This research guide relays some basic information on library and information resources pertaining to the concerns of this department, as provided by University Libraries and/or sites on the World Wide Web.

1. To Shelf-Browse for Books (using main Library of Congress Subject Divisions)

Books on subjects associated with this field are shelved under the call number ranges listed below. Use TOPCAT to search for specific items in the collection, or more narrowly-defined subjects.

• Social Sciences (general), H1-H99 ------- Statistics, HA1-H4737
  
• Sociology (general), HM401-HM1281 ------- Culture, HM621-HM656 ------- Social control, HM661-HM696 ------- Groups and organizations, HM711-HM806 ------- Deviant behavior & Social deviance, HM811-HM816 ------- Social stratification, Social inequality & Equality, HM821 ------- Social institutions, HM826 ------- Social change, HM831-HM901 ------- Social psychology, HM1001-HM1281
  
• Social history & conditions, Social problems & Social reform, HN1-HN991 ------- The church & social problems, HN30-HN40 ------- Community centers & Social centers, HN41-HN46 ------- By region or country, HN50-HN991
  
• The family, Marriage & Woman, HQ1-HQ2044
  
• Societies: secret, benevolent, etc., HS1-HS3371
  
• Communities, Classes & Races, HT51-HT1595
  
• Social pathology, Social & public welfare & Criminology, HV1-HV9960 ------- Criminology, HV6001-HV7220.5 ------- Criminal anthropology, including the criminal type, criminal psychology, prison psychology, causes of crime, HV6035-HV6197 ------- Criminal classes, HV6201-HV6249 ------- Victims of crimes & Victimology, HV6250-HV6250.4 ------- Crimes & offenses, HV6251-HV6773 ------- Crimes & criminal classes, HV6774-HV7220.5 ------- Criminal justice administration, HV7231-HV9920.5 ------- Social work with delinquents and criminals, HV7428 ------- Prevention of crime, methods, etc,. HV7431 ------- Gun control, HV7435-HV7439 ------- Police, Detectives & Contabulary Administration & organization, HV7551-HV8380.7 ------- Police duty & Methods of protection, HV8031-HV8080 ------- Special classes of crimes, offenses & criminals, HV8035-HV8069 ------- Investigation of crimes & Examination and identification of prisoners, HV8073-HV8079.3 ------- Police social work, HV8079.2-HV8079.3 ------- Traffic control & Traffic accident investigation, HV8079.5-HV8079.55 ------- Private detectives & Detective bureaus, HV8081-HV8099 ------- Police: By region or country, HV8130-HV8280.7 ------- Private security services, HV8290 ------- Penology, Prisons & Corrections, HV8301-HV9025 ------- The juvenile offender, Juvenile delinquency & Reform schools, etc., HV9051-HV9230.7 ------- Reformation and reclamation of adult prisoners, HV9261-HV9430.7 ------- By region or country, HV9441-HV9960
  
• Socialism, Communism & Anarchism, HX1-HX970.7

  2. To Find Journal and Magazine Articles (using indexing/abstracting/full-text services)

  The following services are recommended for use by first-year students and non-majors:

  • Academic Search Premier, MasterFILE, MAS FullTEXT Ultra: These all-subject EBSCOhost-based services feature indexing and abstracting of many journals and magazines WKU Libraries receives in hardcopy, plus a large selection of articles in full text.
  • Alt-Press Watch has full text of over 170 alternative and independent newspapers, magazines and journals.
  • ArticleFirst: This all-subject FirstSearch-based database indexes almost 13000 journals and magazines from 1992 onward, including some ninety percent of the ones University Libraries carries in print.
  • Google Scholar: A free Web-based Google service that restricts searches to the scholarly literature. Now features linking to full-text of articles held by WKU.
  • NCJRS: National Criminal Justice Reference Service Abstracts Database (U.S. Nat'l Institute of Justice): Indexes and abstracts journals, reports, and documents relating to all areas of criminal justice and law enforcement.
  • Reader's Guide to Periodicals Literature (Per. Ind. A13: R48): Paper index covering articles on all subjects in magazines since 1904.
  • Sociological Collection: a database of nearly 570 full text titles; more than 500 are peer-reviewed.

