Objective: Using Library Resources in Preparing a Bibliography

I. Clearly define your research problem

Use Reference Resources to clearly define your research problem and gather background information. Selected resources in the WSU library are listed below.  Look on the shelves near these books; there may be similar books nearby with helpful information.

• Encyclopedia of Sociology
  Middle Level, Reference Shelves:  HM 425 .E5 2000
• A Dictionary of Sociology
  Middle Level, Reference Shelves:  HM 17 .C66 1998
• The Handbook of Social Psychology
  Middle Level, Reference Shelves: HM 251 .H224 1998
• Encyclopedia of Drugs, Alcohol and Addictive Behavior
  Middle Level, Reference Shelves:  HV 5804 .E53 2000
• Encyclopedia of Criminology and Deviant Behavior
  Middle Level, Reference Shelves: HV 6017 .E53 2001
• The Social Science Encyclopedia
  Middle Level, Reference Shelves:  H 41 .S63 1996
• Encyclopedia of Social History
  Middle Level, Reference Shelves:  HN 28 .E53 1994
• Encyclopedia of Cultural Anthropology
  Middle Level, Reference Shelves:  GN 307 .E52 1996
• Encyclopedia of Human Behavior
  Middle Level, Reference Shelves:  BF 31 .E5 1994

II. Select your search terms

• State your research topic as a thesis statement or a question:
  the effects of unemployment on domestic violence
• Identify the separate concepts that make up your topic:
  unemployment; domestic violence
• Make a list of search terms for each concept.  Be sure to include synonyms, related terms, and terms that may be broader or narrower:
  unemployment:  unemployed, jobless, employment status
  domestic violence:  family violence, child abuse, intimate abuse
  The Contemporary Thesaurus of Search Terms and Synonyms - ask at the reference desk
• Add appropriate official subject headings to your list(s):
  Thesaurus of Sociological Indexing Terms - ask at Reference Desk
  Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms - ask at Reference Desk
  Thesaurus of ERIC Descriptors [Education] - ask at Reference Desk
  Library of Congress Subject Headings - ask at Reference Desk

III. Devise your search strategy

Based on your list(s) of search terms, devise your search strategy:

• use boolean operator OR; this tells the computer to search for all the terms at the same time:
  unemployment or jobless; domestic violence or family violence
• use boolean operator AND; this tells the computer to restrict retrieval to both concepts:
  unemployment and domestic violence
• use truncation (*) to broaden your search to include variants of a term:
  unemploy* will retrieve unemployed, unemployment, unemployable
• use parentheses to group terms combined using OR:
  (unemploy* or jobless*) and (domestic violence or family violence)

IV. Conduct a literature search

To find books, search one or more of the following library catalogs:

• WSU Stewart Library Online Catalog (iPac) - catalog for WSU's library
• Utah Library Catalogs - links to catalogs for other libraries in Utah
• WorldCat - combined catalog of libraries from around the world

Be sure to check the shelves near any books you find; there may be other books with similar information nearby.

You can also find books on Sociology and related fields by browsing the shelves in the Top Level of the library in the General Collection under the following call numbers:  HM [Sociology], HN [Social History], HQ [Family. Marriage. Women. Aging], HV [Social Work. Criminal Justice], BF [Psychology], and GN [Anthropology].

To find popular magazine articles, a great place to start is Academic Search Premier, which provides access to the full-text of articles from hundreds of popular magazines and scholarly journals.

To find scholarly journal articles in Sociology, the best place to begin is Sociological Abstracts, which is the premier index to scholarly literature in Sociology.

Current issues of magazines and journals in Sociology are found in the HM section of the Current Periodicals Area on the Middle Level of the library.  Bound volumes of older issues are shelved upstairs in the General Collection.

The library also provides access to many full-text electronic journals in Sociology.  All of these allow you to browse the table of contents of journal issues and many allow you to search all available issues by keyword.  You can also search our list of electronic journals by subject or title.

When you find a good book or article, check the bibliography to identify other books and articles on your subject.

If we do not own a particular book or article that you need, we will borrow it for you from another library through Interlibrary Loan.

To find Internet resources, an excellent place to begin is the Stewart Library's list of web resources in Sociology.  Most of the sites listed will provide links to additional sites, so explore!  Sociological Abstracts will often retrieve links to selected web sites as well as journal articles.  Use Internet search engines to find additional information.

V. Carefully evaluate the information you find

• Is the resource useful, well written, up to date, and/or at the appropriate level for your research?
• Scholarly vs. Popular Articles
• Evaluating Library and Internet Information

Need Help?

• Visit the Reference Desk or call  626-6415 and speak to a reference librarian
• Online reference help via email:  Ask-A-Librarian Service