Finding Articles: Best Bets
This is not a comprehensive list. These are starting points for your research - don't rule out other non-social sciences databases! Social Work is multidisciplinary and so your search needs to encompass a variety of subject areas.
- Social Work Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Produced by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), this collection provides indexing and abstracts for more than 500 social work and human services journals. Coverage includes therapy, education, human services, addiction, child and family welfare, mental health and more.
- MEDLINE (EBSCO)
Search MEDLINE using the EBSCOhost search interface. Content is citations and abstracts from national and international journals covering all aspects of biomedicine including allied health and other fields as they relate to medicine or healthcare. MEDLINE is produced by the National Library of Medicine (NLM).
- PubMed This link opens in a new window
PubMed provides free access to the National Library of Medicine’s (NLM) premier database – MEDLINE. Content is citations and abstracts from national and international journals covering all aspects of biomedicine including allied health and other fields as they relate to medicine or healthcare.
- APA PsycInfo This link opens in a new window
Indexes psychology literature and related disciplines including psychiatry, medicine, nursing, pharmacology, cognitive science, and linguistics. Includes journals and book chapters. Use Historic PsycINFO to identify literature published as early as the 1920s. Links occur to full-text when available.
Developing Your Topic
Finding the right level of research is an important first step. Consider whether your topic is too broad (you're getting too many results or they're not relevant enough to your topic) or too narrow (you're finding too few results).
Use these handouts to help you narrow or broaden your topic and identify keywords:
- Building a Search Strategy - HandoutUse this handout to help you develop a research question, identify potential keywords and synonyms, and determine which boolean operators to use in order to narrow or broaden your search.
- Tips for Narrowing a Topic - HandoutUse this handout if you are getting too many results when searching.
- Tips for Broadening a Topic - HandoutUse this handout if you are getting too few results when searching.
Government and Non-Profit Organizations
- National Association of Social Workers"The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) is the largest membership organization of professional social workers in the world, with 145,000 members. NASW works to enhance the professional growth and development of its members, to create and maintain professional standards, and to advance sound social policies."
- Society for Social Work and ResearchSSWR is "a free-standing organization dedicated to the advancement of social work research."
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services"The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is the United States government’s principal agency for protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential human services, especially for those who are least able to help themselves."
- National Center for Health Statistics: Fast Stats A to Z"Selected statistics on a variety of health topics."
Websites
In general, caution is recommended when relying on websites for evidence-based information. Peer-reviewed journal articles based on research studies are your best sources of evidence-based information. However, there are some selected websites that feature practice guidelines written by experts in a particular field.
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Evidence-Based Practices Resource Center"SAMHSA is committed to improving prevention, treatment, and recovery support services for mental and substance use disorders. The Evidence-Based Practices Resource Center provides communities, clinicians, policy-makers and others with the information and tools to incorporate evidence-based practices into their communities or clinical settings."
- Evidence Based Programs: Social Problems That Work"This site seeks to identify those social programs shown in rigorous studies to produce sizable, sustained benefits to participants and/or society, so that they can be deployed to help solve social problems."
Google Site Search
Google Site Search allows you to limit the results to a specific site or domain extension. Put "site:" in front of a site or domain extension to narrow the results. Don't forget to include your keywords or search terms before the "site:"!
site:.gov searches government websites
site:.edu searches educational websites
site:.org searches non-profit organizations
site:.com searches commercial websites
Example search: chronic illness site:.gov
Google Scholar
Google Scholar works even better when you have it connected to your library. Set up your library link and get results that are available through the University Libraries.
- Click Library Link
- Type Wright State in the Library Access Links search Bar
- Click Search
- Check the box next to Wright State University-Full Text
- Click Save and start searching!