Resources for Research in Sociology

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Resources for Research in Sociology
Library Tutorial for Hons Year Students

• by
• Hayati Abdul
• clbha_at_nus.edu.sg

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What shall we learn?

• How to
• Search Sociology databases using keywords,
  Boolean operators...
• Navigate LINC and access relevant services and
  resources from Library portal.

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By the end of session, well learn how to

• Effectively search Sociology databases for
  journal articles, conference papers,...
• Use LINC and Library portal to locate relevant
  resources and services

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Contents

• Search Strategy
• Databases for Sociology
• Newspapers
• Other useful sources
• LINC
• Library portal
• This is a hands-on session

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Search Strategy
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Boolean operators

• AND All terms must be present
• OR Any of the terms may be present
• NOT Excludes specific search term

parenthood ANDmarriage
AgedOR elderly
casino gambling NOT Internet gambling
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Truncation

• Most databases use asterisk to retrieve variant
  forms of search terms
• gambl gambled, gambling, gamble
• (anything that comes after gambl)
• parent parenthood, parenting, parents
• (anything that comes after parent)
• Note Different databases use different wildcard
  symbols e.g. , ?, !
• Check database guides, Help menu...

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Parentheses ( )

• Use ( ) to execute commands inside innermost
  parentheses first
• (low income or single) and families
• low income families
• single parent families
• (teen or adolescen) and pregnancy
• teenage pregnancy
• adolescent pregnancy

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Things to remember when searching databases
Best practices

• Enter search terms using natural language
• Identify keywords list synonyms, alternative
  spellings...
• And, OR, NOT, , , ( ) are standard symbols
  can be used in almost all databases.
• Look for the following features in each database
• Limit or refine search (by language, date...)
• Sort results (by date, relevance, times cited...)
• Descriptors, thesaurus, subjects for more search
  terms
• Edit or modify search
• Mark, save, print, email, export results
• Links to abstracts, full-texts, citing articles
• Help menus, Search tips, User guides...

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Databases
Overall, the ability to communicate with
databases as though you were talking to a
colleague is pretty amazing, as long as you know
what it can and cannot do. - Thane,
Librarians Rx, Apr 2008
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Databases for Sociology

• Scopus
• Sociological Abstracts
• Social Sciences Citation Index via Web of
  Science
• PERIND
• Proquest Theses Dissertations
• Expanded Academic Asap
• Social Sciences Abstracts

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Scopushttp//www.info.scopus.com/setup/promo/prom
o_material/docs/00000_Scopus_User_Guide_General_4W
EB08.pdf
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About Scopus

• Provides indexing, abstracting of and citation
  linking to
• peer reviewed open access journals
• conference proceedings, books
• web sources, author homepages, university sites,
  articles-in-press, preprint servers
• Coverage, 1966-
• Focused on Scientific, Technical, Medical
  Social Sciences literature.
• Content originates from Europe, Latin America
• Asia Pacific region
• Possible to Cross-search Scopus CSA Illumina
  databases.

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Lets search Scopus
While religion has played an important role as
an agent of social control, certain forms of
religion have increasingly been seen as deviant
in contemporary societies. Discuss this
apparent paradox.
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(No Transcript)
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Lets search Scopus
Is Singapore a welfare state? If yes, why and
from which perspective? If no, how would you call
the Singaporean social policy regime?
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Lets search Scopus
How do micro-level and meso-level models of
international migration contribute to
understanding the initiation and perpetuation of
foreign workers in Singapore?
foreign workers and singapore and migration
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Lets search Scopus
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Lets search Scopus
Transmigration negotiating home and national
identity
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Lets search Scopus
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Notes on Scopus

• Basic Search
• Use Boolean operators, such as OR, AND, NOT, also
  multi-character wildcard
• Default search in Article title, Abstract,
  Keywords
• Use Limit fields
• Use Refine results
• Combine Search History
• Integration with CSA Illumina databases
• Click to search
  Sociological Abstracts
• Advanced Search - Command Line search not really
  recommended

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Sociological Abstracts
CSA Illumina Quick Reference Guide http//www.csa.
com/support/QRC.pdf
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About Sociological Abstracts

