Part II  Conducting Research in Sociology
Paraphrasing may actually increase your comprehension of source material; recasting a passage requires you to think carefully about its meaning—more carefully, perhaps, than you might if you merely copied it word-for-word.
5.3.3 Avoiding Plagiarism
Paraphrases require the same sort of documentation that direct quotes do. The words of a paraphrase may be yours, but the idea is someone else's. Failure to give that person credit, in the form of references within the text and in the bibliography, may make you vulnerable to a charge of plagiarism.
What kind of paraphrased material must be acknowledged? Basic material : that you find in several sources need not be acknowledged by a reference. For example, it is unnecessary to cite a source for the information that Franklin Delano T Roosevelt was elected to a fourth term as President of the United States shortly before his death, because this is a commonly known fact. However, Professor Smith's opinion, published in a recent article, that Roosevelt's winning of a fourth term hastened his death is not a fact, but a theory based on Smith's research and defended by her. If you wish to make use of Smith's opinion in a paraphrase, you need to give her credit for it, as you should the judgments and claims of any other source. Any information that is not widely known, whether factual or open to dispute, should be documented. This includes statistics, graphs, tables, and" charts taken from a source other than your own primary research.
Plagiarism is the using of someone else's words or ideas without giving that person credit. Although some plagiarism is deliberate, produced by writers who understand that they are guilty of a kind of academic thievery, much of it is unconscious, committed by writers who are not aware of the varieties of plagiarism or who are careless in recording their borrowings from sources. Plagiarism includes the following:
■ Quoting directly without acknowledging the source
■ Paraphrasing without acknowledging the source
b Constructing a paraphrase that closely resembles the original in language and syntax
One way to guard against plagiarism is to keep careful records in your notes of when you have quoted source material directly and when you have paraphrased—making sure that the wording of the paraphrase is yours. Make sure that all direct quotes in your final draft are properly set off from your own prose, either with quotation marks or in indented blocks.
Where we get our information is extremely important. The ability to locate valid and reliable information efficiently is vitally important when you are writing papers in sociology. For most papers written in college, the library is the place to find most—if not all—of the information needed. Mastering effective information gathering will help you to be more productive in your research and writing. Further, effective library research skills enable you to practice lifelong learning using information sources available at most libraries.
This chapter highlights methods of information retrieval for major sources in sociology. To give a specific example, let's assume you have been assigned a paper or want information on the traditional American family. With the materials introduced in this chapter, you should be able to find a concise definition of "traditional family," lists of articles and books written about the topic, theories about its impact upon American society, reviews of books to provide a balanced coverage, and government and other statistical sources that help document historical change of the American family—while associating it with a variety of variables, such as age, geographic region, race, and socioeconomic status.
In some cases, someone in a public agency or private organization has probably already conducted significant research on your topic. If you can find the right person, you may be able to secure much more information in much less time than you can by looking in the local library by yourself.
Did you know, for example, that the members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives constantly use the services of the Congressional Research Service (CRS), and that, upon request to your congressperson or senator, materials from the CRS may be sent to you on the topic of your choice? Further, every agency of government on the local, state, and national levels employs people who are responsible primarily for the purpose oi gathering information that is needed to help their managers make decisions. Much of the research that is done by these employees is available upon request.
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U2 Part II Conducting Research in Sociology
This chapter is divided into sections, each describing a type of reference tool. The sections are arranged so that you can become familiar with the nature and uses of general reference works first, and then with the nature and uses of specialized studies. Bibliographic examples were selected according to the following criteria: All are available in English, most are available in college libraries, ■ and all are examples of sources potentially useful to sociology students. Publi- , cations that may seem unusually dated often represent the inaugural issue of the document or publication being described. s
6.1   GUIDES TO SOCIOLOGICAL LITERATURE
Guides to the literature are books or articles that identify sources that enable students to search for information on individual topics. Some guides focus exclusively on the two principal categories of reference works: finding aids, such as bibliographies and periodical indexes; and content reference works, such as handbooks, yearbooks, subject dictionaries, and subject encyclopedias.
6.1.1 General Guides
Some guides include discussions of various types of research materials, such as — - -government publications, while others include lists of important book-length studies on topics in a subject field. Students can identify sociological reference publications by consulting a guide that covers a wide spectrum of fields related to their areas of interest. There are several general guides that can be of great benefit. The following is an example of such guidebooks:
Fargis, Paul, ed. 2002. The New York Public Library Desk Reference. 4th ed. New York: Hungry Minds, Inc. This reference book includes commonly needed material on a vast range of topics—some of interest to social science students, such as the addresses of national, state, county, and city government consumer protection agencies; forms of addressing government and military personnel; brief ac-counts of events in world history; and descriptions of international organizations. There is an index.
6.1.2 Specialized Guides
For most academic disciplines, there are specialized guides to the literature. Given an unfamiliar topic in sociology or a related field, a student can consult a guide that focuses on sociology or the social sciences for titles of content reference works containing information on the topic. The following is an example:
Aby, Stephen H., James Nalen and Lori Fielding. 2005. Sociology: A Guide to Reference and Information Sources. 3d ed. Littleton, CO: Libraries Unlimited. Part of the Reference Sources in the Social Sciences Series (No. 1), this excellent guide is divided into three sections: (1) works of use to all social sciences; (2) individual social science resources of use to sociologists; and (3) sociological sources, including general works and a section on resources especially useful in twenty-two subdivisions of sociology.
Chapter 6 Sources of Information 113
Sometimes there are guides that reference all available information on a given subject or constellation of subjects. The following is an example of such a guidebook:
Selth, Jefferson P. 1985. Alternative Lifestyles: A Guide to Research Collections on Intentional Communities, Nudism, and Sexual Freedom. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group. This book describes thirty research collections on intentional communities, nudism, and sexual freedom in the United States, that total 120,000 volumes, 15,000 periodicals, 125,000 audiovisual items, over 3 million photographs, and many ephemeral materials.
6.1.3 Handbooks
A handbook is a compact fact book designed for quick reference. It usually deals with one broad subject area, and emphasizes generally accepted data rather than recent findings. In the latter respect, handbooks differ from yearbooks, although these reference tools overlap in the way they are used and the information they include. Two types of handbooks useful to sociologists are: (1) statistical handbooks, that provide data about a number of demographic and social characteristics; and (2) subject handbooks, that offer a comprehensive summary of research findings and theoretical propositions for broad substantive areas in a discipline.
Statistical handbooks. Containing data gathered from numerous sources, statistical handbooks provide students with information necessary for the description and analysis of social trends and phenomena. Among the many statistical handbooks useful to sociologists are the following:
U.S. Bureau of the Census. Annual. County and City Data Book. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. This handbook contains statistics on population, housing, income, education, and employment for counties, standard metropolitan statistical areas, cities, urbanized areas, and unincorporated places. Since there is no subject index, the only subject access to the tables is through the "Outline of Tabular Subject Content" located in the front of the volume. This handbook is published irregularly.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. 1971. Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970. 2 vols. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. This two-volume work contains statistics on a wide spectrum of social and economic developments from the colonial period to 1970. The tables are accompanied by explanatory notes and references to additional sources of statistical information. To use this work effectively, you may turn to the table of contents, which provides a broad subject access; the subject index, which offers a more narrow topical approach to the data; or the time period index, which provides access to statistics on major topics for individual decades.
