Trexler Library - Library Instruction Handout

Urban Sociology

Need help with your research? Contact:

Jen Jarson
Social Sciences Reference Librarian
phone: x3552
email: jarson [at] muhlenberg [dot] edu
IM (AIM, Yahoo, MSN): jjarson1 (add @hotmail.com for MSN)

Selected Reference Materials

Borgatta, E.F. & Montgomery, R.J.V. (Eds.). (2000). Encyclopedia of sociology (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Macmillan.
Reference 301.03 E56of v.1-5

Christensen, K., & Levinson, D. (Eds.). (2003). Encyclopedia of community: From the village to the virtual world. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Reference 307.03 E56o v.1-4

Elliott, A., & Ray, L. (Eds.). (2003). Key contemporary social theorists. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Reference 300.922 E46k

Ember, M., & Ember, C.R. (Eds.). (2002). Encyclopedia of urban cultures: Cities and cultures around the world. Danbury, CT: Grolier.
Reference 307.7603 E53o v.1-4

Kurian, G.T. (1994). World encyclopedia of cities. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.
Reference 307.7603 K96w v.1-2

Levinson, D.L. (2002). Education and sociology: An encyclopedia. New York: Routledge.
Reference 306.43 E56o

Marshall, G. (1994). The concise Oxford dictionary of sociology. New York: Oxford University Press.
Reference 301.03 M368c

Ritzer, G. (Ed.). (2005). Encyclopedia of social theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Reference 301.01 E56o v.1-2

Smelser, N.J. & Baltes, P.B. (Eds.). (2001). International encyclopedia of the social & behavioral sciences. New York: Elsevier.
Reference 300.3 I61e v.1-26

United Nations Centre for Human Settlements. (2005). The state of the world's cities. Nairobi, Kenya: United Nations Centre for Human Settlements.
Reference 307.76 S797o

Van Vliet, W. (Ed.). (1998). The encyclopedia of housing. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Reference 363.503 E56h

Williams, D.C. (2000). Urban sprawl: A reference handbook. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.
Reference 307.760973 W772u

Other reference sources, related to your particular topic, maybe also be available. To find them, search the catalog or ask for help.

Finding Books

TREXLER LIBRARY

Search the Trexler Library Catalog to find out what books, government publications, journals, videos, etc. the library owns.

GETTING THERE:      Use the shortcut search box on the Library Homepage or
                                      Library Homepage    Finding Books    Our Catalog

For tip on searching the catalog, use the Help link above the search boxes. (Or click here.)

Need help with your keywords and search strategy? Try the Keyword Searching (Combining Concepts) worksheet. [ PDF | Word ]

OTHER LIBRARIES

WorldCat. To find books held by other libraries, search WorldCat, a database of over 60 million library records from around the country and world. Use the ILL button to request a book from another library. (ILL can take 10-14 days.)

GETTING THERE:      Library Homepage    Finding Books    WorldCat

E-ZBorrow. For quick delivery of books from many Pennsylvania and area academic libraries (including University of Pennsylvania, Rutgers University, University of Pittsburgh, and many more), use E-ZBorrow. (E-ZBorrow takes 2-4 business days.)

GETTING THERE:      Library Homepage    Finding Books    E-ZBorrow

TIP: Check the E-ZBorrow catalog for any books you find in WorldCat. If not available there, then request via ILL.

For more information on Interlibrary Loan options, see http://www.muhlenberg.edu/library/more/ill/index.html or ask for help.

GETTING THERE:      Library Homepage    Finding Books    Borrowing from Other Libraries

Articles: Databases & Indexes

SEARCHING FOR ARTICLES

See a list of all Social Sciences databases at http://www.muhlenberg.edu/library/articles/databases/social_sciences.html.

Get to this list, and more: Library Homepage Finding Articles Periodical Databases and Indexes Social Sciences / Alphabetical List.

Need help with your keywords and search strategy? Try the Keyword Searching (Combining Concepts) worksheet. [ PDF | Word ]

Subject-Specific Databases

Sociological Abstracts
Sociology. "Provides access to the latest research in sociology and related disciplines in the social behavioral sciences. Draws information from an international selection of journals, serials, conference papers, books, and dissertations."

America: History and Life
History. "A complete bibliographic reference to the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. Covers 2000 journals published worldwide. In addition to covering all key English language historical journals, AH&L coverage includes selected historical journals from major countries, state and local history journals. It also includes citation to abstracts of dissertations and citations of book and media reviews."

Business Source Elite
Business and Economics. "Provides full text coverage from the world's top management and marketing journals including Business Week, Forbes, Harvard Buisness Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, etc. It also includes company profiles for the world's largest companies."

Communication and Mass Media Complete
Communication, Journalism, and Media Studies. "Provides indexing along with full text to two databases in communication and mass media, CommSearch (formerly produced by the National Communication Association), and Mass Media Articles Index (formerly produced by Pennsylvania State University)."

PAIS
Political Science. "Provides bibliographic citations to periodicals, books, hearings, reports, gray literature, government publications, Internet resources, and other publications from 120 countries."

Interdisciplinary Databases

Academic Search Premier
Large and diverse database that covers most academic disciplines. Contains both scholarly and non-academic resources. Includes many articles in full text.

JSTOR
Searchable collections of full-text journals. JSTOR contains the full text of 24 Sociology journals and many others from a wide variety of possibly relevant disciplines.

