Research Guides: Sociology Research Guide: Online Sources

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Online Sources

Recommended sites about sociology.

Census Data (U.S. Census Bureau)
"The Census Bureau is the leading source of quality data about the nation's people and economy. "
CIA World Factbook
"The World Factbook provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities. Our Reference tab includes: maps of the major world regions, as well as Flags of the World, a Physical Map of the World, a Political Map of the World, a World Oceans map, and a Standard Time Zones of the World map."
Everyday Sociology
"Welcome to Everydaysociologyblog.com, a site that features interesting, informative, and most of all entertaining commentary from sociologists around the United States."
Institute for Women's Policy Research
"The Institute for Women’s Policy Research conducts and communicates research to inspire public dialogue, shape policy, and improve the lives and opportunities of women of diverse backgrounds, circumstances, and experiences. We are the leading think tank in the United States applying quantitative and qualitative analysis of public policy through a gendered lens."
Kwintessential Country Guides & Profiles
"Our country guides cover everything from etiquette, to local customs, culture and how to conduct business."
Online Dictionary of the Social Sciences
"This social science dictionary has 1000 entries covering the disciplines of sociology, criminology, political science and women's study with a commitment to Canadian examples and events and names."
Pew Research Center
"Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. We conduct public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research."
ProCon.org
"Our mission: promoting critical thinking, education, and informed citizenship by presenting controversial issues in a straightforward, nonpartisan, and primarily pro-con format."
The SocioWeb
"The SocioWeb is an independent guide to the sociological resources available on the Internet and is founded in the belief that the Internet can help to unite the sociological community in powerful ways."
TED: Ideas Worth Spreading
"TED is a nonpartisan nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks. TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics — from science to business to global issues — in more than 110 languages."
U.S. Census Bureau
"The Census Bureau's mission is to serve as the leading source of quality data about the nation's people and economy."
Urban Institute: Research
"Urban's mission is to open minds, shape decisions, and offer solutions through economic and social policy research."

Sociology-related associations and organizations.

American Sociological Association
"As the national organization for sociologists, the American Sociological Association, through its Executive Office, is well positioned to provide a unique set of services to its members and to promote the vitality, visibility, and diversity of the discipline."
Association of Black Sociologists
"The mission of the Association of Black Sociologists is to build a tradition of scholarship and service, informed by the interests of historically disenfranchised groups in general and Black/African American people in particular."
International Sociological Assocation
"The ISA was founded in 1949 under the auspices of UNESCO. The goal of the ISA is to represent sociologists everywhere, regardless of their school of thought, scientific approaches or ideological opinion, and to advance sociological knowledge throughout the world."
Mid-South Sociological Association
"Promoting excellence in teaching, research, and service."
Southern Sociological Society
"Established in 1935, the Southern Sociological Society is a society of professionals that promotes the development of sociology as a profession and scientific discipline by the maintenance of high academic professional and ethical standards, and by encouraging effective teaching of sociology, valid and reliable methods and research in the study of human society, diffusion of sociological knowledge and its application to societal problems, cooperation with related disciplines and groups, recruitment and training of sociologists, and development of sociology programs in educational and other agencies."

Alternative search engines. Useful for locating specific types of sources.

Congress.gov
"Presented by the Library of Congress, Congress.gov is the official website for U.S. federal legislative information."
FDsys (Federal Digital System)
"GPO’s Federal Digital System (FDsys) provides free online access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government."
Google Images
Image search from Google - either text-based or reverse image.
Google News
A news aggregator
Science.gov
"Science.gov searches over 60 databases and over 2,200 scientific websites to provide users with access to more than 200 million pages of authoritative federal science information including research and development results."
TinEye Reverse Image Search
Reverse image search - upload an image or provide a URL to an image's online location.
USA.gov
"USA.gov is an interagency product administered by USAGov (formerly the Federal Citizen Information Center), a division of the U.S. General Services Administration's Technology Transformation Service. Our mission is to create and organize timely, needed government information and services and make them accessible anytime, anywhere, via your channel of choice."
WolframAlpha
"Wolfram|Alpha introduces a fundamentally new way to get knowledge and answers—not by searching the web, but by doing dynamic computations based on a vast collection of built-in data, algorithms, and methods."
Want to have fun? Look what the response is to the question "What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?"