Introduction to Library Research

for the Social Sciences

Finding Books & Journal Articles
http://qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/~jmellone/library_research_socialsciences.pdf

Prof. James T. Mellone

Social Sciences Librarian
Queens College, RO 326, (718) 997-3623
[email protected]
 Where to Start:
The Library link from the QC page
http://www.qc.cuny.edu

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 Where to Start:
Or, directly to the QC Libraries
http://qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/Library

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 Concepts for Library Research

Two important concepts to understand before starting your

research. You need to know the differences between:

1) A library Catalog and a library Database

2) Keyword searching and Subject/Descriptor searching

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 Catalog vs. Database
Decide what material you
are going to use: books,
journal articles,
government reports, etc.

Know which
resource to use to
find that material:
Catalog or Database?

Learn how to use one

Catalog and one Database,
then you can use others,
because they work in
similar ways.

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 Catalog vs. Database

A Library Catalog tells A Database tells what has

what the library owns or been published in a subject
has: discipline, like Sociology –
so, one library will not own
Books, journals, music, everything in the database.
newspapers, videos,
magazines, dvds. It provides specific info
about material, telling you
It gives general information what is inside of periodicals
about the material: author, (every article) or what is
title, location, subject – inside of books (every
usually not a detailed essay).
description of the contents.
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 Catalog vs. Database
So, in general, you use a So, in general, you use a
Catalog to find books, films, Database to find what has
or other whole publications been published on a topic,
on a topic that the library usually parts of publications,
owns. such as articles in journals,
essays, entries, or chapters in
The Catalog also tells you if books, and papers in
we own a particular journal conference proceedings.
or magazine, but it does not
tell you what articles have It also may index material
been published inside of that is difficult to obtain
them. because it is unpublished,
such as master’s or doctoral
theses. 7
 Keyword vs. Subject/Descriptor

Identify the words

to use in your search
of the Catalog or
Database.

Learn how to make a

list of keywords to
start searching, then
how to revise your
search by using
subjects/descriptors.
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 Keyword vs. Subject/Descriptor

In Keyword searching you In Subject (also known

use more common or as Descriptor) searching
informal words, or words you use standardized
that come from the research language, formal words
question you are trying to that scholars and experts
answer – assuming you use to describe a concept or
created the question, and phenomenon in a subject
not your professor or some discipline (e.g. Sociology).
other expert.

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 Keyword vs. Subject/Descriptor

Think of Keywords as Think of Subjects as the

the most obvious words formal vocabulary you
that come to mind. use when you think
critically like a scholar
Often more than one (e.g. Sociologist).
word can be used to
describe the same thing One word is designated
– so synonyms are to describe a topic,
frequently used. synonyms will not work.

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 Keyword vs. Subject/Descriptor

For instance, for the topic Each subject discipline, e.g.

‘how women working Sociology, decides what to
affects their children’ call the phenomena its
practitioners study.
There are numerous ways
to describe the To learn what the subjects
phenomenon called are, use the Thesaurus
‘work’ – (glossary of subjects), or do
employment, job, labor, a Keyword search to learn
occupation, etc. from the search results what
subject word the topic is
Which is the best to use? formally called. 11
 Keyword vs. Subject/Descriptor

Try a Keyword search first, For example, in Sociology

then see what results you the Subject / Descriptor for
get, and revise your search ‘work’ is usually
once you learn the Subject ‘employment’ –
/ Descriptor for your
Keyword. the Thesaurus would tell us
that, the results of a
keyword search would tell
us as well.

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 Keyword vs. Subject/Descriptor

Another good rule to use when searching is:

If you have two or more If you have one large

concepts, for example, concept, for example,

‘work, women, children’ ‘employment’

use Keyword searching. try Subject searching.

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 Keyword vs. Subject/Descriptor

Make a list of synonyms or To learn the formal

related words for keyword language (vocabulary) of
searching: a discipline, consult:

‘how women working 1) textbook

affects their children’ 2) database Thesaurus
(e.g. Sociological Abstracts)
women or mothers 3) subject dictionary (e.g.
work or job or occupation dictionary of sociology)
children or daughters or family
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 CUNY+ Catalog (Finding Books)
If you are
looking for
books,
search
the CUNY+
Catalog.

