Society and Culture - HSC

A guide to resources for HSC Society and Culture especially for researching for your Personal Interest Projects (PIPs).

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander visitors are kindly advised that this website includes images, sounds and names of people who have passed.

All users should be aware that some topics or historical content may be culturally sensitive, offensive or distressing, and that some images may contain nudity or are of people not yet identified. Certain words, terms or descriptions may reflect the author's/creator's attitude or that of the period in which they were written, but are now considered inappropriate in today's context.

Key to library resources

Log in as a Library member Log in as a Library member (NSW residents only) or visit the Library
Visit the Library Visit the Library
Freely accessible eresource Freely accessible eresource

Eresources

What is an eresource?

Eresources = all online resources, which are mainly databases and ebooks:

  • Databases hold large collections of articles from a variety of publications including journals, magazines and newspapers
  • They may also contain full-text ebooks, reference books like encyclopaedias, or images
  • The State Library subscribes to them so they are free for you to use!  

Why should I use them?

  • Access to high quality academic articles that aren’t freely available online, to support your research arguments
  • Wide range of publications, both current and historical
  • Articles are usually more recent than books
  • You can use them anytime from anywhere
  • Most databases have tools to help you manage citations and referencing for your bibliography

Search tips for using eresources

  • Use “quotation marks” for exact phrase searching eg "social media" 
  • Use ADVANCED search options to combine words using AND, OR,  NOT
  • Use asterisks * for wildcards - alternative endings of words eg. crim* = crime, criminal and criminals
  • Select Full Text search options to find only full text articles
  • Vary your search terms: try synonyms for your topic words eg. youth = teenagers, adolescents, young adults
  • Refine your results by limiting to scholarly or peer-reviewed (for academic level journals evaluated by experts)

Watch your spelling – both for accuracy and American spelling variations.