Course resource help for Sociology

• If you're new to the Oxford Brookes Library, check our quick guides For new starters
• Find out How to get help using the Library
• Find out about Library services for users with a disability and Alternate formats
• Check a PDF floor plan of the Headington Library The main section for print books in Sociology is on Level 2 in Zone C of the Headington Library.

Going to university is a huge step but there is lots of support available. Here are links to support services and useful resources for self-care:

• Life and study balance - find out about the Library Wellbeing Zone, Sensory Study Space and collections of self-care resources.
• Managing yourself and your time (part of our Study Smarter series)
• Student support and wellbeing - how to contact your Student Support Co-ordinator and other services. 
• Inclusive Support Service

Check the Study Smarter section to find online resources and recommended books on study skills topics, including:

• Managing yourself and your time
• Reading, lectures and note taking
• Writing essays, reports and other assignments
• Group work and presentations
• Preparing for exams
• Skills for dissertations and independent research

You can access LibrarySearch:

• On the Library home page
• Use the Quick Access link at the top of this page or the links in the section below.
• If you're in Moodle, use the Library link in the top menu

Searching for books

Use LibrarySearch to look for books and eBooks available in the Oxford Brookes Library. Just type in the author, title or subject that you are interested in. Limit your search results to books.

Check the video guide (right) for tips on how LibrarySearch works.

Finding print books

Print books have a 'call number' which tells you where the book is shelved in the Library, for example this book: Making sense of fatherhood : gender, caring and work by Tina Miller is at 306.8742 MIL. 

The main section for print books in Sociology is on Level 2 in Zone C of the Headington Library. 

• Finding your material shows you how to understand call numbers and look for books on the library shelves
• Finding books and eBooks for Sociology (PDF) highlights key areas of the library for Sociology topics. Also available as Word file
• Borrowing and returning tells you about borrowing print books
• If the book is on loan to another user or at one of our other libraries, you can put a hold on it (quick video guide). If it's on the shelves, it's quicker for you to go and get it yourself.

Use LibrarySearch to look for books and eBooks available in the Oxford Brookes Library. Type in the author, title or subject that you are interested in. If you want to just see eBooks, you can limit your results by using the filters on the left. 

Here is an example of a library eBook: Living well at others' expense: the hidden costs of Western prosperity. Follow the 'View eBook' link to connect to it. Log in when prompted with your Brookes student number and password. 

Our eBooks are on various web platforms, for example this one is on  ProQuest Ebook Central. You'll see there are options to:

• Read the book online
• Download individual chapters as PDFs (NB you will be restricted as to how many pages you could save from the whole book).
• Download the whole book for a limited time (usually between 1 and 21 days).

In order to download many of our eBooks - including ones on ProQuest - you need to have the Adobe Digital Editions programme or app on your computer/device. You can download this for free.

O'Reilly eBooks

O'Reilly is another eBook platform but it works differently to most other e-resources. If you need to access an O'Reilly eBook, check this quick guide to how to login; steps 4-6 show you what to do when you reach the O'Reilly site.

Find out more about accessing and downloading library eBooks

Academic journals are key sources in the Sociology discipline.

• Articles published in these journals are written by specialists in the subject and they provide an insight into current thinking, debate and research in the field. 
• Journals can be good sources of up to date information on current topics which may not be covered by books. 
• Articles can cover a specific topic in depth, e.g. a study carried out using specific research methods (quantitative/qualitative/mixed). 

This guide Anatomy of a Journal (PDF) from the Open University explains clearly what a journal is, and how they differ from books.

Peer reviewed journal articles

You will often be asked to consult peer reviewed articles for your research. These are high quality scholarly articles that have been checked by other experts in the field. 

The peer review provides feedback so that researchers can revise and improve their papers before publication. It also acts as a quality check, ensuring that articles meet high standards expected in the discipline and required to maintain the reputation of the journal. Find out more about the purpose of peer review and how it works in this Explainer: what is peer review?

LibrarySearch is a good place to start looking for journal articles on a topic. Just type your keywords or a phrase in the search box. At the results screen, use the the filter options on the left to limit your search to peer-reviewed articles.

We recommend you also use databases, especially for more in-depth research because LibrarySearch doesn’t cover all of our e-resources and you may get better results on a more specialised database.

If you have the details of a specific article (for example from an author's bibliography) you may be able to find it through LibrarySearch by typing in some key words from the article title and an author. If the article doesn't come up, you'll need to look up the journal instead to see if we have it  - see the section 'Look for a specific journal' below.

