Subject Resources - SOCI - Sociology - Massasoit Libraries at Massasoit Library

Welcome to the guide for sociology research and resources! This guide contains:

Links to websites in the field
Basic reference information to guide you to key sociological concepts
Directions on researching books and databases

According to the ASA, sociology is "...the study of our behavior as social beings, covering everything from the analysis of short contacts between anonymous individuals on the street to the study of global social processes...

The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies by Anthony M. Orum
Call Number: eBook
ISBN: 9781118568453
Publication Date: 2019-04-15

Getting Started

American Sociological Association
ICPSR - social science data
Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
Social Science Research Network
Free and subscription based papers on a range of social science topics.

American Fact Finder
Find popular facts (population, income, etc.) and frequently requested data about your community.
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Consumer price index, Unemployment (monthly rate) and many other economic statistics
National Center for Homeless Education
School Shootings in the United States
Luke J. Rapa, Antonis Katsiyannis, Samantha N. Scott, Olivia Durham; School Shootings in the United States: 1997–2022. Pediatrics 2024
U.S. Trans Survey: Early Insights

Starting Your Research

There are several types of sources you will want to look for while researching your sociology assignments:

Print books: these resources live in the library (whether in the stacks, the reference area, or at the reserve desk) and some may be checked out for as long as two weeks.
eBooks: many reference books, nonfiction books, and fiction books can be found in electronic format.
Articles: come from periodicals (newspapers, magazines and scholarly journals). The library owns some periodicals in print and gives you access to many more via our online databases.
Films and Videos: links to films/documentaries on sociology topics from our Films on Demand database.

Topic Generator

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
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Content: Academic journals and magazines across a range of subjects.
Useful Feature: A temporary folder for you to save your research items as you go.

Large multidisciplinary research database providing results from over 3,700 active full-text journals and magazines.
Need more Help? Watch the Tutorial
Diversity Studies (Gale OneFile) This link opens in a new window
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Content: Magazines and academic journals published for and about the LGBTQ+ community.
Useful Feature: Filters on the right allow you to narrow down results by date and document type.
Cultural differences, contributions and influences in our global community.
Need Help? Watch the Tutorial
Gender Studies (Gale OneFile) This link opens in a new window
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Content: Scholarly journals and magazines covering gender studies, and family and marital issues.
Useful Feature: The Topic Finder helps visualize connections between search terms and topics and view relevant articles for those topics.

Provides balanced coverage of this significant aspect of culture and society.
Need Help? Watch the Tutorial
Psychology & Behavioral Science Collection (Ebsco) This link opens in a new window
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Content: Peer-reviewed journals covering all areas of psychology and human behavior.
Useful Feature: Use the limiters on the left to filter your search results by type, subject, and date range.
Need Help? Watch the Tutorial
Social Sciences Full Text This link opens in a new window
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Full text coverage of social sciences including addiction studies, family studies, gender studies, psychology, social work, and urban studies.

Global Issues (Gale In Context) This link opens in a new window
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Content: International viewpoints on a broad spectrum of global issues, topics, and current events.
Useful feature: Preselected pages on trending topics guide you to the most recent information.
Need Help? Watch the Tutorial

World Values Survey
The World Values Survey (WVS) is an international research program devoted to the scientific and academic study of social, political, economic, religious and cultural values of people in the world. The project’s goal is to assess which impact values stability or change over time has on the social, political and economic development of countries and societies.