On the
mainpage
there are
two direct
links:
another link
is under
Research

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 CUNY+ Catalog: Keyword search

• Use keyword
searching in ‘All
Fields,’ if your
topic is more
complex than a
one word topic

• Use ‘Subject
begin with’ for
large one-word
topics such as
‘Employment’

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CUNY+ Catalog: Results, with brief record displays

Brief records
are displayed –
browse to find a
good one

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 CUNY+ Catalog: Full Record display

This is the Record for

this article – think of
it as an index card of
information about this
reading material

Click on the library

name ‘Queens’ to
see the call number
for the book’s
location

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 CUNY+ Catalog: Holdings display
• Library of
Congress (LC)
classification
uses an A – Z
letter system.
Each letter
stands for a
large subject,
double letters for
a more specific
one (H=Social
Sciences,
HD=Labor)

• Call Number HD
is on the 4th
floor

• Regular Loan
means you can
borrow the book;
On Shelf means
it is available

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 Sociological Abstracts (Finding Journal Articles)

• To search for
journal
articles, go to
RESEARCH,
then
Databases

• Find Articles
is a short cut
to the
Databases
page; so is
Find
Databases

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 Sociological Abstracts: Getting to It
If you know the
database you want
to search, e.g.
Sociological
Abstracts
Click on ‘S’ to
get to
Sociological
Abstracts
OR
Scroll down
the page to
the ‘S’ section
NOTE: Databases
list can be sorted
by using the
‘Browse databases
by Subject’ pull-
down menu in the
center of the page
Select your subject
discipline to start
(e.g. Sociology, or
Urban Studies)

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 Sociological Abstracts: Getting to It
• Notice each
database has a
description and
publishing years of
coverage

• First icon indicates

‘some full-text’ of
articles is available

• Second icon
indicates FindIt!
capability for links to
full-text of articles

• Click on
Sociological
Abstracts
(SocioAbs) to open
it…

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 Sociological Abstracts: Advanced Search
• Let’s try a sample
keyword search for
‘women and
employment and
children’

• If you have more than

one concept, use
keywords for your first
search

• Know when to use

AND (to combine
words or phrases) and
when to use OR (for
synonyms, related
terms/ideas)

• Set limits for the ‘years

of publication,’ ‘Journal
Articles only,’ and
‘English only’

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 Sociological Abstracts: Search Results

• SocioAbs indexes
Chapters in books,
which we may own –
but also covers
Dissertations &
Conference Papers
which you should
avoid because they
are unpublished and
hard to obtain

• Remember to select
the Peer-Reviewed
articles, they are more
scholarly

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 SocioAbs: Peer-Reviewed Search Results

• Brief records
are displayed –
browse to find
a good one

• Click the Title

to view the full
record to read
the abstract

• Some records
may have a
built-in link to
the PDF article
– this one does

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 SocioAbs: How to Obtain the Article

Option 1: Click on a Full-Text link or PDF link

Option 2: Click on the FindIt linking tool, then click on a

Full-Text link or PDF link

Option 3: Click on the FindIt linking tool, then click on the

CUNY+ Catalog to search for a printed/paper version of the
periodical, then match the year of the article to what years
are available at QC or another CUNY library

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 SocioAbs: Full Record Display

• This is the Click here to locate

Record for this the article text
article – think of (Option 1)
it as an index
card of
information
about this
reading material
• Descriptors are
subjects you
can use to re-do
your search
• Read this first to
decide if you
want to read the
text of the article

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 SocioAbs: Full-Text / PDF of Article (Option 1)

• The PDF is the

exact duplicate of
the published
article; it includes
all the graphical
matter: charts,
graphs, illustrations,
etc.