• Premier resource for research literature in
  Sociology
• Provides indexes abstracts to journal articles,
  book chapters, conference papers dissertations.
• Coverage, 1979-
• Culture, social structure, social
  differentiation, social psychology, sociology of
  the arts, business, education, studies in
  violence and power and more
• Search LINC for full-texts of references
  retrieved
• Some overlap in literature coverage between
  Scopus Sociological Abstracts

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Lets search Sociological Abstracts
Successful ageing for Singapore the roles of
the government and family
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Lets search Sociological Abstracts
How are surveillance technologies changing the
nature of the modern organization?
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Notes onSociological Abstracts

• Quick Search
• Searches single words or phrases
• Quick search anywhere search
• Enter Boolean operators in search box
• AND, OR and NOT
• Advanced Search
• Allows for more complex searches
• Combine terms using Boolean operators from
  drop-down lists
• Use drop-down menus to select specific fields
• Anywhere, Keywords, Author, Title, Descriptors
  

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Notes on Sociological Abstracts

• Limits
• Date
• Use drop down menus to limit to range of years
• Latest update
• limits results to include only most recent
  records
• Journal articles, English
• limits search to journal articles English
  records
• QuickBib
• Use records to create bibliography in ASA style.

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Notes on Sociological Abstracts

• Displaying and viewing records
• Click on View record for more details, including
  abstract
• Results displayed by All Publication Types
• Results can be sorted by
• Most recent or Relevance
• Click on Edit Search to modify search
• Add or remove term(s) to refocus search
• Managing search results
• Mark, print, mail, save export
• Export to EndNote Web

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Social Sciences Citation Index (via Web of
Science)Quick Reference Guidehttp//scientific.
thomson.com/media/scpdf/webofscienceqrc.pdf
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About Social Sciences Citation Index

• It is a multidisciplinary database covering the
  journal literature of the social sciences, 1980-
• General Search
• Searches by topic, author, etc., like any other
  article database.
• Cited reference
• A unique search tool that lets you use a
  particular article or author as a starting point
  to see who has cited that work since it was
  published.

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Lets search SSCI via Web of Science
Is Singapore a welfare state? If yes, why and
from which perspective? If no, how would you call
the Singaporean social policy regime?
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Lets search Social Sciences Citation Index
How are surveillance technologies changing the
nature of the modern organization?
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Lets search Social Sciences Citation Index
Measures to improve return rates in a telephone
survey
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Notes on Social Sciences Citation Index

• Enter search terms in search fields
• Topic, Author, Title or Publication Name
• Use quotation marks ... to look for exact
  phrase.
• Search using AND, OR, NOT and SAME (same
  sentences) to create logical search statements.
• Truncation symbols ,?, can be used to search
  for variants of words
• Nest search operators inside parentheses ( )

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Notes on Social Sciences Citation Index

• On search result list, click on the article's
  title to view its abstract other details
• May refine results by different criteria like
  subject areas, document types, languages, ...
  etc.
• Sort results by date, number of times cited,
  relevance.
• Click to access articles online.
• Create Personal Profile to create Saved Searches
  and Search Alerts.

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PERINDPeriodical Indexto articles relating to
Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei ASEAN How to
searchhttp//www.lib.nus.edu.sg/lion/d/perind.htm
l
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About PERIND

• Good source for research relating to Singapore,
  Malaysia, Brunei ASEAN, 1980s-
• Index to journal articles, book chapters and
  conference papers relating to humanities, social
  sciences, business, architecture, building,
  science, technology, law medicine
• Uses Boolean operators, truncation (), drop-down
  list to search on specific fields
• Save selected records using IE function Filegt
  Save asgtfilename...