Gutierrez, Lynda, Andrea Yurasits, Angela Hurdle, and Michele Franklin, eds. 1999. Demographics USA: County Addition. New York: Trade Dimensions. The information in this guide is organized within a geographic hierarchy by region, state, metropolitan area, and county. Summaries are provided for each geographic area. You will find information dealing with the area's total population,
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its percentage of the U.S. total, and listings by age, sex, number of households, number of persons in household, and so on.
By following the guidelines in Chapter 7, students can access many statist!-cal handbooks on the Internet.
Subject handbooks. Subject handbooks in sociology provide a summary and a synthesis of concepts, research, and theoretical approaches of specific topical areas within the discipline—such as formal organizations, socialization, and social psychology. Students who want a brief overview of well-established information or an explanation of major concepts in one substantive area—such as ~ women's studies—will find that the following subject handbook is a convenient source.
Howard, Angela M. and Frances M. Kavenik, eds. 2000. Handbook of American.....
Women's History. New York: Sage Publications. This book is the result of networking among women's history and women's studies colleagues, ft offers introductory and fundamental information necessary for a general understanding of the field. It was designed to assist both students and teachers who wanted to research basic information regarding sources and materials.
Other subject handbooks available to sociology students can be accessed.,^ on the Internet by following the guidelines in Chapter 7.
6.1.4 Yearbooks
Although in many cases they contain a good deal of background information, yearbooks are fact books that focus on the developments and events of a given year. Unlike handbooks, they emphasize current information. Like handbooks, there are two types of yearbooks most useful for sociology students: (1) statis-i tical yearbooks, which provide the most recent data on social and demographic characteristics; and (2) subject yearbooks, which review current theory and research. ]
Statistical yearbooks.   You can turn to the most recent yearbook for the lat-V est data available on topics such as population composition, fertility, and economic activity, and you can also use back issues to collect data for previous time, periods. This is especially true in cases where no handbook presents data for a specific geographical or topical area. Among the general statistical yearbooks often used by sociologists are the following:
Statistical Yearbook. Annual. New York: United Nations/Statistical Office. In this annual publication, prepared by the Statistical Office of the United Nations, tables cover population, workforce, agriculture, production, mining construction, consumption, transportation, external trade, wages and prices, national income, finance, social statistics, education, and culture. Normally, each series covers a ten-to-twenty-year span. The table of contents is the only subject access to this book. Sources are cited. Textual material, including indexes, is in French and English.
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Statistical Yearbook. Annual. Paris: UNESCO. The statistical charts in this annual publication are printed in three languages, and cover aspects of education, science, and culture in 200 member nations of UNESCO. The data are generated from questionnaires given to a wide variety of respondents. There is no index. Government Finance Statistics Yearbook. Annual. Washington, D.C.: International Monetary Fund. This annual reference volume publishes tables that document revenues and spending by governments around the world. There is no index. Vital Statistics of the United States. Annual. 2 Vols. Hyattville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This yearly series is published annually. Volume
1 presents the year's birth statistics at the national and local levels, and Volume
2 covers death statistics.
Stanley, Harold W. and Richard G. Niemi, eds. 2000. Vital Statistics on American Politics, 1999-2000. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly. The charts and tables in this guide cover a wide range of topics related to American politics, including the media (newspaper endorsements of presidential candidates from 1932 to 1988 are graphed), interest groups, and the geographical and ethnic composition of political bodies. An index is included.
Statistical yearbooks focusing on a special subject are often useful to sociologists interested in specific problems. Two yearbooks focusing on specific subjects are the following:
Demographic Yearbook. Annual. New York: United Nations/Statistical Office. This annual contains demographic statistics for over two hundred separate geographic areas. Population and vital statistics appear in each annual volume, but the subject matter of the other statistical compilations varies from year to year. Each volume includes an introduction that defines terms and describes the tables. The table of contents lists tables by broad categories. A cumulative index in each volume identifies the annual volumes in which statistics on individual topics are to be found and indicates the time span of the statistics in individual volumes. U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Annual. Uniform Crime Reports for the United States. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. This annual report contains statistics on crimes, offenders, and law enforcement personnel. Tables include statistics by type of offenses, geographical divisions, age groups, trends, and police employment. The table of contents provides the only subject access to the tables.
Subject yearbooks. The subject yearbook (also known as the annual review) is particularly useful because it contains articles that give a brief overview of recent major developments in the field. These articles, based on the latest published research, allow a student beginning a research project to define and clarify the subject matter. The bibliographies appended to the articles can provide useful leads for further reading. The subject yearbook for sociology is the following:
Annual Review of Sociology. Annual. Palo Alto, CA: Annual Reviews. New developments in the field of sociology are discussed in approximately sixteen essays covering ten broad subject areas in this annual. Areas covered include formal organizations, social processes, urban sociology, and institutions. The essays average twenty-five to thirty pages in length and include extensive bibliographies. Each volume, beginning with the second, contains cumulative indexes that list essays by author and broad subject area.
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6.1.5  Subject Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
Subject dictionaries. The primary purpose of a dictionary is to supply meanings and give accurate spellings of words. The words that are included, and the exhaustiveness of their definitions, depend on the type of dictionary. This discussion focuses on subject dictionaries.
Virtually all academic disciplines have their own specialized language. The function of a subject dictionary is to explain briefly the words—whether terms or names—that make up a particular subject's specialized jargon. Such a source lists terms unfamiliar in common usage, as well as rather ordinary terms that have taken on specialized and technical meanings within the context of a subject discipline.
Sociology is a broad field encompassing every aspect of human social behavior. Many concepts or terms that have a common usage take on a specialized meaning in sociology. The term norm is an example. In common usage the word refers to something common or "normal." In sociology, however, norm refers to the rules or sets of expectations that guide social behavior.
In addition to defining concepts, subject dictionaries are also useful for locating brief descriptions of methodological techniques or tests and definitions of major theories. When students are unsure of the exact meaning of a concept or theory, or of the function of a specific methodological technique, they can consult a sociology dictionary or a broader dictionary of the social sciences. The following are examples, some of which are designed for specific areas within the discipline of sociology.
Abel, E. L. 1984. A Dictionary of Drug Abuse Terms and Terminology. Westport CT: Greenwood.
Cockerham, William C. and Ferris J. Ritchey. 1997. Dictionary of Medical Sociolo gy. New York:Greenwood.
Harris, D. K. 1988. Dictionary of Gerontology. New York: Greenwood.
Johnson, Allan G. 2000. The Blackwell Dictionary of Sociology: A User's Guide to Sociological Language. 2d ed. New York: Blackwell Publishers.
