 WRITING FROM VARIOUS DATA SOURCES more reliable than those written by journalists. Again, the point is not to ignore books by journalists, but to approach them with a critical eye. ♦ Articles and books that carefully cite their sources of information are generally more reliable than those that don't. While some students find a heavily footnoted article or book daunting, carefully cited references provide the reader with the means to follow up on the author's assertions. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF LIBRARY AND INTERNET SOURCES Once you feel ready to consult some sources, consider whether to begin with those available through the library {either in print or electronically) or those available exclusively through the Internet. Some students may be tempted by the convenience and familiarity of the Internet to rely solely on it, ignoring the rich resources that may be available only on paper in the college or university library. The Internet may be easier and in some ways better to use, but it may also be worse! Library sources are subjected to quality control and professional review by librarians, while information available exclusively through the Internet can be useless and misleading, Library.sources.are also available over any time period, while Web sites often only make recent information available. One of the principles students learn in college that they often are not taught in high school is that all knowledge is not created equal. Some sources of knowledge are much more reliable than others. The print and electronic information made available through a library usually is trustworthy. Professional librarians have judged it worth the cost of storing the print sources or of acquiring the electronic sources. Information available exclusively through the Interner is different and more challenging. Some information obtained from the Internet is excellent, but much of it is undependable. At first glance it may look authoritative, but further scrutiny reveals it to be incomplete, commercially or otherwise biased, out of date, or just wrong. Or, at first glance, Internet information may not itself look worthwhile, yet may include links to other valuable data. How can you determine the value of a potential research source? Where exactly should you look in a source for features that determine its quality? What specific features of a source reveal its worth and allow you to evaluate its usefulness? CRITERIA FOR ASSESSING WEB PAGES Clearly, filtering out useful from useless information on the Internet is essential. We recommend applying the following five criteria for assessing Web pages: 1. Credibility of Local Origin. Where does the information come from? Be-fore you link to a WWW data source, check its electronic address (its uniform THE GENERAL RESEARCH PAPER BASED ON LIBRARY OR INTERNET DATA 69 resource locator or URL). If the address includes the abbreviation edu or gov (which identifies its association with an educational institution or government agency), you may find more reliable information there than if the source's URL has the abbreviation org (organization) or com (commercial). Other less common abbreviations, such as net, also exist. On some search engines, such as Google, you can specify the domain by adding "site:edu" or "site:gov" (without the quotation marks) after your initial keyword. For example, if you were looking for government Web sites with information about single parents, you could search "single parent* site:gdv" (without quotation marks). Examples (the U.S. Census Bureau) (the Sociology Department at Queens College, CUNY) (American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California) (A resource site for single parents) We are not suggesting that organizational or commercial Web sites are automatically inferior. The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, for instance, provides texts of legislation, starting with the Bill of Rights, and updates about the progress of pending legislative initiatives from the organization's liberal point of view. Similarly, Single Parent Central offers a broad variety of books and articles about being a single parent, though most are written to be useful to single parents rather than being scholarly studies. It also includes "quick facts" on single-parent families, mostly taken from government sources. However, you should be aware of any source's origin and judge its reliability. 2. Accountability. Is there an author or sponsor identified on the Web page, with an e-mail link? Is there a link on the page back to its "home"? Useful sources provide this information about their data. 3. Timeliness. When was the Web page last updated? Is the information still accurate? Online information quickly becomes obsolete. 4. Scope and Coverage. Does the information on the Web page seem well researched? Are usefuTlinks embedded in the page? How does the online information compare with what you have found on paper? Are the graphics worth the time it takes to download them? Be a thoughtful consumer of online information and beware of electronic junk mail. 5. Reputation. Is the Web site sponsored by or linked by an organization you knowtoBe reputable? Ask your instructor, teaching assistant, or librarian about sources you are not sure of. 70 WRITING FROM VARIOUS DATA SOURCES SEARCHING ONLINE INFORMATION WITH BOOLEAN OPERATORS AND KEYWORDS Most colleges and universities have an online library catalog as well as subscriptions to electronic databases (such as CSA Sociological Abstracts) needed to search lor scholarly publications. Whether you are using the online library catalog, a library-sponsored electronic database, or the Internet, you will search electronically lor sources for your research paper. Many searches can be based on single keywords, but students will generally want to use more than one word so that they can be more specific. Using electronic search engines through the library or on the Internet both require a basic knowledge of what is known as Boolean logic, the rules for combining words in a search. Although different reference sources use somewhat different terms, the principles are the same. Boolean operators are logical relationships between the words being searched. Most undergraduates use only three Boolean operators when they search online sources: OR, AND, and NOT. These Boolean operators allow you to use a computer to search for data sources tailored specifically to your own topic, Online library catalogs and electronic databases as well as the Internet allow you to combine concepts using Boolean operators and to search for them simultaneously. For example, the University of California has over 100,000 books on the subject of Los Angeles. 