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Lets search PERIND
What potential problems does the existing social
security system in Singapore pose?
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Lets search PERIND
Analyze either the gender or class dimensions of
Singlish and its relationship with the
formation of Singaporean identity.
(gender or class) and (singlish or singapore
english) and identity
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Journal Citation Alerts

• Major Sociology journal publishers
• Sage
• JSTOR
• InformaWorld
• SpringerLink
• Project Muse
• Cambridge
• Journals Online
• Open Access
• Journals

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Journal Citation Alerts

• Id like to receive citation alerts from Sage
  journals on the following topic
• The ethnicity factor in policing
• Access the Sage Publications platform via library
  portal
• Look for the option Alerts (in this case, it is
  found under My Tools tab)
• You will be asked to sign in (register for an
  account if necessary)
• Do a search on your topic
• Save your alert request

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Newspapers
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E-Newspapers

• International local newspapers
• New York Times, Asian Wall Street Journal,
  Business Times, The Straits Times, more
• Two major databases
• Factiva
• Lexis/Nexis Academic

Click to view E-newspapers
Access Factiva directly
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Newspapers

• Press Clippings
• In-house collection of articles from Straits
  Times and Business Times
• Articles about Singapore, Malaysia, ASEAN
• Check LION under Press Clippings Collection -
  Subject Headings List
• Available from Singapore-Malaysia Collection
  (SMC)
• Microfilms
• The Straits Times from 1880 -

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Lets search Factiva or LexisNexis
Discuss the extent to which the Workfare Income
Supplement scheme reflects a major change in the
social policy of the government.
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Lets search Factiva/LexisNexis Academic
Why do people use/not use public transport in
Singapore?
demand OR prefer OR usage OR choice
(demand OR prefer OR usage OR choice) AND
public transport AND singapore
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Other Useful Sources
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Foreign Theses

• ProQuest Dissertations Theses Database
• Index to Theses with Abstracts Accepted for
  Higher Degree by the Universities of Great
  Britain Ireland
• Australian Digital Theses Database

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NUS Theses Academic exercises

• Search LINC, by keywords
• ph d
• m soc sc
• academic exercise
• Search LINC, by call no, HM15 200 (for 2000-)
  in Theses Collection

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Statistical Sources

• EIU Country Data
• Inter-University
• Consortium for Political Social Research
• SingSTAT Time Series
• Statistics on Singapore
• World development Indicators
• Yearbook of statistics, Singapore

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Resources on WWW
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The enhanced Library catalogue
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LINC Results Display
Relevance sorting
Browse up to 5 recently added titles
Read summary
Read summary, Choice Review
Refine limits
Book cover
Limit by tags
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Library portal

• Resources services
• E-forms
• Document Delivery Services
• Recommend new titles
• Subject Guides
• Library Instruction ONline
• EndNote X2
• Getting Help

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Materials Not Found in Library

• Document Delivery Services (DDS)
• Journal articles, Book Chapters,
• Request via E-Forms (Library Portal)
• All requests must be approved by Supervisor

DDS
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Recommend Books for Purchasing

• E-forms
• Submit e-form for New Book
• Or email to clbfrm01_at_nus.edu.sg
• No endorsement from supervisor needed
• 1 to 3 months to process

Recommend new titles
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Writing Citation Style

• Refer to Sociology subject guide under
• Research and Writing
• Writing for social scientists how to start and
  finish your thesis, book, or article
• The sociology student writer's manual
• Library Instruction Online
• How to cite references
• American Sociological Association Style
• Bibliographic management software
• EndNote/EndNote Web

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Subject Guides

• Good starting points for research

Click to search for Sociology subject guide
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Library Instruction ONline
Or click here
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EndNote X2

• A software that
• stores and organizes citations found from many
  sources
• inserts these citations into a Word document
• automatically format your references according to
  a predefined citation style
• Endnote training sessions for FASS
• Sept break
• Please look out for Events announcement in
• Library portal!

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We are here

• Advisory Service atInformation Desk,Central
  Library,Level 5.
• Email me clbha_at_nus.edu.sg
• Tel [phone]

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E-resource day

• 9 September 2008 , Central Library Forum
• Participate in our Online Quiz and Treasure Hunt
  to win prizes such as an Asus Eee PC, iPod Nanos,
  MP3 players, laptop bags, book vouchers, flash
  drives, optical mice, and other great prizes!
• Listen in Learn ! Our e-resource providers will
  be conducting talks throughout the day touching
  on the scope, coverage, and strengths of the
  various e-resources.
• Some of the e-resources highlighted are Business
  Source Premier, Scopus, Web of Science,
  Engineering Village 2, Proquest Dissertations
  Theses, SciFinder Scholar, LexisNexis Academic
  and the list goes on!