Library Research Guides: Sociology: Find Journal Articles (Databases)

Scholarly and Peer-Reviewed Journals

Scholarly journals contain articles written by, and directed toward, experts in a discipline. Articles in these journals:

Deal with academic study and research
Report on original research and experimentation
Use language reflecting the disciplines covered
Assume knowledge or background on the part of the reader
Not all scholarly journals are peer-reviewed

Peer-reviewed journals contain articles:

That have passed through a review process
That have been evaluated by scholars in the author's field or speciality
That meet a discipline's expected standards of expertise

Journal Article Databases

Social Science Research Network (SSRN)
Open access scholarly working papers in the social sciences. Majority full text.
PsycINFO
Citations for research in behavioral science and mental health. Limited full text.
Academic Search Ultimate
Search Academic Search Complete for more general articles about sociology and to find a broad swath of materials relating to sociology from other disciplines. Mostly full-text. Provides indexing and abstracts for more than 13,000 journals, with full text for more than 9,000 of those titles. 7,700 journals are peer-reviewed. A wide range of subjects in the humanities, social sciences and life sciences are covered.
JSTOR
Provides full-text for 180 journals in sociology and 22 in social work.
Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition
Scholarly journal articles covering various medical disciplines. Majority full text.
PsycARTICLES
Articles from scholarly journals published by the American Psychology Association. Full text.
PsycTESTS
Psychological measures, scales, surveys, and other instruments for researchers in the behavioral and social sciences. Limited full text.
PubMed
Citations for biomedical research, including articles that cannot be found in PubMed Central. Some citations include links to full-text content.
Social Services Abstracts
Citations for research in social work, human services, and related areas; included in the Sociological Abstracts database. No full text.
Sociological Abstracts
Citations for international research in sociology and related disciplines. No full text.

Sociological Abstracts Tutorials

For additional instructional videos, search "Sociological Abstracts CSA" on YouTube.

Google Scholar

Google Scholar is not always reliable, but often times it pulls in materials from sources we have and may not easily be found in any other way. It also provides a means for a "fishing expedition"--casting terms out there to see what is "caught" and possibly providing new terms to reiterate the search. A Google Scholar search can also direct a searcher to the right database for a more precise and well-conceived search.