MenWomen: Web
In searching the Web you may find research and policy recommendations published by "think tanks," many of which have political/ideological affiliations. An organization called SourceWatch can help you identify such ties and alert you to any political agenda the research was intended to serve.
If you wish to see how your topic is discussed at conservative and liberal think tanks, here are some online sites that discuss a wide range of social issues.
Conservative:
If you wish to see how your topic is discussed at conservative and liberal think tanks, here are some online sites that discuss a wide range of social issues.
Conservative:
- National Center for Public Policy Research
- Heritage Foundation
- Cato Institute
- American Conservative Union
- Federalist Society
- Christian Coalition
- Focus on the Family
- Institute for Policy Studies
- People for the American Way
- PublicEye: Political Research Associates
- Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting
- American Civil Liberties Union:
- Amnesty International
- National Gay and Lesbian Tak Force
National Marriage Project: from the University of Virginia, this site offers a Publications section with considerable full-text research (once you click on Publications, use the links along the left-hand margin).
Center for Law and Social Policy: Couples and Marriage Policy: The focus here is on low-income couples and families, but a wide range of publications—be sure to open the archives by year at the bottom.
Marriage and Family Processes and Gender and Society: Two gateway sites from Web sociologist extraordinaire, Dr. Michael Kearl.
Center for Family and Demographic Research: Working Papers: From Bowling Green University, a good selection of research on marriage and cohabitation, accessible here by year.
Council on Contemporary Families: A research group with a wide range of materials on marriage today. See especially the “Briefing Papers” and “Family Articles.”
Coalition for Marriage, Family, and Couples Education: Articles: As the name implies, this site is all about education as a tool to strengthen marriage. Although “non-partisan” and “non-denominational,” note that this group premises its outreach on “the epidemic of divorce and family breakdown.” These article links provide an interesting range of materials, but read critically and be wary of claims without supporting documentation.
Americans for Divorce Reform: Some interesting materials here in the Statistics and Articles sections, but keep in mind this is an advocacy group, dedicated to legal reform that would make divorce more difficult than the no-fault model.
Alternatives to Marriage Project: Interesting site from a “national nonprofit organization advocating for equality and fairness for unmarried people, including people who are single, who choose not to marry, cannot marry, or live together before marriage.” See in particular the “Facts & Fun” and “Current Issues” sections, as well as “Living Single” and "Resources."
Pew Research Center: Marriage and Family Relationships: Scan these publications from a leading research organization. Also check out the Gay Marriage Research Package from the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
Brookings Institute: Marriage and Family Formation: Data, analysis, and commentary from a leading think tank.
Public Policy Issues and groups: From Vanderbilt University, a good gateway to online resources across a wide spectrum of public policy issues, including "Women," "Sexual Controversies," Sexual Orientation," "Prostitution," "Domestic Violence," and "Gay Marriage."
Voice of the Shuttle: Gender and Sexuality Studies: A sprawling gateway to online resources in categories such as "Women's Studies," "Mens Studies," "Queer Studies," "Cybergender," and "Domestic and Relationship Violence."
Intute: Women's studies or Sex Roles and Women's Issues or Gender and Sexuality. Intute is a British-based, international gateway to Web resources. All sites have been screened, selected, and helpfully annotated.
Cornell Law School: Legal Information Institute: Good sets of links to “Marriage” & "Marriage Laws" and “Divorce” & "Divorce Laws."
About.com: Marriage: About.com provides a good—if mostly non-scholarly—gateway to marriage resources and information.
CBC News: Marriage: The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation put together this Web site on contemporary marriage, with a range of interesting linked stories along the right-hand side of the page.
One Plus One: Information Center on Relationships: British research group on contemporary relationships and marriage—for a Western European perspective.
World Values Survey: Political, social, and cultural data on the values and beliefs of over 80 societies worldwide since 1981. A great site, but it can be a challenge to navigate. The questions under the heading of “Family” address marriage, divorce, and men’s and women’s roles and responsibilities within families. A great site, but it can be a challenge to navigate. To get started try my World Values Survey: User Guide.
Statistical Resources on the Web: Sociology: from the University of Michigan, one of the largest and best gateways to facts and figures on the Web by subject. Scroll down a few inches for the links to “Marriage and Divorce,” “Families,” and “Sexual behavior.”
Center for Law and Social Policy: Couples and Marriage Policy: The focus here is on low-income couples and families, but a wide range of publications—be sure to open the archives by year at the bottom.
Marriage and Family Processes and Gender and Society: Two gateway sites from Web sociologist extraordinaire, Dr. Michael Kearl.
Center for Family and Demographic Research: Working Papers: From Bowling Green University, a good selection of research on marriage and cohabitation, accessible here by year.
Council on Contemporary Families: A research group with a wide range of materials on marriage today. See especially the “Briefing Papers” and “Family Articles.”