Marshall, Gordon. 1998. A Dictionary of Sociology New York: Oxford Universit; Press.
Mills, J. 1992. Womanwords; A Dictionary of Words about Women. New York: Frei Press.
Richter, A. 1993. Dictionary of Sexual Slang. New York: Wiley.
Rothenberg. R. 1997. Race, Class, Gender: A Dictionary. New York: St. MartinV
Press.
Encyclopedias. While dictionaries contain brief definitions of terms, encyclopedias include summary essays about individual topics. There are two types of encyclopedias: general encyclopedias, which are wide-ranging in topical coverage, and subject encyclopedias, which focus on topics within an individual subject discipline or a group of related disciplines. This discussion focuses on subject encyclopedias.
Chapter 6 Sources of Information
The essays in subject encyclopedias are often written by recognized scholars. They include bibliographies listing major topical studies and cross-references listing other essays that may contain useful additional information. You can use a subject encyclopedia in several ways—as an introduction to a topic, as a means of viewing a topic in a wider context, or as the starting point for research. You may find an essay on the topic helpful for clarification and definition of your research project, and the bibliography can provide valuable leads for further reading. The following three subject encyclopedias are especially useful to sociology majors:
International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. 1968. 17 vols. New York: Macmii-lan. This seventeen-volume set contains articles covering the subject matter of the following fields, as well as some of the most important contributors in their development: anthropology, economics, geography, history, law, political science, psychiatry, psychology, sociology, and statistics. The treatment of individual topics is often divided into more than one essay, each approaching the topic from the perspective of a different social science. Although the encyclopedia is arranged alphabetically by subject, the articles are lengthy and cover broad areas. To find a specific topic, you should consult the index in the last volume. There is also a useful Classification of Articles section in the last volume. The essays themselves are carefully cross-referenced, and the bibliographies accompanying the articles—some of which are extensive, although dated—remain useful.
Tierney, H, ed. 1989-1991. Women's Studies Encyclopedia: Views from the Inside. 3 vols. New York: Greenwood. This is an excellent resource for students interested in this area. The major focus of this three-volume work is on the American experience. There is no single feminist perspective informing the entries. Contributors had the widest possible latitude in developing their articles.
Borgatta, E. F. and M. L. Borgatta, eds. 1992. Encyclopedia of Sociology 4 vols. New York: Macmillan. This four-volume set is a comprehensive general sociology encyclopedia intended for a broad audience. It contains 370 lengthy articles written by 339 sociologists, each two to eighteen pages in length, which conclude with bibliographies.
Among others, the Encyclopedia of Philosophy, the Encyclopedia of Psychology, and the Encyclopedia of Religion can also be very helpful referencing tools for sociology students. The following is a short list of encyclopedias covering specific areas within sociology:
Clark, Robin E., Judith F. Clark, Christine A. Adamec and Richard C. Gelles, eds. 2001. The Encyclopedia of Child Abuse. 2d. ed. New York: Facts on File.
DiCanio, M. 1993. The Encyclopedia of Violence: Origins. Attitudes, Consequences New York: Facts on File.
Kaplan, Jeffery. 2000. Encyclopedia of White Power: A Sourcebook on the Radical Racist Right. New York: AltaMira Press.
Lerner, Richard M. and Jacqueline Lerner, eds. 2001. Adolescence in America-An Encyclopedia. New York: ABL-CL10, Inc.
Maddox, George L., ed. 2001. The Encyclopedia of Aging: A Comprehensive Resource in Gerontology and Geriatrics. New York: Springer.
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6.1.6  Indexes and Abstracts 4
Indexes contain lists of citations of articles printed in journals, magazines, ami I other periodicals. The standard citation for articles in indexes includes the au-thor's name, the date of the issue in which the article appears, the article title the name of the journal, the volume and/or issue number, and page numbe?5. 5 Abstracts contain short summaries of articles or books. Indexes and abstra* ■-, 1 are important because the articles in scholarly journals often update informa- ? tion found in books, or in some cases constitute the only published treatments : of certain topics. =|
On-line database systems.   Specialized indexes and abstracts list articles t-published in scholarly journals by subject and author. Most are now retrievable f through computer on-line database systems located in the library. These CD-ROM networks index thousands of professional and popular articles in most aca- •} demic areas. The most useful databases for sociology are stored in Sociofile. which indexes over 1,900 international journals in sociology and related fields that -are stored in two print indexes titled Sociological Abstracts (1974-present) and -Social Sciences Index (1983-present). Social Sciences Index indexes journals in most of the social sciences, including anthropology, area studies, economics, environmental science, geography, law, and political science.
Other databases that offer potential sources for your sociology studies are" the following:
ERIC, an education database (1966-present) consisting of the Resources in Education file and the Current Index to Journals in Education file, compiling journal article citations with abstracts from over 750 professional journals. Psyclit, a psychology database (1974-present) that compiles summaries for literature in psychology and related disciplines and corresponds to Psychological Abstracts, which indexes about 1,300 professional journals in twenty-seven languages.
Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature, a popular and general interest database (1983-present) that provides citations from more than 900 journals and magazines in the popular press.
United States Government Periodical Index, a government periodicals database (November 1994-present) that indexes approximately 180 U.S. government sources covering a wide variety of subjects. The reference department in many libraries also allows you to access over forty other databases on FIRSTSEARCH.
Discipline indexes. Discipline indexes identify articles in journals by the discipline or group of related disciplines (such as social sciences) rather than by the topic, while other indexes identify journal articles according to broad topical areas without a discipline focus. An example of a discipline index that indexes by subject articles in social science, economics, and anthropology journals as well as those in sociology is the following:
Social Sciences Index. Annual. New York: H. W. Wilson. A quarterly publication with annual cumulations, this index organizes—by subject and author—articles
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in over 260 journals in anthropology, sociology, law, and criminology. A helpful feature is the separate Book Reviews index at the back of each issue.
Topical indexes. An important topic often becomes the focus of an index, which is generated to make all articles relevant to that topic available to researchers, regardless of field or discipline. Examples of topical indexes frequently used by sociologists are the following:
Population Index. Annual. Princeton, NJ: Office of Population Research, Princeton University, and Population Association of America. This quarterly indexes books, journals, and government publications. The annotated entries are arranged by broad subjects—such as mortality, internal migration, and spatial distribution. Each issue also contains several articles on topics of current interest. Geographical, author, and statistical indexes cumulate annually.
Statistical Reference Index Annual Abstracts. Annual. Bethesda, MD: Congressional Information Service. This annual volume is a guide to American statistical publications produced by private organizations and state governments. Contents are organized by the type of organization publishing the reports, each of which is briefly described. An accompanying volume includes four indexes: subject and name, category, issuing sources, and title.
Other topical indexes of interest to sociology students are the following:
Gallup, George and George Gallup, Jr. 1999. The Gallup Poll Cumulative Index: Public Opinion, 1935-1997. New York: Scholarly Resources, Inc.
