Sociology: Home

Use this list of usernames and passwords to access our databases from home.

Before a book is published, an editor reviews the pages to make sure the content is accurate and the spelling and grammar are correct. Then critics review the book in journals, magazines, and newspapers. Finally, librarians evaluate the book to make sure it's worth using for student research.

But no such review process exists for web pages. Anyone can publish anything to the web at any time. The majority of websites are created by non-experts. That's why it's important for you to carefully evaluate web pages before using the information.

Whenever you surf the web, check these criteria to make sure you're getting high-quality information from a reliable source:

•  Authority
• Content
• Currency
• Purpose

1.  Use multiple words rather than single keywords

• Rank them, putting the most important words first in the search string

2.  Put phrases (words that need to be side-by-side) in quotation marks (") so that you can find an exact phrase in a document. Examples: "global warming", "drunk driving", "fake news"

3. Truncate your word and use an asterisk after it to pick up all forms of the word.  For example, using the search term teen*, would expand the search to include the terms, teen, teens, teenager, teenagers, teenaged

4. Use AND, OR or NOT, also called Boolean Operators, to help narrow or expand your hits

•    Teens AND stress.  Hits will contain both search terms, so you will get articles that contain both words.  This choice will narrow your search and you will get less articles because both terms have to be in each article.
•    Teens OR "young adults".  Hits will contain just one of the two search terms, so you will get lots of articles because only one of your search terms will be in them.  OR is often used to combine synonyms or like concepts. 
•    Jaguar NOT car.   Hits will have the word jaguar in them but will not refer to the automobile. NOT should be used sparingly since it can eliminate information that might have been relevant. Other examples: children NOT teens / Mexico NOT "New Mexico"

5.  site: allows you to search within a site.

• iraq site:nytimes.com
• Find more reliable sources by limiting your results to the following domains: .edu  .gov    .org
  • iraq site:.edu   iraq site:.org 

To access the traditional Destiny Search screen with Resource Lists, click the link below:

Remember:

• Citations from databases can be exported directly to NoodleTools (the exception is Britannica)
• Use the Quick Cite (Copy and Paste) to add citations from Britannica.
• Articles in reference books often have the author's name at the end of the article
• If you have forgotten your password click the I forgot my password link under the Sign In box.
• NoodleTools can now cite content created using AI like Chat GPT.