Managing & Analyzing Sources with RefWorks

• REFWORKS not only creates bibliographies. It can also help you keep track of and annotate your references, as well as share them with your colleagues.
  
  
  • Sign up for a RefWorks account: click on Sign Up for a New Account and follow the instructions.
    
    
  • EXERCISE: find your required texts for the course using CLUES or WorldCat and send them to your RefWorks account.
    
    
  • For instructions on sending references from your favourite databases and aggregators to RefWorks see Export-Import Instructions
    
    
  • See the Concordia RefWorks Shared area
    
    
  • See the RefWorks Switches to be used with Cite Viewer in-text citations and bibliography composing.
    
    
  • To practice on your own, see this detailed RefWorks Exercise & Guide
    
    
  
  
• ZOTERO and MENDELEY are two popular alternatives to RefWorks.
  
  
  • See this 3-way comparison document from UBC.
    
    
  • Or refer to the detailed wikipedia Comparison of reference management software.
    
    

PREPARING/FIXING THE BIBLIOGRAPHY:

• References according to the American Sociological Assocation style:
  • ASA Quick Style Guide
  • The complete ASA Style Guide booklet is available at the Webster Library in the Reference area: REF HM 73 A82 2007
    
    
• For help with references according to other bibliography styles (ie APA) see our Citation & Style Guides
  
  

• Return to top

TIPS FOR SOCIOLOGY RESEARCH:

Getting some Context on your topic

SCHOLARLY ENCYCLOPEDIAS

Scholarly Encyclopedias, though basic in nature, can provide useful background and context and help you explore approaches to topics and fields of research. They also include bibliographies listing some of the "major" sources in a subject area. You can:

• Search BLACKWELL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SOCIOLOGY
  
  
• Search multiple encyclopedias simultaneously in Gale Virtual Reference Library
  
  
• Select from a list of Sociology & Social Science Encyclopedias or search for more on our online encyclopedias page.

REVIEW & SURVEY Journals

Articles in these kinds of journals can be doubly useful to you, as one their main tasks, like yours, is to review or survey the literature related to a research topic. Try these:

• Annual Reviews
  [your searches here will by default include Annual Reviews in multiple subject areas, but you can also refine your results by journal and select Sociology.]
  
  
• Sociology Compass

• Return to top

FINDING BOOKS

• To find books at Concordia, use our catalogue, CLUES
  
  
• To find books at McGill and elsewhere see our Other Library Catalogues page, or try the WorldCat catalogue or Google Books
  
  
• To find out about borrowing the books you found at McGill or elsewhere see related library services

• Return to top

FINDING JOURNAL ARTICLES & Theses

To find journal articles use Sociology Databases and/or databases in related subject areas:

• SocINDEX
• Sociological Abstracts
• Academic Search Complete
• ProQuest Combined Canadian
• Gender Studies Database
• Google Scholar
• Depending on the topic you have chosen, additional databases in Sociology, and even other subject areas may also be useful for you.

• TIP: For help in limiting your search results to peer-reviewed or Scholarly articles, look for a tab at the top or on the side of the screen labeled Peer-reviewed, Academic.
  
  

GOOGLE SCHOLAR trick:

• In Google Scholar, type in, using quotes (""), the title of a very relevant article or book that you already found.
• At the search results page, click on the "Cited by" link under the citation to that article or book. You will then see a list of more recent sources that refer to that relevant source in their own text.
  
  

THESES/DISSERTATIONS:

To find dissertations or theses (which can be useful for their long bibliographies & literature reviews) use Proquest Dissertations and Theses or see the guide How to find theses.

• Return to top

Statistics, News & Government Sources

Depending on your research question and chosen research method, you may need to explore sources of primary information such as the following:

*Note that some of the links below lead to specific sections within other pages on the library web site. If you lose your bearings at any point, just come back to the SOCI 409 tab or minimized window, which should always remain open in your browser.

• To find newspaper articles see News Databases
  
  
• To find local statistics, start with the Statistics Canada site and use the CANSIM database to access more detailed data available to university researchers. Also see our list of sources for Demographic Data.
  
  
• See also Legal Information: Canada for Canadian laws and Department of Justice links.
  
  
• TIP: In Google, you can add the string site:gc.ca to your search terms to limit your results to Canadian governmental web sites.
  
  
• To find international statistics see Country Reports & Profiles, UNData and World Statistics.

• Return to top

LOOKING UP & ACCESSING THE TEXTS you want

When using library databases (as well as Google) or examining bibliographies or reference lists from various sources, you will sometimes come across citations to texts or documents that you would like to access as a Concordia student, either online or in the library.

You can always get help with this from one of our ASK A LIBRARIAN services.

To find out on your own if you can access the text of any source, you must first determine whether it is a BOOK, BOOK CHAPTER or JOURNAL ARTICLE:

TO ACCESS BOOKS & BOOK CHAPTERS:

• Just use the Title Search Option in CLUES to look for the name of the BOOK (not the book chapter).
• You can also use the Author Search Option in CLUES to look for the LAST name of the AUTHOR or EDITOR of the book (not of the book chapter).

TO ACCESS JOURNAL ARTICLES:

First enter the name of the JOURNAL using:

• The Journal Title Search Option in CLUES
• Or the E-journals search box (for ONLINE only)
  
  

...and then select the year, volume and issue that you need as indicated in your citation. For journals that are not available online, you can go in person to the Periodicals section of the library, or fill out an Article Delivery Form.

NOT SURE WHAT IT IS?

If the citation you have is unclear or incomplete, and you still can't tell whether it is a journal, book, or book chapter:

1. Try using Google, Google Scholar or Google Books to find out more and get a complete citation or reference.
   
   
2. You can then look up the citation via the methods above for BOOKS & BOOK CHAPTERS or JOURNAL ARTICLES.

**TIP 1: In Google you can always use quotation marks ("") around the titles you are seeking for quicker and more precise retrieval.

**TIP 2: If the document or text you want is not available through Concordia Libraries, see Related Library Services.

• Return to top

Evaluating your Sources

Context -- and your professor's instructions -- should always be the first criteria in determining what qualifies as an appropriate source for any given assignment. If you feel you need additional guidance in this area, however, you might find some relevant tips in the guides below. Remember that the guides themselves, however, should also be subject to your critical eye.

• Scholarly Journals vs. Popular Magazine Articles
  Lists the common characteristics of scholarly journals (also called academic, peer-reviewed or refereed). Most of these charactersitics can also be applied to chapters or essays in book.
  
  
• Info Research 101 Tutorial Select: working with results and then: quality
  
  
• Critically Analyzing Information Sources (general guide from Cornell University)
  
  

• Return to top

Related Library Services -- ALL FREE

• Handy if you use Google Scholar: Concordia's Virtual Private Network (VPN) allows you to access resources on the web as if you were connecting from within the library. It can be an alternative to the library PIN
  
  
• CREPUQ card - allows you to directly borrow books at McGill and elsewhere
  
  
• Interlibrary Loans (COLOMBO) - fill out an online form to receive books and articles from other libraries
  
  
• Article Delivery Service - Free email service for journal articles only available in print or in microform at Concordia.

• Return to top

Getting HELP

• Quick help is always available at our Reference Desk on the second floor of the Webster Library or from one of our other Ask a Librarian services - pick your favourite option.
  
  
• If you are still not finding what you need or you would like more assistance, please feel free to contact me to make an appointment.
  
  
• There are also many help guides and videos available on our web site, such as the step-by-step guide How to find articles and How to write a literature review, which provides an example of a literature review in a sociology journal.

• Return to top