Inventory of Marriage and Family Literature. 1994. vol. 19. St. Paul, MN: National Council on Family Relations.
Kaiser Index to Black Resources, 1948-1986. 1992. Brooklyn, NY: Carlson.
Sanders-May, Susan. 1966. Family Violence: Index of New Information and Bibliography. Washington, D.C.: Abbe Publications Association.
Women's Studies Index, 1999. 2000. Detroit, MI: Gale Group.
Citation indexes. A third type of index, the citation index, lists articles that have referred to previous research by a particular author. When a researcher knows of one article—or author of articles—on a particular topic, newer, related materials can be found by locating articles that cite the original work or author. Thus you can find articles without depending on any subject classification system. This type of index is useful for determining the quality of a specific key research paper, or for tracing the developments in theory and methods that were stimulated by this key paper. A student can determine the number of times a key article has been used, as well as the names of the sociologists who have cited it. A citation index useful to sociologists follows:
Social Sciences Citation Index. Annual. Philadelphia, PA: Institute for Scientific Information. This service enables the user to identify recent articles that refer to earlier works. Each issue is divided into three parts. The Citation Index, arranged alphabetically by cited author, lists articles in which a particular work was cited. The Source Index lists alphabetically the authors who are citing the original work and gives bibliographic information for each article that cites the original work.
Part II Conducting Research in Sociqloqy
The Permaterm Subject Index lists articles by all the significant words in the ti-ties. The index is issued three times a year and cumulates annually. vf.-.;
General abstracts.   Like indexes, abstracts provide a complete citation for , each article and include a brief summary of its contents. Abstracts enable re- -51 searchers to determine whether an article is useful without having to locate and 4 read it. This can be important when students are working in a library with a small :!a periodical collection and must depend on interlibrary loans to acquire articles. ^ A general abstract covering topics in the field of sociology is the following;
Sociological Abstracts. Annual. New York: Sociological Abstracts. This source in-dexes and summarizes over 6,000 books and journal articles each year. Within '"J* broad subject areas—such as group interaction, social differentiation, and fern- .;r;,. inist studies—abstracts are arranged alphabetically by author. The last issue of each year contains cumulative author and subject indexes. The abstract is currently issued five times a year. ~
Specialized abstracts. A specialized abstract covers a particular topic in -greater detail than general abstracts and cites research that is published outside S'" the field of sociology. A particularly useful one to sociologists is the following: \
Criminal Justice Abstracts. Annual. Hackensack, NJ: National Council on Crime and Delinquency. This quarterly (entitled Crime and Delinquency Literature through 1976) abstracts books and journals in the area of crime and delinquency. Abstracts are arranged under broad subject areas, such as correction and law enforcement. There is a detailed subject index. Each issue also contains a review of current developments in one area, such as aid to victims, employee theft, -and delinquency prevention.
Examples of other specialized abstracts within the broader discipline of sociology include the following: lf Abstracts in Social Gerontology. Annual. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. X Child Development Abstracts and Bibliography. Annual. Chicago, IL: University of % Chicago Press. ± Sage Family Studies Abstracts Annual. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. S. Sage Race Relations Abstracts. Annual. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. Women's Studies Abstracts. Annual. New York: Rush. \
6,1.7 Bibliographies
Bibliographies constitute a particularly important category of finding aids. An; individual bibliography might list any or all of the following: books, periodicals,, periodical articles, published documents, unpublished documents, or unpub-f lished manuscripts. Our focus is on bibliographies as finding aids for articles and for books other than reference books. Whenever you use a bibliography that does not list journal articles, you must also consult a periodical index or abstract in order to compile a thorough reading list on the topic.
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Some bibliographies provide only citations for the books and articles they list; others provide annotations as well. Standard bibliographic citation form for journal articles includes author, title, journal name, volume and sometimes number, and date of publication. Usually, the information is sufficiently complete to locate the item. Annotated bibliographies provide more information, helping you decide if an individual title might be useful. An annotation is a brief summary of the article or book's content along with a comment on its quality.
Bibliographies come in two formats: Some are short and are appended to articles or books, and others are book length.
Appended bibliographies. Appended bibliographies identify titles that are either cited in the article or book or are relevant to the topic being discussed. You can use a bibliography appended to a reliable book or article as a guide to your readings on the topic. To identify appended bibliographies on a particular topic, you may consult the following:
Bibliographic Index. Annual. New York: H. W. Wilson. Published in April and August and in a cumulated annual volume in December, this work lists, by subject, bibliographies with fifty or more entries that are published separately or as parts of books or periodicals in English and West European languages. Citations specify whether the bibliographies are annotated. Each volume begins with a prefatory note that briefly explains the forms used in the entries.
Book-length bibliographies. Bibliographic indexes also identify book-length bibliographies. Their scope is ordinarily wider than that of appended bibliographies. Some book-length bibliographies are published only once and are retrospective in nature. Here is an example of this type:
Aldous, Joan. International Bibliography of Research in Marriage and the Family, 1900-1964. 1967, St. Paul, MN: Family Social Science, University of Minnesota.
Others are published periodically, sometimes annually, and are called current bibliographies. Each new edition lists titles that have appeared since the previous edition. However, most current bibliographies have a one- to two-year lag time between the publication of a book and its citation.
Some useful current bibliographies cover a particular academic discipline, such as sociology, or a group of related disciplines, such as social sciences. Generally, the coverage includes articles as well as books, and the scope is international. The following is an example:
International Bibliography of Sociology. Annual. London, UK: Tavistock. One of a set entitled International Bibliography of the Social Sciences, this volume attempts to provide comprehensive coverage of scholarly publications in the field, regardless of country of origin, language, or type. Three to five thousand citations are arranged in a detailed classification scheme, with author and subject indexes providing complete access. Citations are not annotated. All information is given in French and English. Although the volume is published each year, there is a one- to two-year lag time.
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National libraries, such as the British Library or the Library of Congress have copies of most of the important books on all subjects that are available in that country. Therefore, the subject catalog of the Library of Congress, available in most U.S. college and university libraries, can be used as a reasonably comprehensive current bibliography on most topics:
U.S. Library of Congress. Annual. Subject Catalog: A Cumuladue list of Works Represented by Library of Congress Printed Cards. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress. Published in quarterly, yearly, and five-year cumulative editions since 1950, the Subject Catalog lists books cataloged by the Library of Congress and other major libraries in the United States. Each edition offers the single most comprehensive bibliography of works on every subject (excluding works of fiction), and from all parts of the world, that have become available during the period it covers. Subject headings are cross-referenced.
The following bibliographies contain materials with potential use for students of sociology.
Aday, R. H. 1988. Crime and the Elderly: An Annotated Bibliography. New York: Greenwood.
De Young, Mary. 1987. Child Molestation: An Annotated Bibliography. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.
Engeldinger, E. A. 1986. Spouse Abuse: An Annotated Bibliography of Violence between Mates. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow.
Ghorayshi.R 1990. The Sociology of Work: A Critical Annotated Bibliography. New York: Garland.
