Search these databases for scholarly articles and professional publications. I recommend making your search more specific and precise than when you searched encyclopedias. Consider what the main ideas of your question are. For example, if you're writing a paper on Arab Americans, you might have read in the Encyclopedia of Social Work that family is a strong part of Arab American life and has a role in how individuals view their identity. You might do a search on (family and identity and Arab American) in QuickSearch to find articles that talk about all three of those ideas.
Don't try to find everything in one article. For example, if you also read that there are many stereotypes about Arab Americans, particularly when it comes to gender roles, you would want to do a separate search on that, rather than including it in the search for family. You could, for example, do a search on (stereotype and gender and Arab American). I would not, though, do a search on (family and identity and stereotype and gender and Arab American) because it's asking for too many things at one time.
For more information on searching databases, check out our online workshop, Stop Searching and Start Finding.
Search extensively indexed books, monographs, and conference papers. This index features citations with subject headings from a sociology-specific thesaurus designed by expert lexicographers. SocINDEX covers all subdisciplines of sociology such as anthropology, criminology, demography, ethnic, racial, and gender studies, marriage, family, and social structures, and social work.
This multidisciplinary resource indexes journal literature of the social sciences. Represented disciplines include anthropology, business, communication, criminology, demography, ethnic and racial studies, gender studies, history, law, political science, psychology, religion, social psychology, sociology, social work, and urban studies. Search by topic, keyword, or author. Identify articles that cited a previous work. Links to full-text occur when available. Also known as SSCI.
Indexes psychology literature and related disciplines including psychiatry, medicine, nursing, pharmacology, cognitive science, and linguistics. Includes journals and book chapters. Use Historic PsycINFO to identify literature published as early as the 1920s. Links occur to full-text when available.
"Organization is essential as you work from start to finish of your [research] project. Good organization will allow you to see where you have been and help you to see how to proceed.
- Walden University Library, Library Guide to Capstone Literature Reviews: Get & Stay Organized
*Make sure to review your assignment requirements
Use the following organizational tools to help you throughout the literature search process. When you read articles, it's helpful to think about them in the context of your research question, theory, and hypothesis. These documents allow you to compile details about your sources, such as citation information, purpose, methodologies, implications, and critiques. The documents can also help with identifying similarities and themes between articles and authors.