• lsynonyms:
  i.e. women, woman, female, girl
• truncation:
  i.e. "sex*" will get "sex, sexual, sexism" etc.
• l Boolean operators and parentheses :
  i.e. (women or female) and  (pictur* or  portrait*) and (mass media not tv)
   

Useful Subject Terms

Can't think of terms to describe your topic?  When using various databases or the library catalog, look for phrases labeled "subjects" or "descriptors." These are very specific terms librarians use to describe a topic. This can help you find the most appropriate resources for your topic.

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Books

Books at Cal State San Marcos

Find books by searching the Library Catalog. Can't think of terms to describe your topic?  Catalogs use specific subject headings to group related books together.  A good strategy is to:

• enter a keyword or two
• scan the list for one good item of interest
• click on the subject headings for that item
• scan the list of subject headings for ones that are of interest
• click on another subject heading to search for more items
   

Books at other libraries

Circuit	1-2 day delivery *
Melvyl	5-10 day delivery **
WorldCat	5-10 day delivery **

 
* Books will be delivered to Library for pickup.

** Find a book in this databases, and fill-out an Interlibrary Loan delivery request. Book will be delivered to Library for pickup.

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Journal Articles

Journals include some of the latest research in the field.  To find articles, you need to start with research databases. They allow you to search hundreds or even thousands of journals at once.

What is a scholarly or peer-reviewed journal article?

Most Useful

Database Full Text Coverage Scholarly Sociological Abstracts Provides access to the latest international findings in theoretical and applied sociology, social science, and political science. Watch a video (approx. 6 min.) 1963→current all Social Services Abstracts Abstracts of current research focused on social work, human services, and related areas, including social welfare, social policy, and community development.   1980→current all JSTOR Contains complete full-text back files (EXCEPT for the latest five years) of core scholarly journals in such areas as sociology, history, economics, political science, mathematics, African-American studies, Asian studies and others.   1838→2001 all

Also Useful

Database Full Text Coverage Scholarly PsycINFO Available via EbscoHost: A comprehensive international database of psychology, covering the academic, research, and practice literature in psychology from over 45 countries in more than 30 languages.    +  1887→current all ERIC A national database of education literature, including reports and journal articles.   1966→current some Project Muse Full-text coverage for hundreds of scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, and mathematics   1993→current all

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Websites

Not all websites are the same. For quality information review the source (domain) carefully! Here are a few places to start. For more Sociology websites click here.

Violence Against Women Office of U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs provides links to many online resources for research on and service for women who are victims of violence.

National Coalition for the Homeless page provides information in the areas of  housing justice, economic justice, health care justice, and civil rights.  The approaches are: grassroots organizing, public education, policy advocacy, technical assistance, and partnerships.

Prevent Child Abuse America site provides research and assistance resources for child abuse prevention.

Gerontological Nursing Intervention Research Center from University of Iowa site provides good resources for aging study and links to other research centers vulnerable population research.

Also check out the Census report Mapping Census 2000:The Geography of U.S. Diversity.

FedStats
GPO: U.S. Government Printing Office
National Center for Health Statistics  
Office of Minority Health from the Center for Disease Control (CDC)
National Center for Education Statistics
Bureau of Labor Statistics including Occupation Employment Statistics

The US Census 2000 briefs are a great resource. Here are a few related to ethnic subpopulations ():

The Hispanic Population
The White Population
The Black Population
The Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander Population
The American Indian and Alaska Native Population
The Asian Population
The Arab Population

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Citing Your Sources

APA: Publication manual of the American Psychological Association. 5th ed. Washington, DC : American Psychological Association, 2001 Quick Summary of Bibliography (, 172k) Citing in your paper (, 127k) Diana Hacker's APA Style Library Copies (BF76.7 .P83 2001)

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