Hekman Library: SPAN341: Spanish Syntax and Sociolinguistics: Home

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Francene Lewis

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Hekman Library 302

616-526-6308

Getting Started with Research for SPAN341!

Need a review of Hekman Library basics? Check out this "Get Connected" guide or browse our How-to playlist on Youtube.
If you're off-campus, remember to start at the library homepage when connecting to databases and ebooks, so you'll be recognized as a Calvin user (when you're prompted to login, enter your Calvin username and passphrase).
Struggling with citations? For more help, see the library's longer Citation 101 guide or try using Purdue's OWL (Online Writing Lab)

Recommended Books

Handbook of Hispanic Sociolinguistics

Spanish Language and Sociolinguistic Analysis

Grammatical Theory and Bilingual Codeswitching

Sociolingüística y Pragmática del Español

El Español de los Estados Unidos

The Routledge Handbook of Hispanic Applied Linguistics

Varieties of Spanish in the United States

Language in the USA

Dictionary of American Regional English

Searching Tips

Subject headings are often a more accurate and comprehensive way of searching for a topic than keyword searching. Subject headings can be found on the left-hand column of search results in the catalog, or at the end of a book's catalog entry.

Here are some sample subject searches:

Search the eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). It's provided by the Michigan Electronic Library.

Check out the series, Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics for current research and writing.

Recommended Research Databases

Communication & Mass Media Complete
Primary database for communication. Covers linguistics, sociolinguistics, and language acquisition as well.
APA PsycINFO
Use for research on human behavior and psychology.
MLA International Bibliography
Great database for researching Hispanic linguistics, and language.
In addition to its research coverage, the MLA database also includes two important scholarly search tools: the MLA Directory of Periodicals and the MLA Thesaurus, a proprietary, searchable collection of thousands of subject terms and personal names used in indexing the bibliography. Learn more about the MLA International Bibliography database, its features and tools, and advanced searching options in these video tutorials.
Education Source (EBSCO)
Provides scholarly research and information for education students, professionals and policy makers. Covers all levels of education - from early childhood to higher education - and educational specialties such as multilingual education, health education and testing.
Sociology Database (ProQuest)
ProQuest Sociology covers the international literature of sociology and social work, including culture and social structure, history and theory of sociology, social psychology, substance abuse and addiction, and more. Note: When searching this database, you are also searching Sociological Abstracts and Social Services Abstracts.
Academic Search Complete (EBSCO)
Coverage on a wide range of topics. Includes peer-reviewed full text for STEM research, as well as for the social sciences and humanities.
Coverage on a wide range of topics. Includes peer-reviewed full text for STEM research, as well as for the social sciences and humanities. Scholarly content covers a broad range of important areas of academic study, including anthropology, engineering, law, sciences and more. Academic Search Complete also offers access to video content from the Associated Press, the world’s leading news agency.
JSTOR
A database consisting of full-text articles from scholarly, peer-reviewed journals from nearly every discipline taught at Calvin. Relevant subjects for Spanish are Linguistics, Language & Literature, History, and Politics.
Project Muse
A collection of over 600 full-text peer-reviewed journals. Their emphasis is primarily subjects in the humanities and social sciences.

Important Journals

Recommended Websites

Cascadilla Proceedings Project
Contains a variety of papers from proceedings of Linguistic and Sociolinguistic conferences.
Linguistic Society of America
The LSA's website hosts a wealth of resources for students of linguistics.
Spanish Linguistics Commons™
Part of the Digital Commons Network. This group brings together free, full-text scholarly articles from hundreds of universities and colleges worldwide. Curated by university librarians and their supporting institutions, the Network includes a growing collection of peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, dissertations, working papers, conference proceedings, and other original scholarly work

More Research How-tos

Evaluating Scholarly content

Example to Discuss

" Investment in Inertia": Language Ideologies of Instructors and Students of Spanish as a Heritage Language

Rolland, Michael Ernest. " Investment in Inertia": Language Ideologies of Instructors and Students of Spanish as a Heritage Language. Diss. City University of New York, 2023.

What is this digital object?
What is its scholarly background?
Do we trust it?
How could we use it?