Looking for a specific journal

• Go to the Library and select the 'Journal titles' tab.
• Type in the journal title.
• Find the journal on LibrarySearch and click on the title.
• Click on the 'Access journal' link to connect to the journal home page.
• The journal site may offer a search function and will also allow you to browse. If browsing, use the year, volume and issue numbers to find the correct journal issue. Articles in each issue will be listed in page order, so use the page numbers to find the specific article.

Looking for a specific article

You may want to do this if you're following up a reference found in a bibliography:

• Try looking up the article on LibrarySearch. Use the author's surname and a few keywords from the article title.
• If you can't locate the article in this way, follow the steps above to look up the journal title and check if we have access to the journal and issue you need.

If we don't have the journal or issue you want, you can use the interlibrary loan service to request a free copy of the article.

Here is an example of an article from an academic journal which follows a very common structure:

Hoskins, B., Leonard, P. and Wilde, R. (2020) 'How Effective Is Youth Volunteering as an Employment Strategy? A Mixed Methods Study of England’, Sociology, 54 (4), pp.763-781.

Always start with the abstract: a summary of the article’s content that appears at the beginning.
Look at this to help you decide if an article is relevant for your own research. The abstract will indicate the scope of the article and often highlights the research methods that have been used.

Journal articles often have this structure: Introduction - The research study - Discussion/conclusions. 

1. Introductory section: the author will usually set their article in the context of previous research. Notice all the in-text citations, e.g. (Hoskins et al., 2018). These are sources that the authors read before conducting their own research. 
2. The research study: this will form the main part of the article
3. Discussion/Conclusions: What are the authors’ reflections and conclusions? Do they make recommendations for further research? Do they agree/disagree with earlier research?

When you're searching for sources, you don't have to read the article in full at this stage. Scan through the abstract, introduction and conclusion to see if it's relevant to your own research topic. If the article looks useful, download the PDF and read it later, making notes as you go. Don’t forget to record all the details of the article for your reference list. 

For tips on understanding how to read and understand social science research articles, take a look at this book:

Harris, S. (2014) How to critique journal articles in the social sciences. Los Angeles: SAGE.

It's a good idea to keep track of your sources as you find them, so that it's easier to reference them later. Check this guide for How to save and cite sources in LibrarySearch (Google slides)

Always check Cite Them Right to see how your references should look in the Harvard style required at Brookes.

• Library eBooks - Cite Them Right says to reference these in the same way as print books 
• Journal articles - make sure you have a record of: Author(s); Title of article; Title of journal; Year of publication; Volume number (if given); Issue number (if given); Page numbers. You may also want to note the DOI.

Why should I use databases?

LibrarySearch is a useful starting point but it doesn’t include all of our e-resources. We recommend you also use library databases:

• Databases may give you additional sources that aren't listed on LibrarySearch
• Some databases are subject-specific so you can focus on the most relevant sources for your topic.

How do I use databases?

Check the section How to search Sociology databases (below) to find:

• Links to recommended databases Sociological Abstracts and IBSS
• How to search databases effectively

• OED - online version of the Oxford English Dictionary.
• Oxford Reference Online - collection of Oxford University Press reference books on a variety of subjects including Sociology. Good sources for finding concise factual information and definitions. Individual titles from the collection are also listed on LibrarySearch.

Using Google and Google Scholar

• Google Scholar is a freely available search engine that focuses on scholarly sources. Check our guide Searching Scholar to find out how to ensure it recognises resources you can access for free via Oxford Brookes.
• Get more from Google - tips on using Google and Google Scholar more effectively.

Assessing the quality of web sources

Remember that you need high quality reliable sources for your university work. Take a look at our guide to Evaluating Web sources for tips (Word & PDF versions available).

Useful websites

• The online publication The Conversation contains articles written by academics for a general audience on topics currently in the news and contains links to freely available resources, including statistics. This can be a good starting point for getting ideas on how to approach a research topic.

• Selection of useful websites for Sociology

Referencing webpages

Check Cite Them Right Online for guidance on how to reference web pages and how to reference publications of international organisations in the Harvard style used at Oxford Brookes.

NB Always check the assignment brief to see whether any use of AI is permitted. If you have used AI, make sure you fill out the declaration form.