OmniFile (WilsonWeb)
"A full text "mega" database comprised of various smaller databases from separate academic disciplines. Its general scope includes general sciences, humanities, The Reader's Guide, social sciences, and business."
Note: WilsonWeb does not allow for a Search Trexler Library for this title link (see Getting the Articles, below, for more information). Instead, they include an icon ( ) when the library has the article available elsewhere. Click on the icon to be transferred to the catalog record for the journal. If the library does not have access to the article online or in print, request it via Interlibrary Loan (see Getting the Articles, below, for more information).

Project MUSE
"Provides full text access to journal articles in the arts and humanities and social sciences. All articles are peer-reviewed. Muse contains articles from as early as 1993 or 1995, but the majority of articles are from 2000 to present."

News

LexisNexis Academic
Indexes and provides full-text of major national and international newspapers (English Language editions only), newswires, select journals and magazines, and legal publications. Updated daily. Dates of coverage vary by publication.

GETTING THE ARTICLES

When searching for articles, you may find the full-text of an article linked in the database.

If not, you need to search the Trexler Library Catalog to see if we own the journal in which the article is published.

Some databases have a Search Trexler Library for this title link embedded. Click the link to check our holdings.

Otherwise, search the catalog by journal title. Verify that we have online, print, or microform access to the year/volume you need.

If we do not own the journal you need, request the article via Interlibrary Loan.

Some databases have a Request on Interlibrary Loan link embedded. Click the link to fill out the form. Click Submit.

Otherwise, use the Interlibrary Loan Journal Article Request Form (Library Homepage Finding Articles Getting a Copy of an Article). Fill out the form with as much information as possible. Ask for help, if you have questions.

Statistical Sources / Government Documents

Muhlenberg College receives about 25% of all materials published by the Federal Government. These items cover a wide range of subject areas--from legal materials and the records of Congress to health and education information and in-depth research conducted by the Smithsonian. All of the government documents that we receive have records in the Trexler Library Catalog.

American Factfinder (U.S. Census Bureau)
http://factfinder.census.gov/
Easy-to-use census data/maps.

Bureau of Statistics, Treasury Department. 2006. Statistical Abstract of the United States. Washington: G.P.O.
Statistics Reference 317.3 U58s 2002
Note: Various other editions, dating back to 1886, are also available in the Government Documents section at C 3.134:886 - C 3.134:2004/2005.

Documents Center (University of Michigan Library)
http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/
"The Documents Center is a central reference and referral point for government information, whether local, state, federal, foreign or international. Its web pages are a reference and instructional tool for government, political science, statistical data, and news."

FedStats
http://www.fedstats.gov/
Gateway to statistics for U.S. Federal agencies

Google U.S. Government Search
http://www.google.com/ig/usgov
Google's search tool for state and federal webpages.

Kurian, George Thomas. 1994. Datapedia of the United States, 1790-2000: America Year by Year. Lanham, MD: Bernan Press.
Statistics Reference 317.3 K96d

LexisNexis Congressional
Provides access to detailed information about Congress. It includes The Congressional Record, congressional hearings, legislation, legislative histories, etc., from 1969 to the present.
Note: This database is accessible via the Library Homepage    Finding Articles    Periodical Databases and Indexes    Alphabetical List.

LexisNexis Statistical Universe
Note: This is a searchable database of statistical tables, accessible via the Library Homepage    Finding Articles    Periodical Databases and Indexes    Alphabetical List.

State and Metropolitan Area Data Book (1997-1998) (U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau)
http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS2647
Note: This document is also accessible through the Library Catalog.

Statistical Resources on the Web (University of Michigan Library, Documents Center)
http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/stats.html

U.S. Census Bureau
http://www.census.gov/
        Census 2000 Gateway (http://www.census.gov/main/www/cen2000.html)
        Census 1990 Gateway (http://www.census.gov/main/www/cen1990.html)
        Paper versions of the decennial census (1850-1990) are available in the Government Documents Census Section on Level A.

Citing Your Sources

Style Guide for Papers (Sociology and Anthropology Department, Muhlenberg College)
http://www.muhlenberg.edu/depts/soc-anth/policies/style.html

For help using Chicago Style, consult the following resources:

The Chicago manual of style, 15th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003
Reference Desk Reserve 808.027 C632m (at Reference Desk)

Trexler Library handout on using Chicago style: http://www.muhlenberg.edu/library/reshelp/chicago_example.pdf
This and other style guide handouts available from the library website. Library Homepage Research Help Citation Guides.

Writer's Handbook (Writing Center, University of Wisconsin--Madison)
http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocChicago.html

For help using APA (American Psychological Association) Style, consult the following resources:

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). (2001). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Reference Desk Reserve 808.06615 p976m 2001 (at Reference Desk)

Concise Rules of APA Style. (2005). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Reference Desk Reserve 808.06615 C744r (at Reference Desk)

Trexler Library handout on using APA style: http://www.muhlenberg.edu/library/reshelp/apa_example.pdf.
This and other style guide handouts available from the library website. Library Homepage Research Help Citation Guides.

Try NoodleBib Express for a quick tutorial on APA Style: http://www.noodletools.com/login.php

For help using ASA (American Sociological Association) Style, consult the following resources:

American Sociological Association. 1997. ASA style guide, 2nd ed. Washington, D.C.: American Sociological Association.
Reference Desk Reserve 808.0663 A512a (at Reference Desk)

ASA Style Guide (California State University, Los Angeles)
http://www.calstatela.edu/library/bi/rsalina/asa.styleguide.html

Quick Style Guide (American Sociological Association)
http://www.asanet.org/page.ww?name=Quick+Style+Guide§ion=Sociology+Depts

© Muhlenberg College
Last modified: 10 November 2006
URL: http://www.muhlenberg.edu/library/guides/libinst/socanth/urbansociology.html