Research Guides: Writing for Sociology: Resources for Research

Mapping Demographics

Social Explorer
Social Explorer provides quick and easy access to current and historical census data and demographic information. The easy-to-use web interface lets users create maps and reports to illustrate, analyze, and understand demography and social change. In addition to its comprehensive data resources, Social Explorer offers features and tools to meet the needs of demography experts and novices alike. Click more (below) to see Data Resources:
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Data Resources:
Access current and historical demographic data:
The entire US Census from 1790 to 2010.
The entire American Community Survey (ACS) from 2005 to 2012.
All annual updates from the American Community Survey.
InfoGroup data on religious congregations in the United States for 2009 and 2010, including maps for counties and special census areas, as well as point maps of the actual congregation locations.
The Religious Congregations and Membership Study (RCMS) from 1980 to 2010.
Carbon Emissions Data for 2002 from the Vulcan Project.
Social Explorer includes over 40 billion data elements, 500,000 variables, and more than 25,000 interactive maps. New datasets coming soon—stay tuned for details.
Stay current with the latest data from the US Census Bureau, which is added to the site as soon as it is released.
Browse full source documentation for all reports and maps, as well as the source and computation information for every variable.
Replace printed volumes spanning 22 decades of census surveys with easy-to-compare data all in one place and one format.
SimplyMap
Concurrent user limit: 10
Note: Now includes SimmonsLOCAL Data Module!
SimplyMap is a web-based mapping application with a user-friendly interface that permits users to quickly and easily create professional-quality thematic maps and reports using thousands of demographic, business, and marketing variables. Maps can be exported as high-resolution images to word processing or presentation software; data can be selected, sorted, and compared across multiple locations to build custom reports that can be exported to a spreadsheet. Available data include:Demographic Variables: population, age, race, income, ancestry, marital status, housing, employment, transportation, families, and moreBusiness Variables: detailed consumer expenditure, business & employee counts by industry (by NAICS Code), Consumer Price Index, quality of life & consumer profiles, and market segments. Simplymap also utilizes current Mediamark Research (MRI) estimates of usage and consumption (propensity) for thousands of specific consumer products, including brand data, details of frequency of usage, and more.
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Census data back to the year 1980 is available along with current year estimates and 5 year projections. Data is available by census block-groups, census tracts, ZIP codes, cities, counties, states, and the entire United States. Experian SimmonsLOCAL is a powerful targeting and profiling system that provides insights into consumer behavior for all of America's 210 media markets on a local level with 60,000+ data variables, including over 450 categories and 8,000 specific brands. From the products we buy, to the brands we prefer, our attitudes and lifestyles, SimmonsLOCAL reports on the unique nuances of every market. Enjoy the ability to analyze data by County, City/Place, ZIP code, Census Tracts, Block Groups, or even custom area.
PolicyMap
Policy Map is a web-based Geographic Information System that provides a simple mechanism for visualizing data. Available data includes demographics, home sale statistics, health data, mortgage trends, school performance scores and labor data like unemployment, crime statistics and city crime rates.

Databases

SUBJECT SPECIFIC DATABASES are databases which index the most important scholarly/academic journals in a specific subject area, and are essential for doing in-depth research on a topic in that subject area.

DISCIPLINE-SPECIFIC DATABASES index materials from several related subject areas. The materials are usually professional/trade publications and scholarly/academic journals.

International Bibliography of the Social Sciences
IBSS is an essential online resource for social science and interdisciplinary research. IBSS includes over 3 million bibliographic references to journal articles and to books, reviews and selected chapters dating back to 1951. It is unique in its broad coverage of international material and incorporates over 100 languages and countries. Over 2,800 journals are regularly indexed and some 7,000 books are included each year. Abstracts are provided for half of all current journal articles.
Update Frequency: Biweekly, with approximately 100,000 new records added each year.
Click more (below) for subject coverage:
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Subject coverage:
Anthropology
Archaeology
Cultural studies
Demography
Economics
Education
Ethnology and ethnography
Political science
Religious studies
Sociology

GENERAL INTEREST DATABASES are good places to begin research especially if you are unsure about which database to use. They contain a broad range of materials and include many different subjects and disciplines.

Library Search
Library Search is your gateway to discover books, journal articles, and much more at Temple University Libraries. Additional information can be found in our Library Search FAQ's.
Sociological Abstracts
Sociological Abstracts provides coverage of the world's literature on sociology and applied aspects of sociology.
ProQuest Sociology Database
Sociology Database covers the international literature of sociology and social work, including relevant titles from related fields such as social policy, social care, social services, social anthropology, gender studies, gerontology, social psychology and population studies.
ProQuest Criminal Justice
Proquest Criminal Justice Periodicals Index covers approximately 250 U.S. and international criminal justice journals, many in full-text.
PAIS International
YouTube tutorials
PAIS covers issues in the public debate through selective coverage of international sources including journal articles, books, government documents, statistical directories, grey literature, research reports, conference papers, web content. PAIS International is the current file covering 1972 to present, and PAIS Archive includes the content from printed volumes published 1915-1976.
JSTOR
JSTOR provides page images of ebooks, ebook chapters, and back issues of scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, and basic sciences from the earliest issues to current publication. It also offers millions of high-quality ArtStor images, curated from leading museums and archives around the world.
Ethnic Newswatch
Concurrent user limit: 12
Ethnic NewsWatch is a full-text collection of the newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press.
GenderWatch
Concurrent user limit: 12
GenderWatch is a database of diverse publications that focus on how gender impacts a broad spectrum of subject areas. It contains archival material, dating back to 1970. Publications include scholarly journals, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, regional publications, books and NGO, government and special reports.
Academic Search Complete
Academic Search Complete provides full text scholarly publications and full text journals for academic areas of study.

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