11,970 books on mental illness, and 4,253 books on homelessness, but it has only three books in its collection about all these subjects combined; mental illness among the homeless in Los Angeles. To search online sources available through the library or on the Internet, you must know exactly what terms to look for, such as keywords, words in titles, authors' names. Library of Congress subject headings, or descriptors. In this example, the online library catalog found these three books by looking for words in titles {mental illness, homelessness, Los Angeles). Second, you can enlarge or shrink the scope of the search by using the Boolean operators OR, AND, or NOT. In this example, the online library catalog search combined title words with AND (mental illness AND homelessness AND Los Angeles). Usually when you put several wards in a search, the computer implicitly is treating them as though they had AND between them. If you entered "mental illness homelessness Los Angeles" it would relurn only sources that included "mental" AND "illness" AND "homelessness" AND "Los" AND "Angeles." You would not want the computer to treat this search as though the terms were linked by OR. That would give you all hits about any illness, all homelessness, and everything about Los Angeles, not a very useful collection. You are probably already familiar with using two categories to find library information: (1) authors' names and (2) the subjects they have written about. THE GENERAL RESEARCH PAPER BASED ON LIBRARY OR INTERNET DATA 71 Online searching provides you with the opportunity to search with at least two more categories: (3) titles of sources, as in the example specified previously, and (4) keywords associated with sources. Online library catalogs and many other academic search engines such as CSA Sociological Abstracts, unlike general search engines such as Web Google, require that you search in specific fields. Searching on "Dürkheim" in an author field would give you books written by Dürkheim, while entering "Durklieim" in the subject or title fields would return books about him. Some will have spaces for any keyword. If you put "Dürkheim" in a general keyword field, it willreturn both books by him and books about him. Technically, a keyword is a word that may be located in the title of the source, or in the Library of Congress subject heading for the source, or even in the abstract of the source if that database provides abstracts. "For example, an online search in a library catalog for articles, combining the keywords mental illness, homelessness, and Los Angeles with the Boolean operator AND, found this electronic library resource titled "An Assessment of Mental Health Needs Among Homeless People in Central Los Angeles" published by the USC Keck School of Medicine (Figure 4-1). The keyword mental illness appears only in the article's note. A search by title words alone would not have found it. Although not all databases use keywords, keywords are particularly useful, and we recommend that you start an online search, with them. In contrast, the Boolean operator OR enlarges a search. As shown in the following diagram, a search lor online data sources about the controversy over tribal rights in Indian adoption should use the term Indian adoption with the Boolean operator OR plus the term Native American adoption (that is, Indian adoption OR Native American adoption). Boolean operators can also be combined. For instance, the student looking specifically for online information about Indian adoption in California could search with this command: Indian adoption OR Native American adoption AND California The problem with this search is that it would include sources about adoptions involving people from India in California. Luckily this can be fixed with the T WRITING FROM VARIOUS DATA SOURCES THE GENERAL RESEARCH PAPER EASED ON LIBRARY OR INTERNET DATA Figure 4-1 SAMPLE OF INFORMATION OBTAINED FROM AN ONLINE LIBRARY CATALOG. Sign In (optional) Quit Help rticle Database &: E-y Other Catalogs Basic Search Advanced Command Browse Most Recent Search. Previous Searches Saved Items Search results; 3 Item(s) Display: Full MARC (^rtnt?EmaitJ jSayfe-j |SayaftstossS^gftsi fft^«isst| ©Eiimas Lisl© Item 1 of 3 Total Return to Search Results List Title An assessment of mental health needs among homeless people in centra] Los Angeles [electronic resource]. Publisher Los Angeles, Calif.: Division of Community Health, USC Keck School of Medicine, 2004. Note Title from PDF title page (viewed May 31, 2005). Nfltt includes bibliographical references Note This report offers an "in-de-ptli view of the mental health needs of the homeless in central Los Angeles and the system that is designed to provide for their care." The report presents an overview of mental illness and homelessness; explores the current mental health service capacity in downtown Los Angeles; identifies barriers and gaps; and presents conclusions and recommendations. Language English Subject Homeless persons -- Mental health services — California Los Angeles. Homeless persons - Mental health - California --Los Angeles- Homeless persons -- California —Los Angeles Homeless Persons -- Los Aneeles. Mental Health Services -- Los Angeles. Mental Disorders - Los