Sociology - Basics

  Search the Cal State LA Library Catalog for books and other library materials by
      keyword/subject (recommended) or if you're looking for a specific item you can search by title,
      author, etc. 

When you find one book in the library catalog that looks useful, review the subject terms that are listed in the book's record.  Click on the link for any subject term that looks relevant to view other books in the library also on that subject. 

For example: The following are useful subject terms for the topic of police and authority. Click on any to view a list of books on the particular topic.

Police -- community relations

Police -- community relations -- United States

Law enforcement -- United States -- History

Discrimination in law enforcement -- United States

• Use the "Advanced Search" option within an online catalog.
  
  
• Identify and brainstorm the key words and concepts relevant to your search--usually noun concepts and their synonyms.
  Example: If you're researching the topic of "dating," related terms may be "relationships", "courtship", "boyfriends", or "girlfriends."
  
  
• Use Boolean operators to link key words for searching. 
  To narrow a search to an exact topic, link major concepts with the Boolean operator "AND."
  Example: If searching for books on issues dealing with mothers in the workforce, search for "mothers" AND "work", or "mothers" AND "workforce", or "mothers" AND "labor market".
  
  To expand a search to retrieve more results, link synonyms or related concepts with the Boolean operator "OR."
  Example: If searching for books on issues dealing with teen-age addicts, search for "teenager" OR "teens" OR "young adult" OR "adolescent," and "addiction" OR "drugs" OR "alcoholism."

• Use truncation to search for all variations of a key word. 
  
Example: If searching for books on addiction, search for "addict*", typing an asterisk or star symbol (*) at the end of the root "addict".  This will find books that mention "addicts," "addiction," and "addicted", all of which may be relevant to your research.

CSULA Library doesn't have the book you need?  No problem.  We'll get it for you. Use Interlibrary Loan (ILL) to request that we find the book at another library. 

• You will need to set-up an ILL account the first time you use the service. This account is good for your entire student career at CSULA.  Your Golden Eagle One card (student i.d.) must already be active as a library card (if you've checked out a book before, then it's active).  Your Golden Eagle barcode is on the back of your card--the number that starts with "200".
  
  
• What's it cost? Nothing. For students, faculty, and staff of CSULA, interlibrary loan is a free service.
  
  
• How long does it take? If the book is available at a sister campus in the CSU system, we will get it for you within 3 working days. If we need to borrow the book from another library, it will take a maximum of 2 weeks to receive the book through the mail.
  
  
• How long can I keep the book? That depends on the lending policy of the library who loans us the book.  Some libraries let you keep the book for 2 weeks, some for 3 weeks, some for 4 weeks.  You will learn when the book is due when you receive it and check it out.
  
  
• Where do I pick up the book? At the Circulation Desk inside the Library's main entrance.