Resources for: Sociology

Books offer broader and more in-depth coverage of a topic. You can learn more about the relationship between different concepts and topics, get materials recommended by scholars or faculty members in the subject, and find historical perspectives. 

Research tip: check the Table of Contents and/or index for the concepts and keywords you are researching on, to get a stronger sense of what's in the book! 

1. Go to the Libraries homepage.
2. Enter your search terms into the large search box. Use quotation marks to search for phrases, e.g. "energy drinks." 
3. Use filters to limit your results by publication date, material type, and/or subject.
4. Select the link for the title to see more information.
5. For books, if you want to go to an open library and pick it up, write down the library and call number (e.g. PR6068.O93 Z73 2009) and go get it. Or "Sign in" in the upper right and use the "Get It" button to request to pick it up at a convenient library (learn more about Get It) or to get it sent to your home or residence hall. We can also scan parts of physical books and send them via email. Use our request form for our digital delivery service. 
6. For e-books, select the link under View It

1. Use Libraries Search on the Libraries homepage (or below).
2. Enter the title into the large search box. Use quotation marks, e.g. "So long been dreaming." 
3. If you get too many results, filter by "material type" to books.

If the University does not provide access to the journal, magazine or newspaper you need, request it from Interlibrary Loan.

Whether you are searching in library databases, the library catalog, Google Scholar, or just plain Google, creating a good search query will help you to find relevant information. 

General search terms

Broad terms like social movements, subcultures, globalization, gender, and education are good when trying to find background information so that you can appropriately scope your topic. Books and reference materials tend to use broad terms for easier browsing. 

Subject headings

Subject headings can be particularly helpful when search library catalogs, archives, and digital collections. You can pair a subject heading search with additional subjects like education, religions, languages, subcultures, social movements, laws, policies, institutions, theories, or geographical locations or group identities.

Each item on the bulleted list below links to the UMN library search by subject heading.

• communities
• criminology
• demography
• family
• migration
• political sociology
• recreation
• social conditions
• social movements
• social networks
• social sciences
• social sciences -- philosophy
• social stratification
• sociology of law

Creating a search query

For most databases and even Google you can combine search terms to write a search query that databases understand. A good search query will give you a good selection of highly relevant results. Below are a few examples.

• Use quotation marks to search words as a phrase, ex. "social movements"
• Use the word AND to link together concepts, ex. "social movements" AND poverty
• Use the word OR to search for synonyms, ex. "social movements" OR activism