Angeles. Health Services Accessibility -- Los Angeles. Added Entry Keck School of Medicine. Format Book Computer file Online Library UC Los Angeles All Library Call Number Availability Notes UC Los Angeles Available Online HV4506.L67 Circ status Online access Basic Search Advanced CormW Browse WmMsmLS^L Eimm* Searches Saved Items Comments and feedback Melvyl© is an initiative of the California Digital Library. © 2006 The Regents of the University of California NOT operator. NOT (sometimes designated with a minus sign) is especially useful if you are searching for a word that has a common meaning you want to exclude or is often found with another word you want to exclude. For example, if you were studying adoption among Native Americans, you might want to use the keyword Indian withoui getting all the hits for people in India. You could enter Indian adoption NOT India or Indian adoption —India, depending on which search engine you are using. USING A TRUNCATION SYMBOL A useful technique when using Boolean operators is to introduce a truncation symbol..Although, different databases use different truncation symfroTsTThc most common of these symbols are # and *. A truncation symbol stands for letters in a word, such that adopttt would stand for adoption, adoptive, adopting, as well as adopt. So, too, legal* could stand for legality or legalization. The computer searches for any word beginning with the letters up to the truncation symbol. To be sure of rinding all the potential good, relevant data sources, the student searching for online information about Indian adoption should use a truncation symbol; in the case of the University of California's online library catalog it is a #: Indian adopt# OR Native American adoptti using the library to review THE SOCIOLOGICAL LITERATURE Begin your work in the library by getting an overview of the sociological research that has already been conducted on your question. (The following section on locating references will help you do this.) This overview of research published in books and journal articles is called "a review of the literature." ("Literature" in this sense, of course, has nothing to do with fiction Im^Tpoetry,) "Reviewing the literature" in sociology involves discovering Copyright © 2007, the Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Melvyl- is a service of the California Digital Library. 74 WRITING FROM VARIOUS DATA SOURCES THE GENE.RAL RESEARCH PAPER BASED ON LIBRARY OR INTERNET DATA 75 whether scholarly research has been published on the question you tentatively have in mind, how the question was formulated, and what answers have been suggested. Reviewing the literature will help you in two important and interrelated ways. First, a review of the literature helps you to refine your question. How has the question been framed before?" Has more tnTn'oriTplav3siBTe"an-swer been suggested as a result of empirical or theoretical research? As you fine-tune your question, remember that you must be able to find sufficient evidence to support the answer you will propose, and that it must be specific enough to be researchable within the time frame of your assignment. Second, reviewing the literature helps you to identify those books and jour-naljarticles that contain reports of research into the question you will address irTyouTpapeT^lTie quality of your paper "wlird^Term^oTiT^w thor--oTjgrTl^^you^in^e such research; it is the "data" you will use to support your thesis. Once you locate relevant books and articles, you will take in-depth notes on them. USING THE LIBRARY TO LOCATE specialized sociological references While many students are tempted to complete research papers entirely in the comfort of their home or workspace, it is important to visit the college or university library since not all sources are available in electronic form, at least not yet. The key to the library is the reference section, where you can get help from reference librarians. Referen^TiDr^arlTare there to answer your questions and to help you find the most appropriate books, articles, journals, and abstracts for your project. If your course textbooks include lists of "Recommended Readings," often located at the ends of chapters, you can start with those references, choosing suggested books and articles that seem most appropriate. Start with the most recently published sources because they include references to earlier works. Be aware that, for a college research paper, unlike most papers for high school, you will be expected to consult articles in specialized professional journals. (An annotated list of select journals and other resources used by sociologists is given later in this chapter.) In addition to any references you find in your textbooks, you should begin your research with the following six library resources on which sociology students relv: t * Specialized dictionaries and encyclopedias, and review articles I ♦ Online library catalog I + Journals often used by sociologists (print and electronic versions) I ♦ CSA Sociological Abstracts (electronic version) -» Social Sciences Citation Index (electronic version) ♦ Other computerized bibliographic sources SPECIALIZED DICTIONARIES AND ENCYCLOPEDIAS These references explain key terms and concepts, and provide background information on the life and times of key historical figures: Johnson, Allan G. 2000. The Blackwel! Dictionary of Sociology- A User's Guide to Sociological Language. Maiden, MA: Blackwell Publishers. Ritzer, George. 2006. Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology. Boston, MA: Blackwell Publishers. Some sources on the Internet include: Sociology Dictionary Online Dictionary of the Social Sciences The advantage of. beginning with specialized dictionaries or encyclopedias is that they can give you a quick overview of a subject. However, they are often not the most up-to-date sources. If you know something about the topic, a better starting point may be a review article published in the Annual Review of Sociology. These articles are written by experts in various sociological specialties on recent developments in their fields, allowing readers to learn about the state of the art on a variety of topics. Each article includes an extensive bibliography on the topic, so the articles are valuable both as a summary of recent scholarship and as a source for finding books and articles on your topic. It can be found in paper versions in college libraries or online at , though like many of the other most useful sources, the Web site is restricted, so you need to access it through your library or with a college proxy. ONLINE LIBRARY CATALOG Use the online library catalog to find suitable books. The books are organized according to author's name, title, and subject. Finding information by searching the catalog by author and title is relatively straightforward. But if you look for books by subject and don't find any information, it may be because the subject you are looking under is not an official subject category. For example, if your paper is on the implications of regulating handguns, and if you search the online library catalog using the subject "Handguns" or "Handgun Control," you will not find anything. ''Handguns" and "Handgun Control" are not official topics. In this case, you must consult a special reference book to find official topics, called "subject headings." This special reference book, a large, red multivolume set called The Library of Congress Subject Headims. is usually at the reference desk. For example, if you look up "Handguns" in The Library of Congress Subject Headings, you will find this instruction: "See Pistols." If you look up "Handgun Control" in The Library of Congress Subject Headings, you will find "See Gun Control." You will also be told that "Works on legal aspects of 76 WRITING FROM VARIOUS DATA SOURCES THE .ENfiRAI. RESEARCH PAPER BASED ON LIBRARY OR INTERNET DATA 77 gun control are entered under 'Firearms—Law and legislation'." Finding books by subject often requires this kind of detective work in order to find the right subject heading (for example. "Firearms—Law and legislation"). However, when searching electronically, you can usually find books by searching for terms you think are in the title and then looking at the subject keyword. For example, when you search for books with the word "handgun" in the title, you will find that the subject keyword is "pistols." You can then search using the subject heading "pistols" to find books, regardless of whether the word "handgun" is included in the title. Many online library catalogs are designed so that the term in the subject field is a link to a list of all books within that topic. JOURNALS OFTEN USED BY SOCIOLOGISTS Scholars rely on journal articles, as well as books, to keep up with new research and professional opinion. But journals aren't a trade secret. Undergraduates, as apprentice scholars, can also use journal articles. Most college libraries have a quiet, convenient place where current issues of major journals are kept before they are bound and shelved, like other books, in the main sections of the library. We recommend that you find this reading area, often called "Current Periodicals," and browse through some of the journals in the following list This experience will give you a dramatic sense of the discipline's ongoing research tradition, which is only hinted at in textbooks. It may also trigger some ideas about possible topics for your future papers. Although the articles in these journals are intended primarily for a trained scholarly audience, rather than the genera! public, and sometimes employ sophisticated statistical techniques, you will find many articles easily accessible to undergraduates. The following list of periodicals related to sociology is not exhaustive. For more references to specialized journals and governmental sources, ask your reference librarian. American Journal of Sociology Published bimonthly by the University of Chicago Press, this influential journal includes theoretical and research articles, book reviews, and commentaries on articles published previously. American Sociological Review Published bimonthly by the American Sociological Association (ASA), this review covers diverse areas of sociology, often with a statistical and empirical orientation. A cumulative index appears every three years, City and Community Published quarterly by the ASA Section on Community and Urban Sociology, this journal publishes theoretical and empirical articles about communities and places, both urban and rural, Contemporary Sociology Published bimonthly by the ASA. its special feature is to review books, journals, articles, and films that cover a wide range of areas, such as historical and comparative sociology, social psychology, gender, education, and stratification. The review essays are especially useful for learning about new publications and sociologists' evaluations of them. Contexts This non-technical magazine published quarterly by the ASA covers timely sociological ideas and research about society and social behavior. Criminology Published quarterly, this interdisciplinary journal emphasizes research in the social and behavioral sciences about crime and deviant behavior, and presents articles on the theoretical and historical components of crime, law, and criminal justice, Demography This interdisciplinary journal, published quarterly by the Population Association of America, includes research studies on developing countries as well as developed countries. Gender and Society Published quarterly, this interdisciplinary journal is sponsored by Sociologists for Women in Society. It aims to advance the study of gender, as well as racial, ethnic, cultural, and national diversity. Journal of Aging Studies This quarterly publication highlights innovative research approaches, critiques of existing theory, and empirical work related to age and aging, Journal of Contemporary Ethnography Published quarterly, this journal presents