Manfred Kuechler

Finding Information on (Published) Social Research Online


Last  update:  3 Sep, 2008


Access Options


Below are several links to online information resources (data bases) important for academic work in the social sciences.  Most of these are not freely available to everyone, but require an (institutional) subscription and thus are also referred to as "licensed resources".  Some of these data bases are available at all CUNY colleges, others are available at Hunter College only.  CUNY-wide resources can be accessed from any computer on a CUNY campus, Hunter resources can be accessed from any computer on the Hunter campuses.

In addition, access from off campus/home (technically, "remote access") is provided in three ways:
Hunter proxy login

As a rule, you should use the  "Hunter proxy server" and use the other two methods as backup only, e.g., in case of trouble with your Hunter e-mail user name/PW or when the Hunter proxy server is down.  Also,  I mention two backup options, as one may work while the other is not. Keep in mind that when using these backups the results of any search may be more limited than when using access via the Hunter proxy server -- even if a database appears in both the Hunter and the CUNY list.



Selected Newspaper and Journal Databases



Lexis-Nexis logo Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe-- great for finding newspaper stories. With respect to social research, newspaper stories are often a good way to learn about recently published studies of broader interest and you can use the newspaper story to then search  for a specific study of interest and hopefully find more comprehensive information including the methodological details which are rarely sufficiently covered by the general press. LN no longer includes the Roper Center's data base of survey questions, but the Hunter now subscribes directly to this data base.

Custom Newspapers is an alternative to Lexis-Nexis for finding newspaper stories. The advantage of this database is that it offers "persistent URLs" (see below). 


EBSCO logo EBSCO Academic Search Premier (ASP) and other data bases including "Business Source Premier" and "PsycARTICLES" -- great for finding articles in scholarly/academic journals on particular issues/topics many with access to the full text online -- either directly or via "cross linking" (more technically, "SFX"). As to the latter,  you will find an icon or  a text link labeled "Find it!" below search results in EBSCO and most other data bases. More information on the "Find it!" feature. Due to this feature, access from Hunter or via Hunter proxy server provides more results and more full text access than access via CUNY proxy server or CUNY Portal.

The EBSCO databases also include "SocINDEX with Full Text" --  which is a relatively new product designed to compete with "Sociological Abstracts" -- which has founded in 1952 and moved online as the technology developed.  Data bases with the word "abstract" in their name are designed to cover more or less all (important) publications in an area/field, but traditionally they do not contain the full text of the publications covered. Such databases are particularly helpful when one wants to minimize the likelihood of overlooking any piece of research.

Effective fall 2006, CUNY has terminated its license for "Sociological Abstracts" and licenses "SocINDEX with Full Text" instead. SocINDEX can be accessed via the general link to EBSCO Research Databases above or directly.

EBSCO EJS logo EBSCO Electronic Journal Service (EJS) -- useful if you are looking for the full text of a specific article in a specific journal; even if EBSCO ASP does not have (a link to) the full text, you may find it here.  The "Find it!" feature described above has its glitches. Also, you may get access to very recent journal issues this way.
EJS provides electronic access to the most recent issues of many (if not most) journals which are available in hard copy (print) at Hunter. Increasingly, publishers offer electronic editions in addition for no or minimal cost as an incentive to keep the print subscription of a journal.

Comprehensive Locator for all electronic journal resources available at Hunter  -- Similar to EJS, but at least in theory more comprehensive. To be on the safe side, double check EJS, even if this database provides a negative. This site simply provides links to the specific database(s) where the online version of a journal can be found; it also notes if the journal is available in a print version. Some journals are included in more than one database, and different years (volumes) of a journal may be included in different databases.  

Sage logo Sage Sociology Collection -- full text of 28 sociology journals some going back for 20 years.  
Sage Political Science Collection  ,   Sage Communications Collection  

Note that there is some overlap between these sources. Also, once you are connected to one of these data bases, you can switch to "Social Sciences"  for a search of these data bases combined.  