  The following services are recommended for use by advanced students and researchers:

  • JSTOR: Provides the full text/full image web access of the complete archival collections of a large number of journals, up to the most recent three to five years.
  • Sociological Abstracts: Provides abstracting of the sociological and anthropological literature from 1963 onward. Requires a user number and password obtainable from the Reference Desk. The print version of this series (1953-) is available in Reference (Ref.Per. HM1.S67).
  • Project Muse: "Provides online, worldwide, institutional subscription access to the full text of over 100 scholarly journals in the arts and humanities, social sciences and mathematics."
  These four FirstSearch-based databases are available to graduate students and faculty, and to undergraduates by special permission:
  • Art & Humanities Citation Index (AH Search): Indexes the world's leading arts and humanities journals.
  • Alt-Press Index: FirstSearch database available to faculty and graduate students (and to undergraduate students by special permission). Indexes journals covering cultural, economic, political & social change.
  • PerAbs: Periodical abstracts from general and academic journals, with many articles in full-text.
  • WilsonSelectPlus: Full-text articles in science, humanities, education and business.

Special resource:  TDNet Electronic Journal Finder [use to access Libraries' electronic journals, magazines, and newspapers, as well as some indexes and databases containing full-text articles; includes a comprehensive A-Z listing of titles]
Special resource:  KenCat [A searchable catalog of the collections at the Kentucky Library & Museum. KenCat includes manuscripts, letters, sheet music, photographs, museum exhibits, images, journals, and books.]

3. Monographic Reference Works in Helm Library

The following are recommended for use:

• Encyclopedia of Sociology: HM17 E5 1992: Articles by noted sociologists aimed at students, sociologists and other professionals (in four volumes).
• International Encyclopedia of Sociology: HM 17 I53 1984: Articles on the essential topics in sociology aimed at the student and non-specialist. Each article includes an overview, applications, context, and bibliography (in two volumes).
• International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences: H40 A2 I5: Includes topical and biographical article aimed at social scientists, students and professionals in other fields (in 19 volumes).
• Social Science Encyclopedia: H41 S63 1996: Intended for the sophisticated reader, but not necessarily the specialist. Includes articles on contemporary academic thinking about the individual in society.

4. Department of Sociology Faculty

WKU Sociology Department faculty www.wku.edu/Dept/Academic/AHSS/Sociology/

5. Related Professional Societies (for professional news, careers/jobs, memberships, etc.)

• American Sociological Association http://www.asanet.org/
• Association for Humanist Sociology http://www.humanistsoc.org/
• British Sociological Association http://www.britsoc.co.uk/
• Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association http://www.csaa.ca/
• College on Problems of Drug Dependence http://views.vcu.edu/cpdd/
• International Sociological Association http://www.isa-sociology.org/
• Law and Society Association http://www.lawandsociety.org/
• Mid-South Sociological Association http://www.midsouthsoc.org/
• Mid-West Sociological Society http://www.themss.org/
• National Council for the Social Studies http://www.ncss.org/
• North Central Sociological Association http://www.ncsanet.org/
• Rural Sociological Society http://www.ruralsociology.org/
• Society for Applied Sociology http://www.appliedsoc.org/
• Southern Sociological Society http://www.msstate.edu/org/sss/l

6. Web Sites Recommended by Department of Sociology Faculty

General Gateways

• AcademicInfo: Sociology Gateway http://www.academicinfo.net/soc.html
• Social Science Information Gateway: Sociology http://sosig.ac.uk/sociology/
• A Sociological Tour through Cyberspace http://www.trinity.edu/~mkearl/index.html
• SocioSite [social sciences gateway] http://www.sociosite.net/index.php
• SocioWeb [sociology gateway] http://www.sonic.net/~markbl/socioweb/

Other Sites

• Bureau of Justice Statistics http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/
• Canadian Social Research Links http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/
• Center for Dewey Studies http://www.siu.edu/~deweyctr/
• Data on the Net [social sciences data sources] http://3stages.org/idata/
• Institute for Policy Research http://www.northwestern.edu/ipr/
• Institute for Social Research http://www.isr.umich.edu/index.html
• Interagency Council on Homelessness http://www.ich.gov/
• The Migration Information Source http://www.migrationinformation.org/
• Population Index on the Web http://popindex.princeton.edu/index.html
• Population Reference Bureau http://www.prb.org/
• The Population Research Center at NORC & The University of Chicago http://www.src.uchicago.edu/prc/
• Poverty Related Links http://www.irp.wisc.edu/links/category.htm
• Roper Center for Public Opinion Research http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu/
• Sociological Research Online [online journal] http://www.socresonline.org.uk/
• Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/
• U.S. Census Bureau http://www.census.gov/
• WSSLINKS [women & gender studies websites] http://libr.org/WSS/WSSLinks/index.html

University Libraries Liaison: Sean Kinder (x6339 / sean.kinder@wku.edu) Last updated 9/26/2008
page maintained by Charles H. Smith