English 302: Social Sciences Research Strategies & Sources

The Basics

• Fenwick Library: Virtual Tour
• Basics of Library Research
• Library Research Basics Online: WebCT Course (username = library / password = basics)

What's your timeframe for this project?

• Assignment Calculator

Define Your Topic

• How to Narrow/Broaden a Topic

Think: What type of sources do you need for your topic?

• Primary, secondary and tertiary sources

 Find: Background sources on your topic

• Mythology & Folklore (Oxford)
• Politics & Social Sciences (Oxford)
• Religion & Philosophy (Oxford)
• Reference Universe

Find: Books

• How to read a call number
• How to find a book
• Item not at your Mason campus library? Try another library

Find: Articles

•  E-Journal Finder
  • Choose indexes and formats best suited to your topic
    • Basic Topics  (Proquest, Infotrac, Expanded Academic ASAP, etc.)
    • Anthropology
    • Area & Culture Studies
    • Arts - Visual & Performing 
    • Communication
    • Criminal Justice
    • Economics
    • Film & Media Studies
    • Geography
    • Government Documents
    • International Affairs
    • Literature & Language (includes linguistics and folklore)
    • News/Current Events
    • Philosophy & Religion
    • Psychology
    • Public Affairs & Policy Studies 
    • Sociology
    • Ask a librarian which database and format will be best for you
    • Find the periodical articles
    • Item not at your Mason campus library? Try another library

Think: Use Internet sources wisely

• Web is not indexed; sheer volume can overwhelm you
• Evaluating web sources

Think: Evaluate what you find

• Evaluating bibliographic citations
• Evaluating content from bibliographic citations
• Evaluating web sources
• What's the difference between a scholarly (research) journal and a popular magazine?

Cite: Give credit where credit is due

• Plagiarism is knowingly representing the work of others as your own
• The Fraud of Plagiarism (Tutorial)
• Mason Honor Code
• Use a style manual to cite your sources in a standard format