Sociology

Welcome to the sociology guide! This guide is designed to help sociology students identify good starting points for their research. On the tabs to the left, you will find library resources broken down by reference sources, journals, databases, and additional online resources. The related guides links at the bottom of each page will take you to other guides on specific sociology topics and courses. 

If you have questions or suggestions for this guide, email us at library@carolinau.edu!

Encyclopedias and dictionaries can be great sources of definitions or of basic information on a topic. The library has many reference ebooks, including these: 

• Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology
• Encyclopedia of Sociology Research
• Penguin Dictionary of Sociology
• World of Sociology, Gale

The library's print collection includes a reference section. Reference books can be viewed in the library, but are not to be checked out or removed from the library, although portions of reference works can be scanned using our library scanner. 

• The Blackwell Dictionary of Sociology
  REF HM 425 J64 2000

The library provides access to many scholarly journals through our database subscriptions, or through individual journal subscriptions. Here are a few top sociology journals that are available to you through the library: 

• American Sociological Review, 2004 to present
• Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 1991 to present
• Rural Sociology, 2001 to present with a 1-Year Delay 
• Social Forces, 1996 to present
• Sociology of Religion, 1993 to present with a 1-Year Delay

Lots of Open Access sources are available for free on the internet. Here are some high-quality, peer-reviewed OA journals on sociology: 

• Frontiers in Sociology
• Cogent Social Sciences
• Sociological Science

To find more Open Acess journals, try using the Directory of Open Access Journals. 

You can search almost all of the library's electronic resources through the search box on our website, but in some cases it is helpful to narrow your search down to a particular database. Here are some databases that are related to sociology: 

• Academic Search Ultimate - This is a wide-ranging interdisciplinary database which includes many electronically available books and articles on topics within sociology. 
• APA PsycINFO - An index with millions of records for dissertations, journal articles, and book chapters all selected by the American Psychological Association. 
• HeinOnline - HOL is primarily a legal database, so it includes many documents and journals that would be helpful in studying topics across the social sciences. 
• JSTOR - JSTOR is an excellent archive of social sciences journals, with some issues going back to the 1800s. 
• Military & Government Collection - This interdisciplinary database includes journals and primary sources in a wide variety of subjects. It also includes many legal documents.
• Points of View Reference Center - This database includes reference sources like newspapers, biographies of notable people, and historical documents. All these documents come at topics from differing viewpoints. 

Many valuable resources on sociology are available online from associations or government websites. The following list includes links to websites that might be helpful to you: 

• American Sociological Association - The ASA's website has some free resources available about different sociology topics, including articles, podcasts, and news. 
• U.S. Census Bureau - The Census Bureau makes survey data freely available for you to use. 
• International Sociology Association - The ISA provides links to videos, publications, and other online resources on sociology. 
• Association of Applied and Clinical Sociology - This website includes resources like publications and videos, as well as opportunities for undergraduate students to be involved in the Association of Applied and Clinical Sociology.