• Use function
buttons in the
Adobe Reader
viewer to Save,
Print, or Email

• Click the down

arrow in the
percentage box to
resize the document

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 SocioAbs: Full-Record, Return to Results
To go back to the
list of results click,
‘Return to Results’

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 SocioAbs: Results, Select another record

• Let’s say you

are
interested in
another
article, even
though there
is NO direct
full-text link
(so Option 1
is not
available)

• This one has

no direct
Full-Text link,
so try Option
2: FIND IT
Full-Text link No direct
full-text link

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 SocioAbs: FindIt Full-Text link (Option 2)

• Now starts the

more mechanical
part – navigating
to locate the
article text

• Option 2: links to
the full-text of the
article are here, if
available Click on one of
the ‘Full Text
• Option 3: If
Options 1 & 2 do Online’ links
not work, then this
link searches the
CUNY+ Catalog
for the
printed/paper
version of the
journal

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 SocioAbs: Option 2, Wiley InterScience link

Look for the

words
‘Full-text,’
or
‘Full-image,’

The article
will display in
HTML
or
PDF

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 SocioAbs: Option 2, displaying PDF
• The PDF is the
exact duplicate
of the
published
article; it
includes all the
graphical
matter: charts,
graphs,
illustrations,
etc.

• Use function
buttons in the
Adobe Reader
viewer to Save,
Print, or Email

• Click the down

arrow in the
percentage box
to resize the
document
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 SocioAbs: Option 3, link to the Catalog

• The last hope of locating

the article text is the
Catalog link

• If FIND IT has no full-

text links, then use the
Catalog link to search
for a printed/paper
version of the journal

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 SocioAbs: Option 3, Catalog, journal search
• The CUNY+ Catalog
link does the search
• Check the holdings
to match the year of
the article you need,
with the years of the
journal that QC or
another CUNY
library owns
• The date listed under
Year is the first year
of publication
• Click on the
‘Queens’ link in the
Holdings column, it
tells what years and
volumes QC owns
• If you do not see
Queens listed, click
on the Title to see
the Record…

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 SocioAbs: Option 3, Catalog, holdings
• Scroll down, the
Holdings are in
alphabetical
order by library
name
• Queens will be
listed toward the
bottom
• Click on Queens
to see what
volumes and
years we own

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 SocioAbs: Option 3, Catalog, holdings
• There is only
one holdings
location in
Queens,
sometimes
there are more
• A call number
means that QC
owns a printed /
paper version
• The – (hyphen)
between the
dates means
‘through’
• Notice the full-
text link to
EBSCO
• NOTE: Print
subscription
cancelled (after
the last year,
2007)
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 SocioAbs: Re-doing a search

• Re-do your search

by clicking on ‘Edit
Search’
• Remember to look
at the Descriptors
for the formal words
that may be used to
describe your topic:
eg. Working
Women, Sex Roles
• Other records have
Descriptors such
as: Females,
Employment,
Working Mothers
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SocioAbs: Second Search (with descriptors)

• Click the down

arrow in the first
two boxes on the
far right side

• Then select
Descriptors from
the pull-down
menu

• For ‘women’
substitute ‘working
women’ in the first
search box on the
left

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 SocioAbs: Searching by Descriptor

• Searching by
Descriptor words
provides more
precise results: 8
records now,
compared to 269
searching by
Keyword
• The words
‘working women’
and ‘children’ must
appear in the
Descriptor field in
order for records
to be retrieved
during the search

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 SocioAbs: Bibliography

• Click in the box

to the left of
each article to
mark the ones
you want to
save
• Then, click on
‘Save Print
Email’

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 SocioAbs: Bibliography

• The number of
records you
marked is
indicated
• Customize the
format of the
Bibliography
• Click the down
arrow by ‘Full
Format’
• Then mouse over
to ‘Custom
Format’ and click
it

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 SocioAbs: Bibliography

• Click on
‘Change
Custom
Fields’ to
select which
parts of each
record you
want to save

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 SocioAbs: Bibliography

• The following
are needed for
an annotated
bibliography:

1. Abstract
2. Author
3. Descriptors
4. Source
5. Title

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 SocioAbs: Bibliography

• Choose the
APA style
with
Abstracts by
clicking on
the down
arrow
• Click on
‘Create’

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 SocioAbs: Bibliography

• If you have
the pop-up
blocker ON,
click on the
first ‘click
here’ to load
the
bibliography
in a new
browser
window
• If the pop-up
blocker is
OFF, the
bibliography
will load
automatically

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 SocioAbs: Bibliography

• Bibliography
is in APA
style, with
the
Abstracts
• You can
print, save,
or email
• You may
want to
copy and
paste it into
your word
processor,
and save
that file
instead