ethnographic studies based on qualitative interviewing and participant observation, Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences The social science edition of this journal is published bimonthly by the Gerontological Society of America. This interdisciplinary journal seeks to promote the scientific study of aging and the life course, Journal of Health and Social Behavior Published quarterly by the ASA, this journal uses a sociological perspective in understanding health-related issues: for example, organizational aspects of hospitals or class characteristics of sufferers from various illnesses, Journal of Marriage and the Family Published quarterly by the National Council on Family Relations, this journal covers such diverse research areas as family planning, family structure, theories of the family, and cross-cultural studies on fertility. Each issue also features a book review section. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Published monthly by the American Psychological Association (APA), this journal is divided into sections on attitudes and social cognition, interpersonal relations and group processes, and personality processes and individual dilferences. Qualitative Sociology This quarterly journal publishes research based on qualitative research methods, such as interviewing, participant observation, ethnography, historical analysis, and content analysis. 78 WRITING FROM VARIOUS DATA SOURCES Sex Roles: A Journal of Research Published bimonthly, this journal presents empirical and theoretical examinations of the underlying processes of gender role socialization. Social Forces Published quarterly, this international journal for social research and methodology is associated with the Southern Sociological Society. It presents articles on such topics as mobility, class, ethnicity, gender, and education. Each issue includes book reviews. Social Problems Published five times yearly, this is the official journal of the Society for the Study of Social Problems, Social Psychology Quarterly Published quarterly by the ASA, this journal covers empirical and theoretical studies related to social interaction, socialization, labeling, conformity, and attitudes, Sociological Forum This official journal of the Eastern Sociological Society, published quarterly, contains articles that link subfields of sociology to other disciplines. Sociological Inquiry Published quarterly for the chapters of Alpha Kappa Delta (the undergraduate sociology honors society), it covers a wide range of sociological topics. Sociological Methodology Published annually by ASA, this journal covers qualitative and quantitative methodological issues in the field of sociology. Sociological Perspectives The purpose of this quarterly journal, which is sponsored by the Pacific Sociological Association, is to advance research and theory in sociology and related disciplines, Sociological Theory A quarterly publication of the ASA, this journal is devoted to discussions of new and old sociological theories, theory construction, and theory synthesis. The journal also includes a section for debate and comment on recent theoretical controversies. Sociology of Education Published quarterly by the ASA, this journal contains papers on human social development as well as on relations among educational institutions. Symbolic Interaction Published quarterly by the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction, this specialized journal presents empirical and theoretical articles that take a symbolic Inteiactionist perspective. The Sociological Quarterly Sponsored by the Midwest Sociological Society, this journal presents research on recent theoretical, methodological, and empirical developments in the field of sociology. THE GENERAL RESEARCH PAPER BASED ON LIBRARY OR INTERNET DATA 79 CSA SOCIOLOGICAL ABSTRACTS Although you could search for articles by going to the Web site of each journal, this method is not efficient. Further, many of these sites charge a fee to access journal articles. A more efficient and inexpensive way to search for journal articles related to sociological topics is to take advantage of your library's subscription to the academic database CSA ^oddo^colAhstracts. This database includes articles in severaTtlTearsand sociology journals, with brief descriptions of the articles' contents. Published both as a set of annual volumes and as a computerized database, CSA Sociological Abstracts includes references to sociological publications since 1952 and is by far the best resource for finding sociological articles. However, use of this database and others like it (see below) is restricted to colleges and universities that have purchased a subscription. Therefore, to access these databases, you must use the computers at your college or university library or log in from a remote access site using yout library's proxy server. Ask your librarian if your library has a subscription to the online version of CSA Sociological Abstracts and, if it has, whether you can access this database from home or another location using a library proxy server. CSA Sociological Abstracts gives more than bibliographic information. It also provides abstracts of articles published in major sociological journals. (An abstract is a summary of an article.) Learning to use CSA Sociological Abstracts will save you much time, since these summaries will allow you to decide whether the sources themselves are relevant to your topic. In this way you can weed out some without having to locate and read them. You can get more information at but will need to access it through a university computer or proxy server. To use the library's electronic version of CSA Sociological Abstracts, check first with your instructor or librarian. We cannot tell you exactly what syntax you will need to use because there are different software "shells" for accessing the computerized version. However, your instructor or librarian can help you get started. Figure 4.2 presents search results