MSS 119: Derangement and Blame
Violation of Expection
Find a story that interests you. The story should point to a generally recognized stigma. The stigma
should be identifiable and manageable. You may be tempted by a racial comment made by a sports figure,
but racism may be too broad a topic.
- examples: Janet Jackson, Howard Stern
- stories may be found flipping through magazines like Time or Newsweek
- a popular TV and radio show may regularly exploit topics considered taboo
- use of Popular Resources; such as Lexis-Nexis or Readers Guide
Identify and research the related stigma.
- examples: indecency, indecent exposure, nudity, stuttering... you may need to read through a
few popular resources to develop a number of useable keywords
- may be worthwhile to peruse the table of contents of an academic journal
- use of Research Resources; such as Social Sciences Full Text or Jstor
Popular Sources
Try these sources to gauge the success or failure of a story that interests you. Can you find enough
resources to make research worthwhile?
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Lexis-Nexis
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Great source for current, full-text major newspapers. Including the New York Times and
Washington Post. Coverage is the last dozen years.
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Readers' Guide Full Text
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Indexes over 200 popular, general interest periodicals. Covers 1983 to the present.
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Yahoo News of the Day
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Up to the minute news provided by Reuters.
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Wilson Select Plus
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Contains indexed and abstracted articles from 800 periodicals, all with full-text online.
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You might also try sources like
Readers' Guide Retrospective for journals 1890-1982, or
Nineteenth Century Masterfile for earlier journal coverage 1802-1906.
-
Also try the
Library Catalog to help define topics in books, and
WorldCat which is a gigantic book index.
Great resource for testing topics.
Scholarly Sources
Use these sources to find full studies and research regarding your topic.
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Social Sciences Full Text
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Indexes over 300 English-language periodicals covering anthropology, economics, psychology, social
work, sociology, and related fields. Covers 1983 to the present.
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Sociological Abstracts
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Full version comprehensive database of over 1500 journals covering sociology, social work, and other
social sciences. Covers 1963 to the present.
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PsycINFO
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The APA's index of journals, books, dissertations, and reports on psychology and related fields.
Includes indexing from Psychological Abstracts. Covers 1887 to the present.
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JStor
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A collection of abstracts and articles from over 200 scholarly journals, many dating from the
nineteenth-century to the last 4 or 5 years.
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You might also try sources like
Index to Legal Periodicals & Books for legal issues, or
Medline for topics that may be medical in nature.
 Last updated: 2/4/04 ag,
contact Andy Gulati for assistance, 291-4261
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