Sociology: Research Issues

The act of using someone else's words or ideas and passing them off as one's own is known as plagiarism. The UG's plagiarism policy, instructions for utilizing Turnitin, and a step-by-step advice on using Sakai to check for plagiarism are all linked below.

• UG plagiarism policy
• Guidelines for Using the Turnitin Software
• Plagiarism Checking Steps via Sakai
• Webinar Recordings compiled by the library
• How-to-do Tutorials in the Library
• General Rules and Regulations in the Library

Listed below are some services the library offers to support learning and research.

• Article Request

  Access articles directly, or if not available, request a copy and receive an email notification when it's ready.

• Book binding

  The Technical Services Unit (TSU) of the Balme Library provides bindery services to the university community. Users can therefore send their theses, long essays, project works, worn-out books, etc., to the unit to be bound for a fee.

• Chat with the librarian

  This service welcomes your questions on any topic. Need a fast answer to a question? Just enter your question in the box provided to get started!

• Off Campus Access

  This is s a remote access service. This remote access service provides internet authentication for UG students, faculty and staff; Confirms that you are a valid UG member and enables access to the library's electronic resources.

• Past Questions

  Access to Online Past Questions Service

• Printing: The Library provides printing service that enables users to print their personal documents. Charges are fairly cheap and neat work is always assured. Locate the unit in the Research Commons.

• Reference Management Software: To assist you in organizing your references, UG has subscriptions to two reference management systems: Mendeley Reference/Desktop edition and EndNote X21.

• Tutorials on Reference Management Software provided by the Library (Mendeley Reference/Desktop edition and EndNote X21)

• Library Instruction: The library organizes workshops on the UGCat, databases and other resources. Such workshops will be advertised to allow those interested to register for them. Contact your Subject Librarian or use the Ask-a-Librarian Live Chat for more information.

Research Assistance

#1 Tip: Ask a librarian for assistance. We are here to help--in-person and online--throughout your research process.

Ways to contact us:

• Use our Ask-a-librarian page
• Provide your name and Email address
• Then Click "Chat"

Crediting/Citing Sources

Citations serve as a way to acknowledge the use of borrowed content. This is something you must do each time you borrow information.

For what reason do you cite?

• must provide due credit to the individual or people who created the material you are using.
• to give your readers the opportunity to verify your interpretation of the source.
• to make the source accessible to your readers on their own.
• to showcase the investigation, you have conducted into your subject.
• to support the stances, you adopt in your paper.
• should refrain from plagiarism and utilize knowledge in an ethical manner.

This guide will provide research and writing tips to help students complete a literature review assignment.

1. Choose a topic. Define your research question.

• A main research question should serve as the basis for your literature review. Recall that it is not a compilation of related works in a subject; rather, it represents background and research developments related to a specific research question, interpreted and analyzed by you in a synthesized way.
• Make sure your research question is not too broad or too narrow.  Is it manageable?
• Begin writing down terms that are related to your question. These will be useful for searches later.
• If you have the opportunity, discuss your topic with your professor.

2. Decide on the scope of your review.

• How many studies do you need to look at? How comprehensive should it be? How many years should it cover? 

  Tip: This may depend on your assignment.  How many sources does the assignment require?

3.  Select the databases you will use to conduct your searches.

Make a list of the databases you will search.