from the CSA Ilht-mina platform. If you searched with the keyword "Firearms," you would find that there are 443 items (at the time of this writing), more or less with the most recent items given first. Figure 4-2 shows the search results. Notice the tabs indicating that ol the 443 items, 326 are journal articles (260 of which are from peer-reviewed journals), 25 are from conferences, and 8 are from books. Notice also that for each article listed, the database provides several links, some of which provide you with the full text of the article (entry 1), the full list of references for the article (entry 2), or other articles that cite the current article (entry 3). For all items listed, there is a link telling you how to find the publication online or in the library. If you click the "View Record" link or the title of an entry, you obtain more in-depth information. (Note that some software shells will show only some fields unless you ask for a complete display: others will allow you to select which fields you want displayed.) 80 WRITING FROM VARIOUS LiATA SOURCES THE GENERAL RESEARCH PAPER BASED ON LIBRARY OR INTERNET DATA 81 After you check the boxes for the items you are interested in, save the information to a storage device, print it, or e-mail it to yourself; otherwise, make a note of the author(s), title, year of publication, and journal, and paraphrase the abstract in your own words. Figure 4-2 SEARCH RESULTS FROM COMPUTERIZED VERSION OF CSA SOCIOLOGICAL ABSTRACTS. 'u.l' - 'in ■+ 5»í*b/ I Most Recent f" «1 Journal of Criminal Justice, wo!. W^no. 5. pp.'$31-541, tep^Qct 2006 -utr»,*, tr-ef- : gfs?'wrch. -.sifi- t*h* h>j,t nomicjfe rat* & perst >'.**'sn /astying among urfcd i ,outh v nwisisjteer lyí^íwcft *\n c^di CňiYarW;^ 3 * třřswiunty ts^Td.-f.^rid offunding as s (wséess that hss s fess^mng middle, $ ' ?- í.! i D • r-r j O/índjí! _ Owiant Behavior, vol. 27. no. 4, pp. -179 50CJwty-Aufi20O6 U'< ^iTtiG, «ti£ 'hsi'ris e fs 3 '3rpc.",r.ctia,í.,6tv.eéi) ťa^s*"?**; * * f*;—ns" cf ^cctwas h • sin" * e<* */S'-1, á L>ňans> W dastr torr.. ..Iran c; scenes Sie-wrtll- !5sr«* ^ e/p's^stions gun off**'j: t, I-i for -J !!*' ~. <> Find ill 1 * 211 iiiJ- -J Justice Quaiteríy. vol, 23. no. 2. pp. 214-251. Jun© 2006 ui .cecí*ibu!* ícomtíH'38d«*''.řs'^ítmiC'a--ivsenr>y'-fímííms-"~Ď1Prc9 v; 48$p*lo lh*t6 dttiiflftfi. mim of fliww ctím* in tfce United Ststts jemai/j fcgh compawá to other western dJ5mocr3c«3& ímpose stgniíicant coste 1$. EthnicUles. vel. i, no. 2. pp. 15.29. Juna 203S SiCťr:i3fl'-íl)ne> s-asult" tňd :at* c^ilfa* ri \irms 9.' >í Ac 311 gang m»mbňfs prste 'ynt • ;,";!3 tiiia *v r ai A > »ea orM * i Th^f-ámg íi?a §ss* mH>*CíiriV>tn\ . 1 roofcp i«s cofírirutteí íjj As*3í! v —3^1 | j&_Fínd_ft! Reprinted by permission of CSA IILumina. SOCIAL SCIENCES CITATION INDEX Like CSA Sociological Abstracts, this valuable source of bibliographic information comes both in printed annual editions and as an electronic database. Social Sciences Citation Index identifies the references that authors cite in their ar-tlcTeTTRence, Hie~wc«r''citation" in its title). This feature allows scholars to trace the interconnected network of a research tradition and see which scholars' work influenced which other scholars by clicking on the "cited references" or the "times cited" links. Figure 4-3 reveals that the article by Lizotte and Bordua published in the leading sociological journal American Sociological Review was cited by other scholars 64 times. Figure 4-3 SEARCH RESULTS FROM COMPUTERIZED VERSION OF SOCIAL SCIENCES CITATION INDEX. fence ^^^^^^^^^^ TbT^*-s 1 6E»£ GOOGLE SCHOLAR MiD GOOGLE BOOK SEARCH Google Scholar and Google Book Search work like basic Google but return articles and books on the topic rather than Web sites. Many of the items listed are links to the articles or books themselves, ihough some may be restricted and require access from a library or university proxy. They are much more reliable than results from the regular Google search engine because they are confined to academic research. They are two of the most powerful and convenient general search engines for academic research. A search on "single-parent families" in Googte Scholar, for example, returned almost 15,000 hits when the "Recent articles" option was selected (Figure 4-4 shows the first page of the response) and over 18,000 hits when the "All articles" option was selected (not shown). Google Book Search located nearly 4,000 books (not shown). Like other electronic academic databases listed above, for each reference listed, Google Scholar tells you how many scholarly books and articles have cited it. You click on that link to see exactly what those books and articles are, a valuable way to learn both how it has been received and find more recent references on similar topics. Many of the hits can be accessed directly. The link for "Library Search," seen here on the fifth entry, takes you to a site where you can enter your zip code and it will list libraries close to you that have the item (in this case a book). OTHER GENERAL SEARCH ENGINES While many students begin a search with general search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, or Alia Vista, we recommend that you try these after you have tried the more scholarly and specialized resources unless you are specifically looking for journalistic articles. As we emphasized above, these search en- WRITING FROM VARIOUS DATA SOURCES Figure 4-4 GOOGLE SCHOLAR RESULTS FOR "SINGLE-PARENT FAMILIES.' Google ž?l?" Scholar ö ■?'!'ß}y-!^'^nf3PVl'?i Scholar All articles Recent articles Results 1 -10 of atsout 14,900 for Single-parent families. (0.24 seconds)' Adolescent WelJ-Beinq In Cohabiting Married, and Single-Parent Families - q rour. i\'D Manning. KA Ls-m - Jeurnai of MSfriasje snd Fsmily. 2003 -Biackwell Synergy .. experience ecersomic situations that are better than those of children in single parent families (eg, greater parental education and faraify earnings), but... ¥MJ.