ScienceDirect (Elsevier) includes a number of social science journals, especially in the social policy area.  Select "Social Sciences" from the list of subject areas to limit your search.



SpringerLink also includes a number of social science journals, mostly published in Europe.



JSTOR includes the two leading sociology journals (American Journal of Sociology [AJS] and American Sociological Review [ASR]), but the emphasis is on back issues, in the case of AJS going back to 1895. Almost all journals in JSTOR are subject to an "embargo" meaning that the most recent issues from the last 3-5 years (varies by journal) are not included in the database.




Web of Science (ISI) is a citation database. It does not offer access to the full text of article, rather it allows you to check on who cites whom.  Given the increasing specialization in all fields, it is often difficult to access the scholarly or scientific value of a publication (not to mention that it takes time to read an article carefully). A citation index reflects how much attention an author and/or a specific article has attracted in the "scientific community" which can be use as a proxy for value.  In addition, you can use such a database to locate newer research related to the article you have found (the reference section in this article points to prior publication, with WoS you get pointers to later publications).  WoS does not just cover the natural sciences, but also social sciences and arts and humanities.

Shortcut: Google Scholar

Google scholar logoGoogle Scholar  searches across a wide variety of sources, but it does not provide direct access to the full text of most journal articles. However, using the Hunter customization, sources for full text (if available at Hunter at all) can be easily located. This is a useful shortcut for a. people with less experience with searching the actual databases (above) and b. anyone interested in a quick search across many sources.


Some "Facts and Figures" Databases

"The Gallup Brain is a searchable, living record of 70 years of public opinion. Inside, you'll find answers to more than 136,000 questions, and responses from more than 3.5 million people interviewed by The Gallup Poll since 1935."  This database also contains some articles/reports based on Gallup surveys.


"Polling the Nations is a compilation of more than 14,000 surveys conducted by over 1000 polling organizations in the United States and 100 other countries from 1986 to the present time." The Hunter license is limited and allows for four concurrent users only.  So, please be sure to log out when you are done.



Roper Center  The Roper Center iPoll database is an alternative.




Britannica: World Data Analyst  -- This database contains facts and figures for the countries of this world. It does not document completed social research rather it provides basic information useful for cross-national comparative research.  It is part of larger collection of research tools (Britannica Online). -- Similar sources are  The World Factbook 2008  formerly known as the CIA World Factbook and NationMaster. Both these sites are freely available, no need to authenticate.


 Infoshare. Statistical data from a variety of sources available on many different levels -- like zip codes, neighborhoods, or school districts -- for NYC.


social explorerSocial Explorer provides easy access to demographic information about the United States, from 1940 to 2000. To get started, select "Maps" or "Reports". This database was developed at Queens College by sociology professor Andrew Beveridge.




Retrieval, Documentation, Management

Once you have found a relevant item (the full text of a journal article or just an abstract), you can download it (i.e., save on your computer or on a portable device like USB/thumb drive) and -- maybe later -- print it. However, it is easy to get overwhelmed with saved files and/or printed articles, so you should always  write down the bibliographical details (author(s), title, journal title, year of publication, page numbers, etc.) and the exact location (URL) where this item can be found on the web. The latter is sometimes a bit tricky as some databases do not provide "persistent" URLs (these are URLs that will continue to work) or make it difficult to find them.  Check  a related document on how find to find "persistent URLs" for proper documentation of online sources.

Also, when writing a research paper or when working on a larger project,  consider the use of bibliographical software to store and manage the results of your literature searches. Since the spring semester 2006, Hunter makes such software available for free:

One of the great advantages of using either product is that you can "export" the results of your search in any database, i.e., transferring the complete bibliographical details for all selected items more or less automatically without tedious copy-and-paste operations and possibly overlooking an important piece.  Note that this automatic transfer works better with some databases than with others. This also works for "Google Scholar".



Appendix: General Information Retrieval Tools

These sites are useful in general beyond checking on social research. They are freely available to anyone, no authentication required.