Subject Guides: Sociology: SOCI 315 Winter 2023

Welcome

This guide provides help finding sources for the Winter 2023 SOCI 315 Learning through Practice assignment #1.

Please refer to your assignment instructions for additional requirements and details.

Engaging with Research Literature

This assignment is asking you to think about how previous research can inform a potential sociological study relating to a world pandemic (i.e., COVID-19).

As the following video illustrates, reviewing existing literature on a topic is a critically important part of developing an academic research study:

You need two peer-reviewed articles to complete this assignment.

The following provides a quick refresher on peer-review of scholarly sources:

It can take years to get a research article published and some areas of research are explored more than others, so the articles you find might not be on the exact same topic that interests you. That's totally okay. Just make sure that the articles you use can help to frame your interest into a research question and new area of sociological investigation.

Here's a video that helps to explain how to approach a research topic when looking for sources:

Example: Let’s say that you are interested in exploring the public reaction to the “Freedom Convoy” protests in Canada in the winter of 2022. Since this is a relatively recent topic, there is unlikely to be scholarly, peer-reviewed information on the topic, so try searching for articles on related topics. For instance, look for articles that explore public reactions to other protests against Covid-19 restrictions, including those in other countries. Or try looking for articles on how people perceive protests and demonstrations more generally.

Finding Articles

Library Databases

Useful databases for finding articles for this class are noted below.

Tip: Since you need to identify a topic for a potential sociological study, try starting with the Library's main sociology databases: SocINDEX and Sociological Abstracts.

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Includes indexes, abstracts, articles, and videos in a variety of subjects, but especially the following: biology, chemistry, education, engineering, humanities, physics, psychology, religion and theology, and sociology.
Coverage and Currency: 1990 to present
Access: Access limited to Grant MacEwan University IP addresses. Remote login with a MacEwan network user ID and password.
Conditions of Use: Use of this database is restricted to members of the MacEwan University community and to users physically present in the Library. It is the responsibility of each user to ensure that they use this database for individual, non-commercial, educational or research purposes only, and do not systematically download or retain substantial portions of information.
CINAHL Plus with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Provides full text for nursing and allied health journals. Includes point-of-care information with evidence-based care sheets and quick lessons providing overviews of disease and conditions.
Coverage and Currency: 1937 to present
Access: Access limited to Grant MacEwan University IP addresses. Remote login with a MacEwan network user ID and password.
Conditions of Use: Use of this database is restricted to members of the MacEwan University community and to users physically present in the Library. It is the responsibility of each user to ensure that they use this database for individual, non-commercial, educational or research purposes only, and do not systematically download or retain substantial portions of information.
Communication & Mass Media Complete This link opens in a new window
Provides the full text of articles, essays, and reviews in the research areas of communication, mass media, linguistics, rhetoric, language, logic, and more.
Coverage and Currency: 1900 to present
Access: Access limited to Grant MacEwan University IP addresses. Remote login with a MacEwan network user ID and password.
Conditions of Use: Use of this database is restricted to members of the MacEwan University community and to users physically present in the Library. It is the responsibility of each user to ensure that they use this database for individual, non-commercial, educational or research purposes only, and do not systematically download or retain substantial portions of information.
SocINDEX with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Covers sociology and related fields, including anthropology, criminology, economic development, social work, politics, religion, and more. Topics include abortion, anthropology, criminology, criminal justice, cultural sociology, demography, economic development, ethnic and racial studies, marriage and family, politics, religion, rural sociology, social psychology, social structure, social work, sociological theory, sociology of education, substance abuse, urban studies, violence, welfare, and more.
Coverage and Currency: 1895 to present
Access: Access limited to Grant MacEwan University IP addresses. Remote login with a MacEwan network user ID and password.
Conditions of Use: Use of this database is restricted to members of the MacEwan University community and to users physically present in the Library. It is the responsibility of each user to ensure that they use this database for individual, non-commercial, educational or research purposes only, and do not systematically download or retain substantial portions of information.
Sociological Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Provides citations of scholarly journals, dissertations and theses, books, and conference proceedings covering the international literature of sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioural sciences.
Coverage and Currency: 1952 to present
Access: Access limited to Grant MacEwan University IP addresses. Remote login with a MacEwan network user ID and password.
Conditions of Use: Use of this database is restricted to members of the MacEwan University community and to users physically present in the Library. It is the responsibility of each user to ensure that they use this database for individual, non-commercial, educational or research purposes only, and do not systematically download or retain substantial portions of information.

For additional options, visit the Library's Find a Database list.

Database Search Tips

Use "Quotes" for phrases:
- "social media" "content analysis"
Use AND between words to find different concepts:
- COVID-19 AND Twitter AND racism AND Canada
Use OR between words to find similar concepts/synonyms: "
- social media" OR Facebook OR Twitter OR Instagram
Use the options to the left of search results to limit to scholarly (peer-reviewed) journals and by publication date (e.g., 2010-2021)

Examples combining these techniques:
("social media" OR Facebook OR Twitter OR Instagram) AND racism AND COVID-19 (CINALH)
(news OR journalism) AND gender AND (SARS OR H1N1 OR pandemic OR COVID-19) (SocINDEX)

Watch the Library's tutorial "1.5 Search Language" to learn more about database searching.

Additional Considerations

The two articles you use in your assignment should meet the following criteria:

Publication date: Published in the last ten years. You want to build on the latest, greatest findings in your area of interest.
Peer-reviewed: Published in an academic journal that has other academics review research before it is published. Using Library databases (see above) is the easiest way to locate these works.
Relevance: Use articles that explore your topic from a sociological perspective. For instance, an article reporting results of a qualitative study on the socioeconomic toll of COVID-19 on Canadian parents will be much more relevant than a study on recommended medical treatments.
Original research: Articles should be reporting results from an original research study. The format of these articles will typically include an introduction, methods section, results, discussion, and a list of references.

Helpful hint: Your assignment requires that you come up with a research question informed by what you find in the literature, and explain whether a qualitative or quantitative method would be most applicable to your study. As you explore the literature, pay close attention to the methods used in existing studies (e.g., interviews, surveys, content analysis) as you consider which approach might work best for your proposed area of investigation.

Citing Using APA

Citations for the articles you use should follow this example:

In-text citation: (Thirsk et al., 2022, p. 1409).

Reference entry:

Thirsk, L. M., Stahlke, S., Perry, B., & Gordon, B. (2022). #Morethanavisitor: Experiences of COVID-19 visitor restrictions in Canadian long-term care facilities. Family Relations, 71(4), 1408-1427. https://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12712

For more information and examples, visit the Library's APA Citation Guide.

Need Help?

Have a quick question about searching or citing?
- Use the Library Chat.
Need more in-depth help searching for articles?
- Email Nicolle to set up an appointment in person, by phone, or video conferencing with the Sociology subject librarian.
Have questions about assignment requirements?
- Contact your instructor.

Sociology

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