RHET 297: Writing in Sociology

Scholarly (also referred to as academic) sources are written by experts in a particular field and serve to keep researchers in that field up to date on the most recent research and findings. To determine if your source is scholarly, use these general guidelines:

• Language:  Is the source written in a scholarly or technical language used in the discipline? 
• Audience:  Who is the intended audience? Scholarly sources are written for faculty, researchers, and other scholars. 
• Authorship:  Who is the author of the article?  Is he or she an expert on this topic, as opposed to a reporter who writes on a wide variety of topics? Has this author written other works on this topic? Does the author have an academic affiliation?
• Peer-Review:  Was your source peer-reviewed or refereed by experts in the field before being accepted for publication?
• References:  Does the article contain references to other works? Serious researchers and scholars always cite their sources.
• Purpose:  What is the purpose/intent? Scholarly sources are written to present original research to the world. Usually this is revealed in the abstract or summary. In the abstract, look for variations of the words study, case study, measure, subjects, data, survey, or statistics. 

Additional Tips for Articles

• Journal Title:  Popular magazines like Newsweek or Time don’t publish research articles; publications like American Sociological Review or American Journal of Sociology do. However, don't assume all sources with journal in the title are scholarly. For example, Ladies Home Journal is a popular magazine, not a scholarly journal. 
• Article Length:  A scholarly article is usually substantial, not 1 or 2 pages. 
• Article Format:  Scholarly articles generally following a structure including abstract, literature review, methodology, results, conclusion, and references. 
• See the differences between Scholarly journals, trade publications, and popular magazines.

Additional Tips for Books

• Publisher:  Books published by university press or professional associations are likely to be scholarly.
• Book reviews:  Find book reviews by looking in the library catalog or a general library database. 

Search the following databases to find relevant scholarly journal articles.

• SocIndex with Full Text Abstracts and the full-text of many scholarly journal and popular magazine articles in sociology and sub-disciplines, such as anthropology, criminal justice social work, urban studies, among many others. Includes the full-text of the American Sociological Association (ASA) conference papers from 2005 to present. 
• JSTOR Multi-disciplinary digital archive of back issues (JSTOR generally lacks the latest three years) of hundreds of scholarly journals. Searches the full-text of articles. 
• America: History and Life Citations and abstracts for publications covering all aspects of U.S. and Canadian history, culture, and current affairs.
• Fusion Search across the majority of the library's books and articles. Add more keywords or use the limits in the results screen to reduce the number of your results. Limit to Scholarly (Peer-Review) articles if looking for only articles. 

Find Articles Not Available in Full-Text

To find books at USF, search the library catalog from the library's home page. The catalog searches broad descriptions of books and videos. 

Search by Subject 

Click on the following subject headings to see books we have on these topics:

• Prisons -- United States
• Prisoners -- United States
• Corrections -- United States
• Punishment -- United States
• Imprisonment -- United States
• Discrimination in criminal justice administration
• Crime and race
• Women prisoners
• Sex Discrimination in criminal justice administration
• Alternatives to imprisonment
• Corrections -- Contracting out

Search by Keyword

• Search by keyword using your own terms. Keywords are words you would normally think of to describe your topic. They can appear anywhere in the record (title, author, subject, publisher, etc.)
• Use keywords, titles, or authors, to point you to relevant subject headings. If you find a good book on your topic, click on the relevant subject headings that appear at the bottom of the record. For example, in the record below, try searching on Discrimination in criminal justice administration -- United States, Prisons -- United States, Prisoners -- United States, or Corrections -- United States. 
• Subject headings are "official" subject headings approved by the Library of Congress; they are hard to guess on your own. 

Find Books in other Libraries Using Link+

Click on the  icon in the library catalog to search for books and videos our library does not own or are checked out. Link+ items arrive in 3-4 days. They may be checked out for 3 weeks and renewed for an additional 2 weeks through your library record.  

Boolean operators connect your search words together to either narrow or broaden your set of results.

• narrow your results
• tell the database that ALL search terms must be present in the resulting records

The triangle in the middle of the Venn diagram below represents the result set for this search. It is a small set using AND, the combination of all three search words.

prison AND women AND California 

Use OR in a search to:

• connect two or more similar concepts (synonyms)
• broaden your results, telling the database that ANY of your search terms can be present in the resulting records.

All three circles represent the result set for this search. It is a big set because any of those words are valid using the OR operator.

Phrases

Most databases allow you to specify that adjacent words be searched as phrases. Using quotes around search words is a common way to do phrase searching, but not all databases or search engines use them. Example:"prison industrial complex"

Truncation

Truncation is a technique that broadens your search to include various word endings and spellings. To use truncation, enter the root of a word and put the truncation symbol at the end. The database will return results that include any ending of that root word. 

Examples:
child*= child, child's, children, children's, childhood 
educat*= educate, educated, educating, education, educational.

Truncation symbols may vary by database; common symbols include: *, !.

Keyword vs. Subject

• Start with a keyword search, using words/phrases that describe your topic or that you think authors would use.
• Browse the results; choose 2 or 3 that are relevant.
• Look at the Subject or Descriptor field and note the terms used (write them down or click on them if they're links).
• Redo your search using those terms. Your results will usually be more precise than your initial keyword search.

Initial Appraisal

• What are the author's credentials--institutional affiliation (where he or she works), educational background, past writings, or experience? Is the book or article written on a topic in the author's area of expertise?
• Have you seen the author's name cited in other sources or bibliographies? Respected authors are cited frequently by other scholars. For this reason, always note those names that appear in many different sources. 
• Is the author associated with a reputable institution or organization? What are the basic values or goals of the organization or institution?

• When was the source published? Is the source current or out-of-date for your topic?  

• If it's a book, note the publisher. If the book is published by a university press, it is likely to be scholarly. Although the fact that the publisher is reputable does not necessarily guarantee quality, it does show that the publisher may have high regard for the source being published.

• Is this a scholarly or a popular journal? This distinction is important because it indicates different levels of complexity in conveying ideas.

Content Analysis

• What type of audience is the author addressing? Is the publication aimed at a specialized or a general audience? Is this source too elementary, too technical, too advanced, or just right for your needs?

• Is the information covered fact, opinion, or propaganda? It is not always easy to separate fact from opinion. Facts can usually be verified; opinions, though they may be based on factual information, evolve from the interpretation of facts. Skilled writers can make you think their interpretations are facts.
• Does the information appear to be valid and well-researched, or is it questionable and unsupported by evidence? Assumptions should be reasonable. Note errors or omissions.
• Are the ideas and arguments advanced more or less in line with other works you have read on the same topic? The more radically an author departs from the views of others in the same field, the more carefully and critically you should scrutinize his or her ideas.
• Is the author's point of view objective and impartial or biased?

• Does the work update other sources, substantiate other materials you have read, or add new information? Does it extensively or marginally cover your topic? You should explore enough sources to obtain a variety of viewpoints.
• Is the material primary or secondary in nature? Primary sources are the raw material of the research process. Secondary sources are based on primary sources. 

• Is the publication organized logically? Are the main points clearly presented? Do you find the text easy to read, or is it stilted or choppy?

• Locate critical reviews of books in the library catalog or a general library database like Fusion. Is the review positive? Is the book under review considered a valuable contribution to the field? Does the reviewer mention other books that might be better? If so, locate these sources for more information on your topic. Do the various reviewers agree on the value or attributes of the book or has it aroused controversy among the critics?

• ASA Citations, 4th edition (2010) from University of Connecticut Libraries
• ASA Citation Style Examples, 4th edition (2010) from Wayne State College Library 
• RefWorks