Sociology Research Guide:Background Info

These full-text reference sources - specialized encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, etc. - are available online to students, faculty and staff of TAMU-CC. 

These sources are useful when you don't know a lot about a topic.  They give good overviews and background information on many topics related to sociology.

From Wikipedia's article, "Researching with Wikipedia":

Wikipedia can be a great tool for learning and researching information. However, as with all reference works, not everything in Wikipedia is accurate, comprehensive, or unbiased. Many of the general rules of thumb for conducting research apply to Wikipedia, including:

• Always be wary of any one single source (in any medium — web, print, television or radio), or of multiple works that derive from a single source.
• Where articles have references to external sources (whether online or not) read the references and check whether they really do support what the article says.
• In most academic institutions, major references to Wikipedia, along with most encyclopedias, are unacceptable for a research paper. Other encyclopedias, such as Encyclopædia Britannica, have notable authors working for them and may be cited as a secondary source in most cases. For example, Cornell University has a guide on how to cite encyclopedias.

Read more here!