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Christa Williford, User Services Librarian (HC)
Margaret Schaus, Reference Librarian and Bibliographer (HC)

Sections:

Selecting a Topic and Finding General Information
Looking for Books
Looking for Journal Articles
Reference Resources on Special Topics

Related Subjects:

Databases A-Z:

Other:

Malvern Preparatory School: Researching Cultural, Sociological, and Political Issues

Selecting a Topic and Finding General Information:

The following sources provide overviews of many cultural and sociological topics. Their entries usually include suggestions for further reading. If you find something relevant for you, follow up by searching for items in their bibliographies in the library catalog or in the databases of journal articles. See the bottom of this page for other reference resources dedicated to special topics.

CQ researcher

Holdings:
(Bryn Mawr College) Available from 1923-present.
(Haverford College) Available from 1923-present.
(Swarthmore College) Available from 1923-present.

Publisher: Washington, D.C. : Congressional Quarterly, Inc.

Start here for good journalistic summaries of important U.S. domestic issues. You can print out reports, or use their bibliographies to search for more sources in the library catalog.

CQ global researcher

Provides students with definitive, in-depth coverage of newsworthy global affairs from a number of international viewpoints.

Encyclopedia of American social history

Publisher: New York : Scribner, c1993.

This scholarly set presents long essays on American issues and institutions. An excellent source for finding the historical origins of your topic.

American decades.

Publisher: Detroit : Gale Research, c1994-<c2001>

ALSO AVAILABLE AT MALVERN LIBRARY: Look here for in-depth treatment of the events and people of the 1960s and other decades in American history.

The Greenwood guide to American popular culture

Publisher: Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 2002.

ALSO AVAILABLE AT MALVERN LIBRARY.

The guide to United States popular culture

Publisher: Bowling Green, OH : Bowling Green State University Popular Press, c2001.

St. James encyclopedia of popular culture

Publisher: Detroit : St. James Press, c2000.

ALSO AVAILABLE AT MALVERN LIBRARY.

Cambridge companions online.

Looking for Books:

Use the Tripod Library Catalog to look for books owned by Haverford, Bryn Mawr, and Swarthmore. You will only be able to look at books at Haverford, but it's good to note other titles in case you have a chance to get more information via interlibrary loan.

Below find examples of subject searches. To find materials on a topic not listed below, try doing a keyword search in the Tripod Library Catalog to find relevant materials and then using the subject headings assigned to those materials to find more.

Sample Subject Searches

Looking for Journal Articles:

Journal articles are especially important for your project because they are usually focused on a specific issue. Be sure to check notes and bibliographies the most recent articles for more potential sources.

ProQuest Research Library

Provider: ProQuest

Provides citations and full-text magazine and journal articles in a wide variety of disciplines, both scholarly and popular in scope. Covers 1971-present. If necessary, choose the "scholarly" tab to disregard popular sources.

MLA international bibliography

Provider: ProQuest

Provides citations to journal articles, books, working papers, conference proceedings, bibliographies, and other materials. Areas covered include literature, language, linguistics, film, theatre and folklore. Covers 1926-present.

Sociological abstracts

Holdings:
1963-

Publisher: Bethesda, Md. : Cambridge Scientific Abstracts,

Provider: CSA

Provides abstracts of journal articles, books, book chapters, dissertations and conference papers in the fields of sociology, social work and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. It covers many resources that aren't easily available, so you may need to be patient in searching. Covers 1963-present.

JSTOR

ALSO AVAILABLE AT MALVERN LIBRARY: Provides full-text and page images from many of the top journals in most academic disciplines. Coverage is from the inception of the journal through three to five years ago.

Reference Resources on Special Topics:

Encyclopedia of globalization

Publisher: New York : Routledge, c2007.

Illegal immigration

Author: LeMay, Michael C., 1941-

Publisher: Santa Barbara, Calif. : ABC-CLIO, c2007.

The Wiley encyclopedia of energy and the environment

Publisher: New York : Wiley, c1997.

Science, technology, and society

Publisher: New York : Oxford University Press, 2005.

The encyclopedia examines the science of computers, bioengineering, and recent developments in physics, etc., and it explores their legal, governmental, military, economic, religious, and cultural impacts.

International index to music periodicals

Provider: Chadwyck

Provides abstracts to music titles. Offers articles in full-text for over 80 periodicals. Covers all aspects of music including education, composition, theory and ethnomusicology. Covers 1874-present. Full-text begins in the mid-1990s-present.