When and Where Can I Access Databases?
Databases are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can use them on or off campus. If you are using them from off campus you will be prompted to put in your SU username and password (the same one you use for Gull Net, MyClasses, or an SU computer).
Sociological Sources
- Academic Search Ultimate This link opens in a new windowMulti-subject database. You might want to consider using sociology or sociological as search terms here to narrow your focus.
- SocINDEX with Full Text This link opens in a new windowThis database focuses on sociology and related disciplines. Not everything in it will fulfill your sociological requirement for Dr. McEntee, but it is more likely than in a broader database.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowJSTOR is a huge multisubject database. You can choose to Sociology journals before you search to help narrow those results. It won't guarantee a sociological source for Dr. McEntee's assignment, but it will help narrow your results.
- Social Sciences Abstracts This link opens in a new windowThis database covers the broader social science disciplines (of which sociology is included). Sociology might still be a useful search term here.
Article Databases: an A-Z List
If you'd like to explore options outside of the databases listed above you can search for databases by name or by subject.
Semi-Scholarly Sources
The sociology blogs Dr. McEntee has shared with you are a good source for semi-scholarly sources. If you can't find what you need there, you can also try below.
- Baltimore Sun This link opens in a new windowIndexes, abstracts, and provides online full text for The Sun, Baltimore (Baltimore Sun) newspaper 1990-present.
- Washington Post This link opens in a new windowIndexes, abstracts, and provides online full text for the Washington Post newspaper 1987-present
- SU Libraries Virtual News RackThis guide is a concise collection of all of the ways one can access news resources at SU Libraries. While some of them have newspaper in the title and are easy to locate, some are trade magazines, etc. and are a little harder to track down. This puts them all in one place.
- The AtlanticSearch "The Atlantic" from 1988-present in Academic Search Ultimate.
Getting Full Text
Some databases will have the full text of the entire article available within the database, others will only have a citation for the article. When there is only a citation available, you will see a yellow find it button
. This button will give you options for getting a full text version of the article. If we have access to it in another database it will be linked there.
If it says "Not Available Online" then look for "Check Availability in SU Catalog"; if you see that then we may have a hardcopy version on the shelf in the library.
If you don't have either of those options then you can request it through Interlibrary Loan (ILL)! There are loads of ways to get a copy of an article you are interested in.
Data Sources
- Statista This link opens in a new windowStatista.com, by Statista, Inc. provides data on over 60,000 topics from over 18,000 sources, categorized into 21 market sectors. Statista.com provides quantitative data on media, business, finance, politics, and a wide variety of other areas.
- Advancing Equity with Data
"A major part of [the Census Bureau's] mission is to educate the public, policy makers, and stakeholders on what data we have available and how to use them. We want to empower data users with understandable, accurate, and timely information." - Opportunity Insights
"Based at Harvard University, our team of researchers and policy analysts work together to analyze new data and create a platform for local stakeholders to make more informed decisions." This link goes directly to their sharable data. - Pew Research Center
"Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research."
How to Search a Database
If you are unfamiliar with the research process, take a look at this video on how to search a database.
The video above was created for another Sociology class, but will take you through the basics if you need a refresher.