Key Brookes links:

• Artificial Intelligence  - Centre for Academic Development (CAD) guidance
• Use of Artificial Intelligence - Academic Integrity module on Moodle

Can I use generative AI tools like ChaptGPT to produce references?

Take care when using chat tools as they will often invent plausible but non-existent references. These tools don’t carry out a search of the literature for you and they may generate references using real people, journals & words from titles, but which do not exist.

Are there AI tools that could be useful for research?

There are other AI tools like Research Rabbit, Keenious and SciSpace which are designed to help you to find literature and understand how different sources relate to each other. To find out more, check the Library page Use AI tools for research.

Check this guide Using images in your assignments (Google slides) which covers:

• Understanding copyright
• Finding free to use images
• Crediting and referencing images

For high quality photographs & other images, try these digital image databases mentioned in the guide above:

• Bridgeman Education
• JSTOR database (incorporating ARTstor) offers an image search enabling you to find high-quality images from around the world, including artworks, maps, photographs, and more.

Collections of high quality, free to use photos and images - all mentioned in the guide above:

• Unsplash
• Pexels
• Pixabay

Box of Broadcasts (BoB) is an online archive of films, TV and radio programmes. You can create your own clips from programmes and include them in presentations. Learn more from the BoB Video Tutorials

Doing presentations

• Guide to Using images in your assignments (Google slides) 
• Useful resources on Doing groupwork and presentations (part of our Study Smarter series)

Doing exams

• Past exam papers are available for download by Oxford Brookes students and staff from RADAR. Check this quick video guide Finding past Oxford Brookes exam papers on RADAR
• Useful resources on Preparing for exams (part of our Study Smarter series)

Slides from the Library session for Sociology dissertation students 23/11/23: Literature searching for your Sociology dissertation

Lists of useful resources

• Dissertations and independent research in Sociology, Politics and International Relations - resources on developing a research question, doing a research proposal and much more.
• Social research methods

To get SPSS software for quantitative data analysis on your laptop, go to the SPSS page in the online IT Service Desk to order your installation and receive a licence code. You'll need to log in with your Oxford Brookes credentials.

Who can access:  Sociology undergraduates doing dissertation or equivalent research (from the 2nd Semester of your 2nd Year) are eligible to apply for a Bodleian card. 

What they hold: The Bodleian is a copyright deposit library, which means that a copy of all British publications should be deposited in its collections by the publisher under copyright law. Check their Library catalogue SOLO

How to apply: Check How to access the Bodleian and other libraries. Note that there are different procedures if you apply during the vacation 

What you can access: You can use the main Bodleian Library of Oxford University, as well as the Social Science Library.
Your Bodleian card gives you access to print and e-resources but only within their library buildings. You will be given a Bodleian Libraries username and password which allows you to log into SOLO, library PCs and the ‘Bodleian-Libraries’ Wi-Fi network as well as using their Print, Copy and Scan (PCAS) service. For full details, check their guide What access do I have as a Bodleian Reader card holder 

Interlibrary loan service

You can use this free service to request a loan of a print book or to obtain a copy of a journal article that we don’t hold at Oxford Brookes. Find out more about the interlibrary loan service

Go further, get more

Check the Library's Go further, get more page for other options.

• LibrarySearch: Libraries worldwide
  You can use LibrarySearch to look for resources in the Oxford Brookes Library and beyond. To look for books and articles held by other libraries, type your keywords in the search box and then use the menu on the left to change the settings from 'Oxford Brookes University' to 'Libraries Worldwide.' For many items you will see an option to place an interlibrary loan request.
• Jisc Library Hub Discover allows you to search materials held in many UK national, academic and specialist libraries.
• SOLO Search the catalogue of the University of Oxford

Past undergraduate dissertations for Sociology are kept in the Department, rather than the Library. They are held in Gibbs 1.03 (access 9.00-17.00 only). To view these dissertations, you should contact the Programme Administrator, Laura Crofts, email lcrofts@brookes.ac.uk

Selected MA dissertations for other subjects are available online via the eDissertations collection on RADAR.

The Library does hold all Brookes PhD theses in hard copy: these are listed on LibrarySearch and can be requested at the JHB Library Help Zone. Online versions of many Brookes PhD theses are also available via the eTheses collection on RADAR.

If you are looking for a UK PhD/MPhil thesis, you may be able to obtain a copy online via the British Library's EThOS system. You can search across 250,000+ theses for free and download / order full text where available. You will need to register and log in if you want to download a thesis or to order digitisation of a thesis.