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SOCU 1008 UO The Social World: Annotated Bibliography

1. Introduction

This page will get you started in finding peer reviewed articles for your annotated bibliography

Your assessment requires you to:

  • Find 3 high-quality peer-reviewed sociological journal articles; 
  • Use the assignment template provided to cite and annotate each in the APA 7th style

2. Understand your task: annotated bibliography

An annotated bibliography is a summary of sources (e.g. journal articles, books or book chapters) addressing a research topic.

Each source is listed as a separate entry including:

  • Full reference information
  • Short summary of the main ideas in the text
  • Brief critical evaluation/critique of the text

3. Understand your task: peer review

In your assignment you must use peer reviewed resources. Some scholarly journals, but not all, have a peer review process.

To find out more view

Some databases allow you to limit your search to peer reviewed journals.

But a word of caution: Some limit to "Scholarly or Peer Reviewed" so they may also include scholarly material that is not peer reviewed.

If there's no way of limiting to peer reviewed journals, you will need to determine peer review status yourself. To learn how, view:

4. Identify key terms

Planning your search helps you find information more efficiently.

Start by:

  •  Identifying the main concepts in your research question
  •  Thinking of any alternative concepts or synonyms for each concept

table or mindmap can be a useful strategy for doing this. 

For example, if you are researching 'housing and inequality' you could do:

Main concepts

Concept 1
housing

Concept 2
inequality

Synonyms (similar concepts)

"home ownership"

shelter

accommodation

inequity

Ensure your results focus on sociological aspects by adding this as another search concept. You could also add a relevant theory or theorist here:

Additional concept sociology
Synonyms (similar concepts)

social

sociological

society

5. Connect terms

Now turn your terms into a search by:

  • Combining alternative terms with the connector OR; and
  • Combining different concepts with the connector AND

Tips:

  •  Use * at the end of a word to find all word endings. EG sociol* will find sociology, sociologic, sociologically etc
  •  Putting "double quotes" around a phrase will search for that exact term only

More help:

6. Start your search with the Library Collection

Start your search with the Library collection, which lists the majority of resources available through the Library.

Try an advanced search so you can build your search properly.

Using the Advanced search, you can specify where your search terms appear.

  • Give each concept its own line
  • Try searching for your sociology terms in the journal title field.
  • You can also limit to material type: articles and by publication date

Example search:

housing OR "home ownership"
AND
inequality OR inequity
AND
societ* OR sociol* OR social

Screenshot of advanced Library Collection search

7. Searching Google Scholar

Google Scholar searches only within academic or scholarly sites, rather than the whole internet. By accessing Google Scholar from within the library website, you will be able to link directly to articles that the library has access to by clicking on the Full-text at UniSA link.

Use the Google Scholar link from the Library website below for best access to full-text references. Also see the two videos below on the why and the how of using Google Scholar:

8. Searching databases

You  should also try searching relevant databases. Databases are search tools which allow you to find information from specific research areas.

Some key databases you could search:

9. How to search databases

You  should also try searching relevant databases. Databases are search tools which allow you to find information from specific research areas.

Sociological Abstracts (via ProQuest) is one database you could use in this assignment. It provides descriptive information for international literature in sociology and related disciplines.

Note: This is an example search using Sociological Abstracts but the same searching techniques can be applied in the other databases.

Example Advanced Search

  • Put a different concept on each line.
  • Use OR to connect any similar terms (synonyms).
  • Select Anywhere but not the full text from the drop down menu to the right. You can also select Publication Title for your sociology line.
  • Limit to Peer Review, and select a publication date limit if desired.

Example search:

housing OR "home ownership"
AND
inequality OR inequity
AND
societ* OR sociol* OR social

Screenshot of advanced Sociological Abstracts (via ProQuest) search

Some additional key databases you could search:

10. Evaluate information

It is important to evaluate the information you find. Watch the short videos below:

11. Cite and write

Use the template supplied in your course site to record your annotated bibliography.  The associated help guide document on your course site includes some exemplars for this specific assignment.

You are required to reference your articles using the APA 7 style.

More help:

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