¥.2J ■ listed Mides - vTeh S?ftfdi - PL Dirp-i ... Gsnder, andParental Involvement on the Academic Achievement of Adolescents in Single Parent Families m Let. J Kuehtw. s.«f Cho - Ss-x Rc.es, 2007 - Spnnrjer ... have combined single-mother and single-father families into the one category of single parent families wittitmt delineating whet tier the family is headed by a ... ■ V'k'a S rocq The Spread of Single-Parent Families - group of 2» DTEll-.vood, C Jencks -To appsaf in Danisl Patrick Mc/nilia.i, 2004 - k sgnolesl.Harvard eelu ...variation in in* spread of nonmarital tilths, amorce, and single-parenttamiltes.... Invoking these innovations to explain changes in family patterns during the (ctTATioui« The unevert spread of single-parent families: What do we know P Eii'.vood, C Jeitcks - Where do w$ ieek far answer. 2ÚG4 [cjtatkmi] How Caň I Support Singte Parent Families and Their Child to be Successful in School A lynch ■ 280= Kanv.f!é Univs,sily Wsb_SŕJäLdl - Library Search [cirAncri] An Analysis of Children's Literature Portfaying Single Parent Families ME Suiiivai) - 2004 - 8ii«ftig Green State University !il'e&._%L3r.£il ■ L'bigr-/ Search income, farník' characteristics, and physical violence toward children - group at 3 x LM Berger-Child Abyss and Hsfled; The ImernaU on al Journal. 2QQS --ericed go* ... R^auitsr in Ixtri single-parent arid Iwo-parent families, depression, maternal alcohol consumption, and history of family holence atfsci children's ... fflíJtfaŕJ ■ Related Atycíes - Qsd£M - Wsb Search prflTädso Bíraciai individuals-from Síngte Parení Homes: Why Racial Fluidity May Vary with Family Structure Reprinted by permission ol Googlu. gines have no quality controls and return the useful as well as the useless, the reliable as well as the shoddy. Figure 4-5 shows the results of a search for "single-parent families" using Google Web. First, notice that instead of the 14,900 hits for recent articles on Google Scholar, itself a rather unmanageable number, on regular Google, there were more than one million hits, more than anyone could read in a lifetime. This page also demonstrates some of the kinds of sites returned. The first site is a list of interesting but undocumented facts about single parenting. There is THE GENERAL RESEARCH PAPER BASED ON LIBRARY OR INTERNET DATA Figure 4-5 GOOGLE WEB RESULTS FOR "SINGLE-PARENT FAMILIES." Web Images Video News Maps more i single-parent families f Search I Web Results 1 - lôof about 1,240,000 for single-parent families. (0.11 seconds) PWP - Facts Arjout Single Farent Families 58% of single parent male families and 49% ofsingie parent female families own er are buying their homes. - The proportion of custodial parents in ... v/vvvv-parentswithoutpartners.crg'Sapportl.litrri - 10k ■ Cached - Similar page? Growing Up In Single Parent Families. HYG-5291-95 Single parents and their children constitute a rapidly increasing population. More recently, single fathers, unwed teenage mothers, other singl ohioline.o3u.edu/hyg-fect/5006/5291html - ?K - Cached - Similar pages Beinpa Single Parent White different than a nuclear family single-parent families have their own ... Single parent families become more interdependent, finding that working:... mm. metiife .com/Appiications/C orpd rate/WP S/CDA^ageGenerator/Q ,4-132 .P938,G0. irt ml ■ 33k - Cached - Similar paces - Single parent -- Wlkipedia: the free encyclopedia Many factors influence how children develop in single-parent families:... [3] About 1 out of 4 families with dependent children are singl&.parerrt families. ... enAinkipedia.org/wiki/Single_parent - 25k • Cached - Similar pages Single-parent families Single-parent families in today's society have their share of daily struggles and long-term disadvantages. The issues of expensive day care, ... ^W-pineforge,com/iiewm3n2studyfami!ies/es3ays-fsir!gle_paranf.htiri - 11k -CacfriKi - Similar pages Single-Parent Families Census Bureau, projections indicate that at least one-half of ail Anwicanchildrenwrll spend part of their growing years in a singte.parentJainily-V.This ... www.joe.org/joe/1986winter/fb2.html ~ 5k - Cached - Similar pages Jacquefine Kirbv. M.S. Ninety percent of single-parent families are heeded by females. ... The rate of poverty is even higher.in African-American single-parent families. ,.. hec.osu.edy/famlffe/buIfetinlVoiur5e.1/b!jllaft1.litrn - 11k • Cached • Sirriar paries Montana State University Exlensiori Service Research shows that successful single-parent families.have the following ...The same characteristics that make single-parent families strong are found in... Reprinted by permission of Google. no way to know how reliable or unreliable any of the information may be. The second one is an academic source, a fact sheet from Ohio State University Extension. "Being a Single Parent" is a Web site sponsored by a commercial insurance company. While probably reliable information, the reader would want to remain mindful that the sponsor has a business interest in the topic. WRITING FROM VARIOUS DATA SOURCES Skipping down, the next to the last document is an academic paper by a scholar. It is probably dependable, but there is no way to know if it has been peer reviewed, that is, reviewed by other scholars. Although this search could have led to useful sources, it would have been much more efficient and reliable to use the university library, specifically socioiogical search engines like CSA Sociological Abstracts, or Google Scholar. However, the Internet can be an excellent source of data. The demographic data on the U. S. Census Bureau's Web site provide a good example of a vaiuable source. This site, sponsored by the 0. S. Department of Commerce, provides information about all kinds of population issues in various graphic and tabular formats: maps and statistics. The Census site also provides downloadable software for census and survey processing, and access to Census Bureau online roundtables, which are forums where the public can read and then post follow-up comments. So, too, the