Kinlock, G. C. 1987. Social Stratification: An Annotated Bibliography. New York: Garland.
Norquest, Joan. 1988. The Homeless in America: A Bibliography. Santa Cruz, CA: Reference and Research Services.
1988. Substance Abuse I: Drug Abuse: A Bibliography. Santa Cruz, CA: Ref-
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erence and Research Services.
_. 1990. Substance Abuse II: Alcohol Abuse: A Bibliography. Santa Cruz, CA:
Reference and Research Services.
_. 1991. The Elderly in American Bibliography. Santa Cruz, CA; Reference and.
Research Services.
6.2   GENERAL PERIODICALS AND NEWSPAPERS___
6.2.1   General Periodicals
General periodicals contain articles on a range of topics intended to attract gen-; era! readers with varied interests. News magazines, hobby or recreational magazines, and a host of publications such as the Saturday Review and the New , Yorker are all classified as general periodicals. A student can find information on specific topics covered in general periodicals by consulting the Readers' Guide
to Periodical Literature in printed format on the library shelf, going back for several decades, or on the CD-ROM Database Network going back to 1983.
In addition to broadening a student's knowledge and outlook, general periodicals can also serve a legitimate research function for sociologists. Many general periodicals include regular features on important social problems (such as poverty, unemployment, or busing) and public opinion (attitudes toward marijuana smoking, abortion, and so on). Among the major general periodicals that are nonsociological but that emphasize social and political affairs are the New York Times Magazine, Atlantic Monthly, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, Time, and Harper's. General periodicals reporting current events and issues of interest to the sociologist usually do not analyze them from a sociological perspective. However, one general periodical that does is the following:
Society (formerly Transaction: Social Science and Modern Society). Annual. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. Written for the layperson by well-known sociologists and other social scientists, this periodical covers a wide variety of topics in the areas of government, housing, welfare, law, race relations, and education. It is issued monthly.
Other examples of similar utility are Business Week, Psychology Today, and Library Journal. These periodicals cover professional news, trends, developments, and other events for the professions. Articles are often written by professionals in the field.
6.2.2 Newspapers
Newspapers are regularly issued publications (daily, weekly, semiweekly) that report events and discuss topics of current interest. The types of information that sociologists may find useful include news items comprising factual reporting of events; editorials, representing the editors' thinking on current issues; feature articles, presenting an investigation of a topic; and columns, including comments or reports on current events or issues by journalists. In newspapers you can find factual information on topics such as crime or intergroup conflict. Also, you can identify attitudes of people toward important social issues.
Among the newspapers distinguished for the extensive coverage they give to national affairs are the Washington Post and the New York Times. You can find articles that cover specific topics in the New York Times by consulting its index:
New York Times Index. Annual. New York: New York Times. This index provides subject access to New York Times news stories, editorials, and other features. Published every two weeks, it is cumulated annually. Each entry begins with a subject, followed by references to other sections in the index (if there are any). Then the article is summarized. For the sake of brevity, the citation identifies each month by one or two letters, followed by the date, a roman numeral for a section, an arabic page number, and sometimes a column number, prefaced by a colon. The year is always identified on the cover and title page and is essential information to record when copying citations. One important item to note
124 Part II Conducting Research in Sociou
in using this index is that the cross-references that directly follow the subject in each entry must be checked in the index to obtain a complete citation. You cannot identify the exact location of the articles noted in this section without doing so.
The following major newspapers have Indexes available either in print or on microfilm:
Chicago Tribune
Houston Post
Los Angeles Times
National Observer
New Orleans Times-Picayune
New York Times
Times of London
Wall Street Journal
Washington Post
You may need coverage of an important topic from a number of different perspectives. In such a research project, a local newspaper or the New York Times would not suit your needs. For example, you may want to compare the coverage of right-to-work laws presented in a Southwestern newspaper to those presented in a Northern newspaper. For that type of project you should consult the following:
NewsBank. Annual. Greenwich, CT: Urban Affairs Library. This publication not only indexes articles on subjects from over 150 daily and weekly urban newspapers, but also includes the articles themselves on microfiche. The index is divided into thirteen subject sections—Business and Economic Development, Consumer Affairs, Government Structure, Social Relations, Welfare and Poverty, Housing and Urban Renewal, Law and Order, Education, Political Development, Health, Transportation, Environment, and Employment—each contained in a separate binder. The microfiche copies of the articles are located in the back of each binder. Note that there is a separate binder containing an Introduction, a Guide to the Index, and an overall Name Index. The Guide to the Index section is designed as an aid to determine in which of the thirteen major subject categories a particular topic is covered. A cumulative subject index for each topical area is provided annually.
6.3   ACADEMIC JOURNALS
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125
Articles in scholarly journals, written by specialists and critically evaluated by other scholars prior to being accepted for publication, represent the most recent additions to an academic discipline's shared store of knowledge or to its debate on a particular topic. Students who are interested in compiling a well-rounded and up-to-date reading list on a topic should always consult the scholarly journals.
Most journals contain a book review section in which scholars in the field present critiques of recently published books. These reviews usually give an accurate assessment of the book's quality from the field's standpoint. When faced with a choice of several books, you can save time by reading book reviews to select the most useful, authoritative sources.
Sociologists publish numerous journals, some rather general in scope, and some devoted to a particular subfield within the discipline, such as family studies. As a sociology student, you should be familiar with the following journals:
American Journal of Sociology. Annual. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. This bimonthly journal, first published in 1895, reports research and fieldwork on a variety of topics in sociology. The articles range from twelve to fifty pages, though the average length is approximately twenty-seven pages. Short papers that summarize recent empirical research are included in the Research Notes section. Each issue also contains a comprehensive book review section with evaluative reviews.
American Sociological Review. Annual. Washington, D.C.: American Sociological Association. The official journal of the American Sociological Association, this bimonthly publication, first published in 1936, contains articles that cover all areas of sociology. The average length of articles is twelve pages. The journal also reports the activities of the Association and contains a section for comments and discussions of previous articles.
Social Forces. Annual. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. This quarterly, first published in 1922, contains articles averaging twenty pages in length, includes papers on all aspects of sociology. The journal is international in scope, but articles about the United States predominate. Each issue contains a number of authored book reviews. Special issues, in which all the articles focus on a specific topic, appear at least once a year.
These major sociology journals represent a small fraction of the scholarly periodicals published by sociologists. Students can find a brief description of other scholarly journals within sociology and other academic disciplines by consulting the following:
Katz, Bill, Linda S. Katz, William A. Katz, and Barry G. Richards, eds. 2000. Magazines for Libraries. 3d ed. New York: Bowker. This work contains publication information and descriptive and evaluative annotations for over 6,500 periodicals and newspapers. Titles are organized into approximately one hundred subject areas, such as Aeronautics Space Science, Africa, Business Education, General Magazines, Government Magazines, History, Newspapers, and Opinion Magazines. Because of this topical organization, the volume's index is particularly useful for locating individual titles.
