Finding journal articles
UIC Library provides hundreds of specialized databases -- one good starting strategy is to make the most of the strengths and weaknesses of two:
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Sociological AbstractsPro: Comprehensive, in-depth journal coverage (titles selected by experts); control of search algorithm
Con: Stiff, unfamiliar search language
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Google ScholarPros: Familiar, flexible search language; "Cited by" feature
Cons: Haphazard journal coverage; no way to limit to peer review journals; no way to know how algorithm uses search terms
Another option to find related articles is the "Cited Reference Search" in Web of Science.
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Web of Science
Multidisciplinary coverage of over 10,000 journals in the sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities, as well as published proceedings for over 12,000 conferences per year, and over 50,000 scholarly books. Allows searching for articles in the database that have cited a particular work, as well as perform other analytics.
Generative AI
Check course policies before using ChatGPT, Gemini, CoPilot, etc.
Bias can result from the data the tool was trained on (no way to know what it was).
In your prompts:
- Ask what academic journals the tool has access to.
- Instruct the tool not to fabricate sources.
- Check the sources in the library search to make sure they exist and are peer reviewed.
BrowZine App
Key background resources
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International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2nd editionComprehensive, scholarly background information on topics in the social and behavioral sciences with international scope.
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SAGE Research MethodsContains full text, Sage research methods books, handbooks, and encyclopedias. Includes videos and interactive mapping tools.
Social data & polls
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ICPSR : Inter-University Consortium for Political & Social ResearchArchives of social science data for research and instruction.
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Qualitative Data RepositoryThe first domain repository in the United States dedicated to curating, archiving, preserving, and publishing digital data arising from qualitative and multi-method research in the social sciences.QDR is hosted by the Center for Qualitative and Multi-Method Inquiry, a unit of Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.
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Roper Center for Public Opinion ResearchPublic opinion data and tools for bivariate and multivariate analysis. iPoll includes 500,000 questions and answers asked in the U.S. since 1935.
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SimplyAnalytics
A web-based mapping, analytics, and data visualization application with 100,000+ data variables, including demographic data from the US Census dating back to 1980, the American Community Survey (ACS), consumer spending data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CEX), and D&B's Points-of-Interest business directory providing access to over 5 million US business profiles. Additionally, users have access to the MRI-SimmonsLOCAL consumer behavior dataset, which includes data on over 8,000 brands, 450 categories and detailed lifestyle data, the PRIZM Premier marketing segmentation system, and the Community Lifestages dataset. The CDC PLACES health data delivered by SimplyAnalytics provides 27 diverse health measures, including Health Outcomes, Prevention, Health Risk Behaviors, and Health Status. Data is largely available down to the block group level, and custom locations can be created.
To save your searches, you need to sign up for an account using your UIC email address.
Access restricted to 5 concurrent users. -
Social Explorer
Social Explorer provides access to current and historical census data and demographic information. Create maps and reports to better illustrate, analyze and understand demography and social change.
Note: A new LibGuide is available for Social Explorer.
Other Useful Resources
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Public Affairs Information Service International (PAIS Index)
Political, social, and public policy issues, especially any topics that are or might become the subject of legislation.
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Policy CommonsPolicy Commons provides almost 2.5 million fulltext think-tank, agency, and city publications, including policy reports, administrative documents, books, project and campaign documents, working papers and discussion papers, journal articles, press releases, briefs, and brochures.
UIC Liaison Librarian for Sociology
UIC Library accounts
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RefWorksRefWorks is an online bibliography management service that allows you to capture citations, store them, and use them while writing papers.
Quotable Quotes
"When the intellectual going gets tough, the tough become social scientists." -- Earl R. Babbie. 2010. The Practice of Social Research. 12th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage, 127.
"The well-trained sociologist may brave the rigors of the field or confront the most recalcitrant interviewees, but quail before the library." -- Barney G. Glaser and Anselm L. Strauss. 1967. The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. Chicago: Aldine, 163.