Coalition for Marriage, Family, and Couples Education: Articles: As the name implies, this site is all about education as a tool to strengthen marriage. Although “non-partisan” and “non-denominational,” note that this group premises its outreach on “the epidemic of divorce and family breakdown.” These article links provide an interesting range of materials, but read critically and be wary of claims without supporting documentation.
Americans for Divorce Reform: Some interesting materials here in the Statistics and Articles sections, but keep in mind this is an advocacy group, dedicated to legal reform that would make divorce more difficult than the no-fault model.
Alternatives to Marriage Project: Interesting site from a “national nonprofit organization advocating for equality and fairness for unmarried people, including people who are single, who choose not to marry, cannot marry, or live together before marriage.” See in particular the “Facts & Fun” and “Current Issues” sections, as well as “Living Single” and "Resources."
Pew Research Center: Marriage and Family Relationships: Scan these publications from a leading research organization. Also check out the Gay Marriage Research Package from the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
Brookings Institute: Marriage and Family Formation: Data, analysis, and commentary from a leading think tank.
Public Policy Issues and groups: From Vanderbilt University, a good gateway to online resources across a wide spectrum of public policy issues, including "Women," "Sexual Controversies," Sexual Orientation," "Prostitution," "Domestic Violence," and "Gay Marriage."
Voice of the Shuttle: Gender and Sexuality Studies: A sprawling gateway to online resources in categories such as "Women's Studies," "Mens Studies," "Queer Studies," "Cybergender," and "Domestic and Relationship Violence."
Intute: Women's studies or Sex Roles and Women's Issues or Gender and Sexuality. Intute is a British-based, international gateway to Web resources. All sites have been screened, selected, and helpfully annotated.
Cornell Law School: Legal Information Institute: Good sets of links to “Marriage” & "Marriage Laws" and “Divorce” & "Divorce Laws."
About.com: Marriage: About.com provides a good—if mostly non-scholarly—gateway to marriage resources and information.
CBC News: Marriage: The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation put together this Web site on contemporary marriage, with a range of interesting linked stories along the right-hand side of the page.
One Plus One: Information Center on Relationships: British research group on contemporary relationships and marriage—for a Western European perspective.
World Values Survey: Political, social, and cultural data on the values and beliefs of over 80 societies worldwide since 1981. A great site, but it can be a challenge to navigate. The questions under the heading of “Family” address marriage, divorce, and men’s and women’s roles and responsibilities within families. A great site, but it can be a challenge to navigate. To get started try my World Values Survey: User Guide.
Statistical Resources on the Web: Sociology: from the University of Michigan, one of the largest and best gateways to facts and figures on the Web by subject. Scroll down a few inches for the links to “Marriage and Divorce,” “Families,” and “Sexual behavior.”
Web Directories differ from search engines like Google in that all the online resources have been selected and annotated by editors, thereby promising a much higher degree of quality control.
- Open Directory Project: See especially Men, Women, Marriage and Divorce.
- IPL2: Gender & Sexuality: See especially Men and Women on left.
Yahoo Directory: Yahoo started out as a "Directory"--a database where each Web site was assigned to quite detailed categories and where you searched the categories rather than the full text. The category structure still exists and includes "Men," "Women," "Families," "Relationships," and "Sexuality." Be sure to browse the many (many) subheadings in these categories. But also be aware that while Yahoo usefully categorizes Web sites, it isn't selective like the directories listed above.
Google Advanced Search: When doing research on the Web, always use the Adanced Search version of Google. This not only provides more flexibility in entering search terms, but more importantly it allows you to target the Web domains that are likely to provide the most authoritative information.
Under "Need More Tools?" you will find the "Search within a site or domain" slot. You may enter only one domain at a time, but it's worth targeting each of the three domains likely to supply the best information: colleges and universities (enter the "edu" tag), nonprofit organizations (enter the "org" tag), and the United States government (enter the "gov" tag).
Ask.com: As you type your search, Ask.com may display a selection of searches related to your terms, any of which you may choose. Within retrieval sets there may also be a helpful display of "Related Searches," often including Pro and Con categories for controversial topics. And a new feature called "Ask Q&A;" can connect you to sites that answer specific questions on your topic.
Under "Need More Tools?" you will find the "Search within a site or domain" slot. You may enter only one domain at a time, but it's worth targeting each of the three domains likely to supply the best information: colleges and universities (enter the "edu" tag), nonprofit organizations (enter the "org" tag), and the United States government (enter the "gov" tag).
Ask.com: As you type your search, Ask.com may display a selection of searches related to your terms, any of which you may choose. Within retrieval sets there may also be a helpful display of "Related Searches," often including Pro and Con categories for controversial topics. And a new feature called "Ask Q&A;" can connect you to sites that answer specific questions on your topic.
Noodlebib guides you through the required data entry for citation in the MLA, APA, and Chicago/Turabian styles. It takes care of punctuation, alphabetization and formatting, producing a polished source list for import into Word.
MLA is the citation style used by most disciplines in the Humanities. The guides below use the most recent 2008/9 standards.