The list starting on page 126 is a list of professional journals of interest to sociologists, political scientists, and other social scientists. Some are refereed— that is, the articles they contain are sent out to scholars for review before publication—while others are not. But all contain articles with potential use for sociology students.
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Addiction
Addictive Behaviors
Administration and Society
Administration in Social Work
Administrative Science Quarterly
Adolescence
Age and Aging
Aging and Society
AIDS and Public Policy Journal
Alcohol Health and Research World
Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly
American Anthropologist
American Behavioral Scientist
American Demographics
American Economic Review
American Educational Research Journal
American Ethnologist
American Indian Culture and Research Journal American Journal of Community Psychology American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse American Journal of Economics and Sociology American Journal of Education American Journal of Family Therapy American Journal of Orthopsychiatry American Journal of Physical Anthropology American Journal of Political Science American Journal of Psychiatry American Journal of Psychoanalysis American Journal of Psychology American Journal of Psychotherapy American Journal of Public Health American Journal of Sociology American Political Science Review American Politics Quarterly American Psychologist American Sociological Review American Sociologist
Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
Annual Review of Anthropology
Annual Review of Psychology
Annual Review of Sociology
Anthropological Quarterly
Applied Psycholinguistics
Archive of Sexual Behavior
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Sociology
Australian Journal of Anthropology
Australian Journal of Politics and History
Australian Journal of Social Issues
Behavior Research and Therapy
Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers
Behavior Science Research
Behavior Therapy
Behavioral Health Management
Behavioral Neuroscience
Behavioral Science
Black Scholar
British Journal of Clinical Psychology
British Journal of Criminology
British Journal of Educational Psychology
British Journal of Law and Society
British Journal of Political Science
British Journal of Psychology
British Journal of Social Psychology
British Journal of Sociology
Cambridge Journal of Education
Canadian Journal of Behavioral Science
Canadian Journal of Criminology
Canadian Journal of Economics
Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology
Canadian Journal of Political Science
Canadian Journal of Psychiatry
Canadian Journal of Psychology
Canadian Psychologist
Canadian Psychology
Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology Child Abuse and Neglect
Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal Child Development
Child Psychiahy and Human Development Child Study Journal Child Welfare
Clinical Social Work Journal Cognitive Psychology Communication Quarterly Communication Reports Communication Research Communication Theory Communist Affairs
Communist and Post-Communist Studies Communities
Community Development Journal Community Mental Health Journal Comparative Education Review Comparative Political Studies Comparative Politics
Comparative Studies in Society and History
Conflict Studies
Contemporary Drug Problems
Contemporary Economic Policy
Contemporary Education
Contemporary Sociology
Counseling Psychologist
Crime and Delinquency
Criminal Justice and Behavior
Criminal Justice Ethics
Criminal Justice Review
Criminology
Critical Quarterly
Critical Review
Critical Studies in Mass Communication
Cultural Anthropology
Current Sociology
Day Care and Early Education
Death Studies
Demography
Developmental Psychology
Dissertation Abstracts International, A: The Humanities and Social Sciences
Drugs and Society
Economic Development and Cultural Change
Economic History Review
Economic Inquiry
Economic Journal
Economist
Economy and Society Education
Education and Urban Society
Educational and Psychological Measurement
Educational Gerontology
Educational Psychology Review
Educational Review
Educational Studies
Educational Theory
Environment and Behavior
Environmental Ethics
Environmental Policy and Law
Environmental Politics
Ethics
Ethnic and Racial Studies Ethnic Groups Ethnohistory Ethnology
Ethnology and Sociobiology European Economic Review European Journal of Political Research European Journal of Political Science European Studies Review Experimental Study of Politics Families in Society Family and Community Health Family Economics Review Family Planning Perspectives Family Process
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Family Relations Feminist Issues Feminist Studies
Forum of Applied Research and Public Policy Free Inquiry in Creative Sociology Futurist
Gender and Society Gerontologist
Global Political Assessment
Global Risk Assessment: Issues, Concepts and Applications
Growth and Change
Harvard Educational Review
Health and Social Work
Higher Education Quarterly
Hispania
Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences
History and Political Economy
History and Theory
History of Political Thought
History of the Human Sciences
Human Communication Research
Human Ecology
Human Ecology Forum
Human Organization
Human Relations
Human Rights
Human Rights Quarterly
Human Rights Review
Humanist
Impact of Science in Society
Individual Psychology
Industrial and Labor Relations Review
Industrial Relations
Information Sciences
Innovation Higher Education
Inter-American Economic Affairs
International Affairs
International Criminal Justice Review
International Development Review
International Economic Review
International Interactions
International Journal of Aging and Human Development
International Journal of Comparative Sociology
International Journal of Eating Disorders
International Journal of Group Psychotherapy
International Journal of Health Services
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology
International Journal of Political Education
International Journal of Public Administration
International Journal of Social Psychiatry
International Journal of Sociology of Law
International Journal of Sociology of the Family
International Journal of Urban and Regional Research
International Labour Review
International Migration Review
International Organization
International Political Science Review
International Relations
International Review of Education
International Review of Social History
International Security
International Social Science Journal
International Social Science Review
International Social Work
International Studies
International Studies Quarterly
Interpretation: Journal of Political Philosophy
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion
Journalism Quarterly
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology
Journal of Abnormal Psychology
Journal of Addictive Diseases
Journal of Adolescence
Journal of Adolescent Chemical Dependency
Journal of Adolescent Health
Journal of Adolescent Research
Journal of Advertising
Journal of African Studies
Journal of Aging and Social Policy
Journal of Aging Studies
Journal of American History
Journal of American Indian Education
Journal of Anthropological Research
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis
Journal of Applied Behavioral Science
Journal of Applied Communication Research
Journal of Applied Gerontology
Journal of Applied Psychology
Journal of Applied Social Psychology
Journal of Asian and African Studies
Journal of Asian Studies
Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry
Journal of Black Psychology
Journal of Black Studies
Journal of Business Communication
Journal of Child and Family Studies
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines
Journal of Clinical Child Psychology
Journal of Clinical Psychology
Journal of Communication
Journal of Community Health
Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology
Journal of Comparative Economics Journal of Comparative Family Studies Journal of Comparative Psychology Journal of Conflict Resolution Journal of Consumer Research Journal of Contemporary Ethnography Journal of Contemporary History Journal of Counseling Psychology
Journal of Creative Behavior
Journal of Criminal Justice
Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology
Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology
Journal of Democracy
Journal of Developing Areas
Journal of Development Economics
Journal of Development Studies
Journal of Divorce and Remarriage
Journal of Drug Education
Journal of Drug Issues
Journal of Econometrics
Journal of Economic History
Journal of Economic Issues
Journal of Economic Literature
Journal of Economic Perspectives
Journal of Economic Theory
Journal of Education
Journal of Educational Measurement