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 SocioAbs: Bibliography

• Return to
your search
Results

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 SocioAbs: Bibliography

• Remember
to ‘unmark’
your
marked
records
before you
continue
working

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 SocioAbs: Using the Thesaurus

Remember, if you have a

difficult time figuring out
what Descriptors are best
for your topic, browse or
search the Thesaurus to
learn the Sociology
vocabulary for
topics

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 SocioAbs: Thesaurus Search

• The Thesaurus
can be searched
or browsed
beginning with the
letter A

• To browse, click
GO

• To search, type
your search term
in the box, then
click GO

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 SocioAbs: Thesaurus search results

• The PLUS sign after

the searched word,
‘employment,’
means there are
smaller or narrower
subjects you can
browse within the
larger subject of
Employment

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 SocioAbs: Thesaurus, other Descriptors

These more specific

subjects might give
you ideas on how to
rethink or revise your
topic

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 Connect from Home

• Our Library
databases and
e-journals are
purchased for
QC students,
faculty, and staff
• When off-
campus you
must use your
QC ADS
computer
account to login
to our website
through the
Proxy Service,
so we know you
are a QC user

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 Connect from Home

• Here are the

instructions

• Step 1: Activate
ADS Account
by clicking on
the CAMS link

• Step 2:
Configure
Browser
Settings

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 Connect from Home: ADS Account

• There is a website login

required for Databases and
full-text links in E-Reserve
(none for the Catalog). To set
up your remote login:

• 1) Create a password for your

QC ADS computer account
(e.g. [email protected])
by going to the CAMS page
(http://cams.qc.cuny.edu)

• Click on ‘Sign Up Now’ to enter

CAMS with your personal
information

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 Connect from Home : ADS Account

Login with the following:

College ID = Social Security

Number (SSN)

PIN = Registration PIN,

ESIMS password, or last
six digits of the SSN

Postal Code = Zip Code

Remember to check in the

policy box

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 Connect from Home : ADS Account
• If you have not
activated your
accounts yet, the
Status should say
‘De-activated’
(Notice mine is
already
Activated)

• Once logged in,

then click
‘Details’ on the
far right to create
a password for
your ADS

• Do the same
thing for your
Lotus Notes
email account

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 Connect from Home : ADS Account

• Follow the
instructions
for creating a
password
carefully

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 Connect from Home : ADS Account
• After creating your
passwords, your
account status
should change to
‘Activated’

• To change your
password, just click
on ‘Details’ and
repeat the same
steps

• NOTE: It may take

up to 30 minutes or
more of processing
time, after your
status says
‘Activated,’ for you
to use your
account

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 Connect from Home : Browser Settings

• You must adjust the

Proxy settings in your
web browser; follow the
instructions on the
Proxy Service page
http://helpdesk.qc.cuny.
edu/FAQS/proxy.asp

• You only have to do the

setup once

• You must do this

though for any browser
you use to access the
Library resources

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 Connect from Home: Log In to Website

• When you are

home and click
on a database
a pop-up box
will ask you to
login
• Remember to
login using the
method
illustrated in
the second
step here
• The prefix
instr\ must
appear before
your username

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 Choosing a Topic

• Use the Thesaurus of a database to browse the list of

subjects.

• Use a more general database, that may index more

popular writings and that covers current events or social
issues. Then you can read about topics first before you
start your research. Opposing Viewpoints is great for
learning basic information about a social issue.

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 Choosing a Topic: Opposing Viewpoints

• Opposing
Viewpoints
covers majors
social issues in
the news

• It presents
material on both
sides of an issue

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 Choosing a Topic: Opposing Viewpoints

Click on ‘O’ to get

to Opposing
Viewpoints

OR

scroll down the

page to
the ‘O’ section

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 Choosing a Topic: Opposing Viewpoints

• Click on
Opposing
Viewpoints to
open it…

• Notice the
description and
the publishing
years of
coverage

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 Choosing a Topic: Opposing Viewpoints

Do a more
specific
search

Browse a
topic like
Media
Violence

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 Choosing a Topic: Opposing Viewpoints
• There are
various kinds
of readings
on the topic,
mostly
popular,
some
scholarly
• Consider use
of a
database like
this to be
pre-research
• This material
introduces
you to the
topic before
you start
your
research

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