capacity of the search engine Google to identify specialized U. S. Government Web sites can provide up-to-date government information that would be much harder to locate elsewhere, if at all. Other links that give you access to data that you can download but require some knowledge of quantitative techniques, though it may be as elementary as reading a cross-tabulation table, include: General Social Survey (GSS) Resources (programs and data may' be downloaded; surveys are available for the years 1972-1998; a searchable index of papers utilizing GSS data includes full citations and short abstracts). For an introduction to the data set and how to use il, see their Web site FEDSTATS This is a portal to 70 federal, state, and local government agencies that collect and report statistics, The Gallup Poll Results ol public opinion polls on a broad variety of topics. SETTING UP A RECORD-KEEPING SYSTEM Whether you record information in a word processor, on paper, or index cards, the principles are the same. Keep track of where information comes from. Record the information in your own words. Keep your records organized so you can synthesize it and use it effectively. A record-keeping system will keep you from feeling as if you are drowning in a sea of information and will enable you later on to create a formal bibliography for your paper. {See "References and Bibliographies," pages 56-59.} "We recommend bibliographic software. If you obtained articles through online databases like CSA Sociological Abstracts, you can use Ref Works to put your bibliography or reference section together. Ref Works, like other bibliographic software, allows you to choose the formatting style you would like to use, such as that of the American Sociological Association, or the American Psychological Association, etc. THE GENERAL RESEARCH PAPER BASED ON LIBRAEV OR INTERNET DATA 87 If your library's shell for CSA Sociological Abstracts does not include bibliographic software such as Ref Works, and you do not own such software, you may use an index card system, one index card for each source. Put bibliographical details on cards as you go along. Have some blank index cards always with you. Then, when you come across the details about a promising source, in the library or on the Internet, you can record these details on an index card: Author: all authors of the source, with only the first author's surname and first name in inverted order Title: article, chapter, book, Web site Facts of publication-. For journals: journal name in full, date of publication, volume number, issue number, inclusive pages For books: city and state of publication, publisher's name, publication date For a Web site: URL, sponsoring organization if named, date of publication, date of access Of course, you can also open a special computer file for this information, but you may not always have your laptop or'a storage" device with you when you come across a'likely source. Later, you can simply arrange your cards in alphabetical order by author and keyboard the reference page (or bibliography, if required) for your paper. Recording this information is especially important for online sources that you cut and paste into your own files of notes. Recording this information will enable you to reconstruct it later when you may no longer know what the original source was or have access to it. TAKING NOTES Taking notes is one of the most dtijlleiiniiiK and tx-rstmal pans of Hie wmi iig procě1?sT^pl=aa^^ may not know exactly what thT^aper's main argument will be. There is the fear of neglecting to record information you will need and the danger that you will become bogged down in recording sources that will have no relevance to the final paper. There is no single correct way to take notes, but there are some general principles. yp\ First, always keep m mind the question you jrr ajdp-vsjttf. the answer ^~-*fhat you l^^-ctTcToTf^^ that you will bTlTrgumg against. Ask'whltFanswerthe bookoTarticíFrmght offer, what information is available to support your answer (or make you rethink your answer) or rebut other answers, and why sources on the topic might be addressing some other answer. Some people prefer to take a lot of notes when first reading; others prefer to take note of general points and a reminder of what is in the source so that they can go back later and take more detailed notes later. In either case, it is important to make a note of keywords or topics they can find WRITING FROM VARIOUS DATA SOURCES quickly, perhaps at the top of the document or page. These might include any keynotes in the source that you used to find the book or article or your own terms that you might use to organize your paper. For example, if you are writing about homelessness and expect to organize the paper into sections on causes, effects, and solutions, you might use those terms in your subject headings. Having subject headings will make it much easier to organize your notes when you sit down to write. /■Q Second, v.miinarr/e the hook or artkjc in your own words. When taking '—-notes, the biggest temptation is to copy information word for word. Not only is this very inefficient, but you are less likely to really comprehend the material unless you put it in your own words. And it very easily slides to plagiarism, the theft of other peopfe's words and ideas. Even if it is inadvertent, it is a serious scholarly offense. Cutting and pasting is very tempting when you are reading things on the Internet and taking notes in a word processor. It should be done very selectively when you think you might actually quote the material. Otherwise, read Lite material, switch back to the word processor, arid write the information in your words. (%J Third, as mentioned above, jwv^jrttemion to th^fOTesta^^wefij^jli^trees, making note of the main points of what youářéTeading as well as the specific pieces of information. The main points are usually summarized in a book or article's opening and closing sections. Fourth, read with