Journal of Educational Research
Journal of Elder Abuse and Neglect
Journal of Environmental Economics and Management
Journal of Environmental Management
Journal of Ethnic Studies
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
Journal of Experimental Education
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Journal of Family History
Journal of Family Issues
Journal of Family Law
Journal of Family Psychology
Journal of Family Violence
Journal of Gambling Studies
Journal of Genera! Education
Journal of General Psychology
Journal of Genetic Psychology
Journal of Gerontological Social Work
Journal of Gerontology
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Journal of Group Psychotherapy, Psychodrama, and Sociometry
Journal of Health and Social Behavior
Journal of Health Politics, Policy, and Law
Journal of Homosexuality
Journal of Housing
Journal of Housing and Community Development
Journal of Humanistic Psychology
Journal of Human Resources
Journal of InterAmerican Studies and World Affairs
Journal of Interdisciplinary History Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies Journal of International Affairs Journal of Interpersonal Violence Journal of Japanese Studies Journal of Labor Research Journal of Latin American Studies Journal of Law and Economics Journal of Law and Politics Journal of Legal Studies Journal of Leisure Research Journal of Libertarian Studies Journal of Management Journal of Management Studies Journal of Marital and Family Therapy Journal of Marriage and the Family Journal of Medical Ethics Journal of Memory and Language Journal of Modern African Studies Journal of Modern History Journal of Near Eastern Studies Journal of Negro Education Journal of Nonverbal Behavior Journal of Offender Rehabilitation Journal of Parapsychology Journal of Peace Research Journal of Peace Science
Journal of Peasant Studies Journal of Pediatric Psychology Journal of Personal Assessment Journal of Personality
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Journal of Police Science and Administration
Journal of Policy Analysis and Management
Journal of Political and Military Sociology
Journal of Political Economy
Journal of Political Science
Journal of Politics
Journal of Popular Culture
Journal of Primary Prevention
Journal of Psychiatric Research
Journal of Psychohistory
Journal of Psychology
Journal of Psychosomatic Research
Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory
Journal of Public Policy
Journal of Rehabilitation
Journal of Research and Development in Education
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency
Journal of School Psychology
Journal of Sex Research
Journal of Social History
Journal of Social Issues
Journal of Social Policy
Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies
Journal of Social Psychology
Journal of Social Work Education
Journal of Special Education
Journal of Specialists in Group Work
Journal of Sport and Social Issues
Journal of Studies on Alcohol
Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment
Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
Journal of the American Oriental Society
Journal of the American Planning Association
Journal of the American Society for Information Science
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
Journal of the History of Ideas
Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences
Journal of Theoretical Politics
Journal of the Philosophy of Sport
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
Journal of the Royal Society of Health
Journal of Third World Studies
Journal of Traumatic Stress
Journal of Urban Affairs
Journal of Urban Analysis
Journal of Urban History
Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior
Journal of Youth and Adolescence
Journals of Gerontology
Journals of Gerontology (Series B: Psychological and Social Sciences)
Language
Language Learning
Latin American Research Review
Law and Contemporary Problems
Law and Philosophy
Law and Policy Quarterly
Law and Society Review
Learning and Motivation
Linguistic Inquiry
Linguistics and Education
Literature and Psychology
Man-Environment Systems
Management Communication Quarterly
Management Science
Marriage and Family Review
Mathematical Social Sciences
Media, Culture, and Society Micropolitics
MidAmerican Review of Sociology
Middle East Journal
Middle Eastern Studies
Modern Asian Studies
Modern Language Journal
Monographs for the Society for Research in Child Development
Multivariate Behavioral Research
New Political Science
New Politics
Papers on Language and Literature Peace Research
Perspectives on Political Science Philosophical Quarterly Philosophical Review
Philosophy and Phenomenologica! Research
Philosophy and Public Affairs
Philosophy and Rhetoric
Philosophy and Science
Philosophy of the Social Sciences
Policy and Politics
Political Anthropology
Political Behavior
Political Communication
Political Communication and Persuasion
Political Geography Quarterly
Political Psychology
Political Quarterly
Political Research Quarterly
Political Science
Political Science Quarterly
Political Science Review
Political Science Reviewer
Political Studies
Political Theory
Politics
Politics and Society
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Politics and the Life Sciences Polity
Population and Development Review Population Bulletin
Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science Professional Psychology, Research, and Practice Psychiatric Quarterly Psychiatry
Psychoanalytic Review Psychobiology Psychological Assessment Psychological Bulletin Psychological Record Psychological Reports Psychological Science Psychology and Aging Psychology in the Schools Psychology of Women Quarterly Psychophysiology Psychosomatic Medicine Public Administration Public Administration Review Public Health Reports Public Law Public Management Public Opinion Quarterly Public Policy
Public Relations Quarterly Public Relations Review Public Welfare
Quarterly Journal of Economics Race and Class Radical America Radical History Review Research in Education Research in Higher Education Research on Aging Review of Black Political Economy Review of Economics and Statistics
Review of Economic Studies Review of Educational Research Review of International Studies Review of Law and Social Change Review of Metaphysics Review of Politics Revolutionary World Rural Sociology Sage Science
Science and Public Affairs Science and Public Policy Science and Society Sciences, The Sex Roles Simulation
Simulation and Games Simulation and Gaming Skeptical Inquirer Small Group Research Social Action
Social and Economic Studies
Social Behavior and Personality
Social Biology
Social Casework
Social Forces
Social History
Social Indicators Research
Social Justice
Social Philosophy and Policy
Social Policy
Social Problems
Social Psychology Quarterly
Social Research
Social Science and Medicine
Social Science Information
Social Science Journal
Social Science Quarterly
Social Science Research
Social Science Review Social Theory and Practice Social Work Social Work Education Social Work with Groups Socialism and Democracy Socialists Review Society
Sociological Analysis and Theory
Sociological Inquiry
Sociological Methods and Research
Sociological Perspectives
Sociological Quarterly
Sociological Review
Sociology
Sociology and Social Research
Sociology of Education
Sociology of Religion
Sociology of Sport Journal
Southern Economic Journal
Studies in Comparative Communism
Studies in Conflict and Terrorism
Studies in Family Planning
Studies in Philosophy and Education
Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior
Survey
Technological Forecasting and Social Change
Technology and Culture
Terrorism
Theory and Decision
Theory and Society
Third World
Urban Affairs Quarterly
Urban Affairs Review
Urban and Social Change Review
Urban Anthropologist
Urban Anthropology and Studies of Cultural Systems and World Economic Development
Urban Education
Urban Review
Urban Studies
Victimology
Violence and Victims
War and Society
Western Journal of Communications
Western Political Quarterly
Women and Environments
Women and Politics: A Quarterly Journal of Research and Policy Studies
Women and Work
Women's Studies International Forum
Women's Studies Quarterly
World Affairs
World Development
World Marxist Review
World Policy Journal
World Politics
Youth and Society
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A   RESEARCHING BOOKS
Academic books, along with articles from professional journals, will usually form the greater part of the sociology student's reading list on an individual research topic. If the sources of information used in book research are unreliable, the results will be unsatisfactory. There are two principal paths for a student to take in evaluating a book-length study: Rely on book reviews, or examine the bibliographic character of the book itself.
