AAAS/SOC 409, Sec. 2: Racial & Ethnic Inequality in America

• Identify and develop your topic:

  • Try These First
    a list of databases useful for starting your research
  • Check your syllabus for topic ideas
  • Talk with your instructor or librarian

• Identify keywords, synonyms, and other terms related to your topic

Encyclopedias and other reference materials provide background information and overviews of topics. To find encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other reference materials, as well as general books and other formats like video materials in The CAT [Penn State Libraries' online catalog]:

• use "Advanced Search"
• enter identified keywords
• limit search to format, year, etc.

Selected Online Encyclopedias

The following titles are available through the Libraries' Databases by Title (A-Z) list:

• Gale Virtual Reference Library
• Oxford African American Studies Center
• Encyclopedia of American Studies
• Oxford Reference Online

Selected Print Encyclopedias

• Encyclopedia of Social Issues
• Encyclopedia of American social history
• Poverty in the United States: an encyclopedia of history, politics, and policy
• Encyclopedia of social welfare history in North America
• Rich and poor in America: a reference handbook

Use identified keywords to find articles in Indexes and Databases. The following selected indexes and databases are available through the Libraries' Databases by Title (A-Z) list:

• Sociological Abstracts
• JSTOR [scholarly articles database]
• ERIC [Education Resources Information Center, U.S. Department of Education]
• America: History and Life
• International Index to Black Periodicals
• Hispanic American Periodical Index (HAPI)
• ProQuest
• Periodical Index Online

Two Penn State Libraries' Research Guides will be helpful for finding statistics:

• Social Sciences Statistics and Data
  
• African American Studies
  

Other online sources:

• U.S. Census Bureau
• Bureau of Labor Statistics [U.S. Department of Labor]

Government documents are a rich source of information including laws, regulations, and statistics.

To find government documents in the Penn State Libraries' collections, use Advanced Search in The CAT and limit the location to "Paterno - 2nd Floor - U.S. documents".

Online sources for government information include:

• Government [Penn State Libraries' Research Guide]

• Catalog of U.S. Government Publications [Government Printing Office]

• LexisNexis Congressional [available via the Libraries' Databases by Title (A-Z) list]

• USA.gov [U.S. government Web portal]

The following databases are available through the Libraries' Databases by Title (A-Z) list:

• Westlaw Campus

• Gale Virtual Reference Library [search by subject "law"]

• Index to Legal Periodicals

Newspaper articles can provide context as well as current & historical information about your topic. Use the Libraries' Newpapers and News Sources Research Guide to find appropriate new sources for your topic.

Other helpful Penn State Libraries' Research Guides [found in the Libraries' alphabetical list of research guides] include:

• Area and Cultural Studies

• Women's Studies

• Sociology

• Ethnic and Race Relations Resources

• Education

Citation and Writing Guides [Penn State Libraries' Research Guide] provides links to online citation guides as well as citation management tools that will help you correctly format your bibliographic references.