SOCI 392 Sociology Senior Capstone - Research Guide - Sociology - Research Guides at Case Western Reserve University

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Finding Copies of Articles

If the database you are using doesn't provide the full text for an article directly, remember to take these 3 steps IN SEQUENCE to search for a copy in the Case Libraries system.

IF, AND ONLY IF, these 3 steps don't provide a way to get a copy of the article, see the box below for information on our inter-library loan (ILL) service.

Click the "Full Text Finder" icon

This button will appear in a record in the database you are using when direct access to the full text is unavailable. Click it to see if our system can automatically locate access to the article through one of our resources.

CWRU eJournal Portal This link opens in a new window
Search the KSL E-Journal Portal
Use the KSL E-Journal portal to run a search on the TITLE of the JOURNAL to see if we have an electronic copy.
CWRU Online Library Catalog This link opens in a new window
If there isn't an e-copy of the article available, run a TITLE search with the the JOURNAL NAME in the KSL catalog to see if one of our campus libraries has a print copy of the article.

ILLiad - Interlibrary Loan Service at KSL

If you've determined that the full text of an article isn't available electronically or in print from the Case Libraries, you can request a copy through our interlibrary loan service.

KSL ILLiad

Research Tips and Strategies

Strategy 1 - Consult reference materials

Strategy 2 - Gather keywords, terminology and concepts
from citations and abstracts

Strategy 3 - Focus your research

Look in specialized indexes
Apply search limits
Search within key journals

Strategy 4 - Look for key authors/researchers in the field

Strategy 5 - Consult recent literature reviews in the field

Interdisciplinary Databases

Web of Science This link opens in a new window
Citation index of diverse, scholarly information from across the sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities. Also includes search and analysis tools to enhance this content.
Scopus This link opens in a new window
Scopus is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature: scientific journals, books and conference proceedings. Delivering a comprehensive overview of the world's research output in the fields of science, technology, medicine, social sciences, and arts and humanities, Scopus features smart tools to track, analyze and visualize research.
Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
A broad multi-disciplinary database encompassing areas in art, science, and humanities. Includes full-text, plus indexing and abstracts for monographs, reports, conference proceedings, and other publications.

Additional databases to Consider

SocINDEX with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Provides access to full-text, peer-reviewed journals in sociology as well as related areas of study, including gender studies, criminal justice, social psychology, racial studies, religion, and social work. With indexing for books, monographs, conference papers and other non-periodical content sources, the database also includes searchable cited references.
Sociological Collection This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive database covering information in all areas of sociology, including social behavior, human tendencies, interaction, relationships, community development, culture, and social structure.
AgeLine This link opens in a new window
Indexed research from the American Association of Retired Persons on the social, psychological, economic, and health-related dimensions of aging. 1978 to present.
Women's Studies International This link opens in a new window
Covers the core disciplines in Women's Studies to the latest scholarship in feminist research. Nearly 800 essential sources include: journals, newspapers, newsletters, bulletins, books, book chapters, proceedings, reports, theses, dissertations, NGO studies, Web sites and Web documents, and grey literature.
Education Research Complete This link opens in a new window
Topics include all levels of education from early childhood to higher education, and all educational specialties.
Gender Studies Database This link opens in a new window
Combines "Women's Studies International" and "Men's Studies" databases with coverage of sexual diversity issues and the full spectrum of gender-engaged scholarship, both inside and outside of academia. Source documents include professional journals, conference papers, books, book chapters, government reports, discussion and working papers, theses & dissertations, websites, and other sources.
LGBTQ+ Source This link opens in a new window
Provides indexing and abstract coverage of the world's literature regarding Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender issues. Literature includes LGBTQ-specific core periodicals, core books, reference works, monographs, and gray literature, including newsletters, case studies, speeches, etc., with full text of many important and historically significant LGBTQ journals, magazines, monographs, and regional newspapers.
MEDLINE with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Provides access to National Library of Medicine's MEDLINE database via the EBSCOhost interface. Features millions of bibliographic citations and abstracts in the fields of medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, health care systems, and preclinical sciences.
MEDLINE (PubMed) This link opens in a new window
Provides free access to MEDLINE, the NLM database of more than 11 million bibliographic citations and abstracts in the fields of medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, health care systems, and preclinical sciences. Includes access to additional selected life sciences journals not in MEDLINE. Links to the molecular biology databases maintained by NCBI. Interface developed by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) at the National Library of Medicine (NLM), located at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
ICPSR (Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research) This link opens in a new window
Maintains a data archive of more than 250,000 files of research in the social and behavioral sciences. It hosts 21 specialized collections of data in education, aging, criminal justice, substance abuse, terrorism, and other fields.

Finding News and Transcripts

Newspaper Source This link opens in a new window
Selected full text for 245 regional U.S. newspapers and other news sources.
Factiva This link opens in a new window
Aggregates news content from newspapers, journals, magazines, television and radio transcripts and provides organizations with search, alerting, dissemination, and other information management capabilities. Major newspapers include the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Post. Please LOG-OFF Factiva when finished. Select a specific newspaper by clicking the NEWS PAGES tab on the left top menu bar. Or, use the search box at the top of any page. This searches all 17,000 Pro sources for the past 12 months. Try also searching within an industry or topic using the drop down menu within the search form. This will modify the sources searched to focus on those that may be most relevant to your selection.

No guest access to this database is allowed. Access is limited to current CWRU affiliates only.
NewsBank - All News and Newspaper Resources This link opens in a new window
Access to subscribed collections and historical archives.