Assignment 3
Sociology 384 - Fall 2006
Prof. Brewer
**Due In Class – Monday, 10.23**
**Earlier Submission is Fine (and encouraged!) and Will Yield Earlier Feedback**
Variables
a) Provide a list of your dependent variable and independent variables.
b) Indicate how each of these will be operationalized (concretely – for example, what is the scale? Are
you using an index?)
c) Where appropriate, describe how the results of your literature search below have informed your
operationalization decisions.
The Literature Search
Part a)
Find at least 5 peer reviewed articles observing the following guidelines:
 No more than 2 of the articles can be published before 1975.
 At least one of the 5 articles must derive from a project with a different empirical context than
yours. Why? Because I want you to think about concepts more broadly and see how others
have measured them. This means not just looking for studies similar to yours, but also drawing
on research that takes up similar or overlapping conceptual concerns using different empirical
contexts.
 Use the Sociological Abstracts and Academic Search Premier (EBSCO) databases to do your
initial searching.
 Use Social Sciences Citation Index (available through the Web of Science database) to see if the
articles you find are cited in related articles, books, etc.
 Do not use the JSTOR database as a search engine.
 Please consult with our Sociology liaison librarian, Candace Miller, if you need help with
any of this. She is happy to set up an appointment – email her at millercy@jmu.edu or
drop by her library office to find a time to meet.
 Include the full citation for each article; i.e. author, title, journal name, volume number, issue
number (if listed), year, pages.
Part b)
Save and print your search history in the databases you use and/or keep an annotated summary of your
search path (that is, the search engine you were using, the parameters you set, and the search terms you
tried). Submit to me a short (on or two pages, single spaced) “story” of your search process. Summarize
the steps you took and the logic guiding them. What worked? What didn’t work? This can (and probably
should) be written after your successful search. I want to see this for two reasons: it will allow me to see
your search process and logic without looking over your shoulder as you do it, and it will require you to
recognize and reflect on that logic
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