Soc 101 – Brian Brutlag

Gina Singh - Librarian

Today you will learn how to…

1. Find books and journal articles.

2. Develop strategies for narrowing your topic.

3. Use advanced search strategies in ProQuest Research Library to find scholarly journal articles on your topic.

How to narrow your topic: Two stepsExample

1. Read Article in Subject Encyclopedia.▪ i.e. Encyclopedia of Social Problems

2. Ask a question about your issue. Your answer will form your thesis statement, and the evidence will form your paper or speech:

Topic: Prostitution (Too Broad)

How to Narrow the Topic

Background Research

Questions To Ask Yourself

Who?

What?

Which?

When?

Where?

Why? Source: OSU Tutorial from liblearn.osu.edu/courses/english110/old%20stuff/narrow_topic.ppt

Who

Population

AgeRace

Gender

New Topic: Prostitution among Hispanic teen girls.

What

Brothel

Internet

Private

Types

New Topic: No choice: Girls born in Chinese brothels

Which

Symbolic Interactionism: Symbols e.g. Red is associated with prostitution

Functionalism: Connection or relationship e.g. Prostitution is the key to control women-related crime.

Conflict Theory: Conflict, challenge & encourage social change e.g. Is prostitution made legal because of rich and powerful self-righteous people?

Where

States

Regions

Countries

Places

New Topic: Born in brothels: Girls in Shanghai

When

Current view?

Historical view?

Period of life.

Timeframe

New Topic: Devdasis : Effect of Prostitution in Ancient Indian Society

Why

Causes

• Underlying issues

• Reasons

Outcomes

• Results• Repercussi

onsEvaluate

Mix and Match

Combine two or more elements to find a topic of your choice.

Where to Search?

Library Catalog http://library.riohondo.edu/ For Scholarly Journals: Databases: Proquest,

Gale Reference Library. Off Campus Users: Access Rio Other Libraries: Google Books, Google Scholar

Two Search Tools to Find Good Sources

PROQUEST RESEARCH LIBRARY

(Journal Articles)

LIBRARY CATALOG(Books)

Start research from the library webpage

FIND BOOKS

FIND JOURNAL, MAGAZINE,

AND NEWSPAPER

ARTICLES

Library Catalog

Access Rio

Accessible through Rio Hondo Homepage or library home page.

For off campus database users

Click on the library tab to access databases.

Research SourcesENCYCLOPEDIASProvide short entries/articles for an overview of the topic and its main ideas .

BOOKSGive more information for an in-depth exploration of one or more aspects of the topic.(Example: Case study books, textbooks)

SEARCH TOOL:LIBRARY CATALOG

SEARCH TOOL:LIBRARY CATALOG

SEARCH TOOL:PERIODICAL DATABASE

SEARCH TOOL:PERIODICAL DATABASE

JOURNAL ARTICLESLengthy scholarly research studies on an extremely focused aspect of a subject.

Search Strategies

Use keywords Use subject terms Look at bibliographic record & subject

headings. Browse the database for the list of subjects Browse publications by title

Useful Tips

Check out other Lib Guides for Soc 101 Read the Library Handouts Do you Google? Beware! Learn to distinguish

between legitimate and illegitimate sources. Check out the tutorial on next tab. Choose peer-reviewed articles

*Special thanks to Stephanie Wells for letting me use some of her beautiful slides.