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SOC 419: Inequalities and Health (Professor Roche)

Scholarly Journal Articles

How do we know a source we've found is a scholarly journal article? Look for these clues:

  • written by scholars (with affiliations to universities or research institutions)
  • written for other scholars and students (and therefore difficult to read)
  • published in an academic journal with a peer-review process
    • Here are some examples:
      • Critical Sociology
      • Journal of Applied Sociology
      • American Sociological Review
  • structured format (abstract, introduction, etc...)
  • extensive references at the end

Most Useful

Also Useful

Tips Examples
Use keywords, not long search phrases

Instead of searching for "How does ADHD impact one's ability to manage chronic illness?" break down your search into the main keywords:

ADHD, chronic illness

To get more focused results:

Use quotation marks (" ") to keep phrases together

Use AND to combine different keywords

ADHD AND "chronic illness" 

To get broader results:

Use OR to combine similar/associated keywords

Truncate words that have a variety of endings with a *

(ADHD or "attention deficit hyperactivity disorder") AND "chronic illness

 

 

ill* = ill, illness, illnesses

Look for ways to limit your search in the database using the Advanced Search mode

You can often limit by type of article (editorial, front page) & year of publication