Many times, databases are sufficient for doing research for your literature review for class assignments. (See the list of databases in the next box below.) Databases sometimes do not have the most current research on any given topic. To do an exhaustive review of the most current literature, go directly to individual journal titles.
Good for: Conducting academic research on all subjects.
Contains: Articles, theses, books, abstracts, patents, and court opinions
Google Scholar searches for scholarly materials such as peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and reports from many academic and technical fields. It is freely available to anyone searching the Internet; however, many of the links that lead to full text resources are not. On your first visit, go to Google Scholar Preferences and use the Library Links box to set UNLV as your source for no-fee access to many full text articles.
Good for: Researching sociology and related disciplines.
Contains: Index to literature.
Dates covered: 1895-present.
Includes selected journals, monographs, and conference papers. Encompasses all subdisciplines of sociology, including abortion, anthropology, criminology, criminal justice, marriage & family, politics, religion, rural sociology, social psychology, social structure, social work, sociological theory, sociology of education, substance abuse, urban studies, and many others.
Good for: Finding citations and abstracts of sociological research.
Contains: Citations and abstracts from journal articles, books, and association papers.
Dates covered: 1963-present.
Sociological Abstracts provides access to worldwide findings in theoretical and applied sociology, social science, and policy science. Included are citations and abstracts from journal articles, books, and association papers. The database includes research within the following topics: anthropology, business, collective behavior, community development, disaster studies, education, environmental studies, gender studies, gerontology, law and penology, marriage and family studies, medicine and health, racial interactions, social psychology, social work, sociological theory, stratification, substance abuse, urban studies, and violence.
Good for: Exploring a wide range of scholarly topics.
Contains: Scholarly journals, ebooks, art images and primary source collections
JSTOR digitally archives more than 700 scholarly journals. Subjects include African-American studies, anthropology, Asian studies, business, ecology, economics, education, finance, history, literature, mathematics, music, philosophy, political science, and more. Also includes ARTSTOR collections from museums and collections of historical primary sources from libraries and cultural heritage organizations.
Good for: Accessing bibliographic information, author abstracts, and cited references in social sciences journals.
Contains: Bibliographic information, abstracts, and cited references.
They also cover individually selected, relevant items from approximately 3,300 of the world's leading science and technology journals.
Good for: Dissertations and theses.
Contains: Citations, abstracts, and full text of dissertations and theses.
Dates covered: Citations from 1861, abstracts from 1980 for dissertations and 1988 for theses, full text from 1996 for UNLV items and 1997 for most others.
Good for: Researching gender issues.
Contains: Publications, reports, pamphlets, papers, and conference proceedings.
Dates covered: 1974-present.
Good for: Researching child development and adolescent studies.
Contains: Current and historical scholarly literature.
Good for: Researching criminology and related disciplines.
Contains: Journal articles.
Dates covered: 1960-current date.
Good for: Designing research projects, planning studies, learning methodological approaches, gathering data, and understanding findings.
Contains: Tools and content for research methods.
A collection of real social research case studies is incorporated to help understand abstract methodological concepts in practice. Datasets from both international and national sources accompanied by how-to guides covering numerous quantitative and qualitative research methods are included. SRM contains more than 600 books, dictionaries, encyclopedias, journal articles, videos, and handbooks as well as the entire Little Green Book (quantitative) and Little Blue Book (qualitative) series. A taxonomy of over 1400 methods terms is featured along with a Methods Map which visualizes relationships among methods terms, concepts, people, and literature. Since SAGE Research Methods focuses on methodology rather than disciplines, it can be used across the social sciences, health sciences, and more.
You can browse journal holdings by subject. The Social Sciences list is at the bottom of this webpage. You can also search for a specific journal title at this webpage.
You can view lists of the top-ranked journals in Sociology using Journal Impact Factor (Journal Citation Reports) or h5-index (Google Scholar). These are different measures of how commonly articles in particular journals are cited.
Here are some of the top ranked journals in Sociology (a Category in Journal Citation Reports), ordered by how frequently articles in the journal are cited (from most frequent to least frequent). You can either browse these journals or do keyword searching.