SOC SCI 101

Use these databases to find scholarly articles, journals and more.

• Academic Search Complete
  Covering a wide range of academic disciplines.

• Family and Society Studies Worldwide
  Covers family science, human ecology, and related social science topics.

• Gender Studies Database
  Research on gender identity, roles, and relationships across different cultures and time periods.

• More Databases in Social Sciences
  Explore additional subject specific databases under Social Sciences Databases.

Find demographic, health, and social data from trusted government and nonprofit sources:

• U.S. Census Data
  Population, housing, economic, and geographic data.

• Data.gov
  Access thousands of datasets from the U.S. government.

• City-Data.com
  City-level demographic and crime statistics.

• Pew Research: Social & Demographic Trends
  Reports on American society and its changes over time.

• National Center for Health Statistics (CDC)
  Key health statistics and surveys.

• Bureau of Justice Statistics
  Data on crime, criminal offenders, and the U.S. justice system.

Explore websites with global and U.S. perspectives on social issues:

• CIA World Factbook
  Country profiles with demographic, economic, and political information.

• Social and Behavioral Sciences Team
   

The following links will walk you through the process of doing research once you have settled on a topic from starting your research to search for information in the library's database to evaluating information sources.

1. Starting Your Research

2. Developing Keywords

3. Locating Sources

4. Evaluating Sources

5. Citations and Plagiarism

What is scholarly? What is popular? What's the difference?

Google Scholar is a Google platform that allows the user to search for information deemed scholarly from a variety of types of resources including journals, government documents, and websites. When searching, keep in mind that you may come across items that are not accessible in Google Scholar. You can always contact an HWC librarian with the citation information that is available in Google Scholar, and we can help you locate a copy. Remember that whenever you are doing research, and especially when using resources on the open internet, it is important to critically evaluate your sources of information.

This page from the University of Illinois Library provides more information about Google Scholar, its benefits and drawbacks, and how it compares to searching in a library database.