6.4, J   Book Review Sources
Since 1975, reviews appearing in most of the major sociology journals have been indexed in the book review section of the Social Sciences Index (see the previous discussion of indexes). The reviews are indexed by the name of the author of the book; the journal, volume, and date; and the page of the review. There is a time lag, however—sometimes more than a year—between a book's publication and the appearance of a review in a scholarly journal. The need for more current reviews led to a new type of journal, consisting entirely of scholarly book reviews. The journal for sociologists is the following:
Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews. Annual. Washington, D.C.: American Sociological Association. This journal reviews books published in every area of sociology, plus many in related fields, such as education. Each issue also contains feature essays that review several books on related topics or the works of one major author. The reviews are arranged by broad subject areas, and each issue also contains a list of new publications.
For reviews of books on the popular market, along with many very academic selections, the New York Review of Books (1976-present) and the New York Times Book Review (1923-present) are two reliable sources.
6.4.2  Bibliographic Character of the Work
By examining a book closely, you can usually assess the quality of information presented. The preface and introduction give clues to who the author is, why the work was written, and what methodology and research tools were used in the book's preparation. If the author is an acknowledged authority in the field, this fact will often be mentioned in the preface or the foreword.
The footnotes, the in-text references, and the extent and quality of the bibliography (or in some cases, the lack of one) can also serve as clues about the reliability of the work. If few or no original documents have been used, or if major works in the field have not been cited and evaluated, you have reason to question the quality of the book.
Finally, the reputation of the publisher or organization that sponsors a particular book says something about its value. Some publishers have rigid
standards of scholarship and others do not. For example, the requirements of university presses are generally very high, and the major ones—such as Cambridge, Chicago, Michigan, and Harvard—are discriminating publishers of studies in sociology.
6.5   U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS
6.5. J   General Publications
U.S. government publications comprise all the printed public documents of the federal government. The materials include, for example, the official records of the meetings of Congress; the text of laws, court decisions, and public hearings and rulings of administrative and regulatory agencies; studies of economic and social issues commissioned by official agencies; and the compilation of statistics on a number of social and demographic characteristics of the U.S. population.
Federal publications provide sociologists with material for research in many subfields in sociology. You can find government publications that cover such topics as the educational attainment of minorities, sex discrimination, drug abuse, and a number of other social issues. However, the fact that a document is "official" is no automatic guarantee of the accuracy of the information or data it might contain; accuracy depends on the methods of information and data collection the agency used. Therefore, the use of these publications—like the use of any other source material—requires good judgment. You can identify relevant late nineteenth- and twentieth-century federal government publications by consulting the following:
U.S. Superintendent of Documents. Annual. Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. This catalog, first published in 1885, is the most complete listing of federal documents available. The detailed indexes—subject, author/agency, and title—identify individual items by entry number. Entries identify individual author (if any), pagination, date, illustration notes, series title, and serial number, and include reference to any other publication superseded by this item as well as the Superintendent of Documents number. (U.S. documents are catalogued by this number in many libraries—especially those that are depositories.)
Cumulative Subject Index to the Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications, 1900-1971. 1973. Washington, D.C.: Carrollton Press. This is a comprehensive subject index to more than 1 million publications listed in the Monthly Catalog from 1900 through 1971. To discover what has been published on a given subject, one first finds the topic and then goes to the appropriate subheading. This will be followed by one or more years in parentheses, each followed by one or more entry numbers, such as "(65) 14901." Then researchers must turn to the Monthly Catalog lor the specified year (in this case, 1965) and locate the entry number (in this case, 14901) to find a complete citation for the publication.
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6.5.2   U.S. Census Bureau Publications
U.S. Census Bureau publications are important resources. They allow sociology students to summarize social and demographic characteristics of various population groups in the United States by using descriptive statistics. We frequently think of the Census Bureau as a government agency that collects census data every ten years. There are actually ten categories of censuses, and data are collected and reported at different intervals. In addition to collecting data on national and state populations, the Census Bureau studies subpopulations that are of special interest. These studies are generally published in Current Population Reports. Recent reports, for example, have focused on the characteristics of blacks, persons of Hispanic origin, and poverty-level families.
Because the Census Bureau analyzes and publishes data, sociology students can locate relevant census materials by consulting guides and indexes to statistical reports published by the government. The following comprehensive volume indexes statistical studies by all government agencies. It can be used to locate a variety of statistics on a given topic:
American Statistics Index. Annual. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Information Ser- j vice. This commercially produced abstract has become an important source for j identifying statistical publications of the U.S. government. It indexes and ab- j stracts statistics on numerous topics from the publications of many government agencies, describes these publications, and has the material available on microfiche. This source is issued monthly in two sections—indexes and abstracts— and is cumulated annually. The index volume contains four separate indexes that list the publications by subject and name; by geographic, economic, and demographic categories; by title; and by agency report numbers. The abstract volume gives brief descriptions of the publications and their content. <
The Census Bureau publishes an index to its own publications. If you require information on a topic that is routinely studied by the Census Bureau, you should consult the following:
U.S. Bureau of the Census. Annual. Bureau of the Census Catalog. Washington, ; D.C.: Government Printing Office. An indispensable guide, first published in 1790, ; to materials issued by the Bureau of the Census and publications from other agencies that contain statistics, this catalog is published quarterly, updated with monthly supplements, and has annual cumulations. The basic volume is retrospective, covering the years 1790-1945 in Part I and 1946-1972 in Part II. The arrangement differs in each part. The material includes annotated lists of census publications for the years covered, followed by subject and geographical indexes. The annual cumulation lists and annotates only those publications issued during that year.
A number of reports or volumes published by the Census Bureau are useful 1 to sociology students doing research. Two of these publications—County and ■ City Data Book and Historical Statistics of the United States—have been discussed j previously under other subheadings. These publications summarize many of the important findings of past censuses as well as more recent ones. v3r'l
In addition to the population census, the Bureau also conducts surveys of housing, business, and manufacturing. A student who wants information about the structural or industrial characteristics of the United States can use these decade censuses to find past and current statistics. These censuses have the advantages and disadvantages discussed earlier.
Census publications provide, at little cost to the researcher, much descriptive information on various components of the American population. However, you should be aware of some serious problems with census data. Because most data are compiled every five or ten years, often a researcher must either find more current information or use the somewhat dated statistics published by the Census Bureau. Also, the design of the census survey does not always include the type of questions or issues that are of interest to sociology students. For example, a student comparing the educational or employment status of blacks with that of persons of Hispanic origin for a period between 1970 and 1990 would not be able use 1970 census data because the 1970 census of population did not ask persons of Hispanic origin to identify their racial or ethnic background. Another disadvantage of census publications is that they use only descriptive statistics to summarize the data. Their analysis does not indicate the relevance or meaning of trends. You can determine social and demographic differences within populations, but must look elsewhere for the causes of these differences.