Library Home

WWW vs. Library Resources

Getting to Library Resources from Home

Scholarly (Peer Reviewed or Refereed) Journals vs. Non-scholarly

Developing a Search Strategy

Databases for articles:  from the university homepage, click on "Journal Articles" then under Article Databases Listed by Subject "Social Work."

Social Services Abstracts

Citations and abstracts of research articles on social work, human services, social welfare, social policy, and community development from 1977 - present.

Searching Social Services Abstracts:

• Use core terms or phrases to represent the concepts of your search. If you are unsure of the correct terminology to represent the concepts in your search, use the online thesaurus under Search Tools.
• Place each unique concept in a separate row, connected by and, to refine results (for example, foster care and parent satisfaction only returns records that include both terms).
• Place synonyms that represent a concept in the same row, connected by or to expand your hits. (for example, domestic violence or family violence).
• Use the asterisk (*) to capture multiple word endings for a broader search.  (for example, prison* returns records with the word prison and the word prisons.
• Click on the tab for Peer-reviewed Journals for scholarly literature.
• Browse through the results and look at the descriptors to get ideas for other search terms.

Finding Articles:

• Click the button to determine if the full text of the article is available.
• A link will be provided if the article is available in in an electronic format.
• If the article is available in the University Library's print collection, a link will be provided to the library catalog, where you can check if we own the volume number that you want.
• If we don't have it, you may obtain it by clicking on Interlibrary Loan from the Library Homepage. Use the article request form.

 

Sociological Abstracts

• Use the same steps to search as described above.

PsycINFO

• Citations and abstracts of research published in psychology journals from 1887 - present, and dissertations and select books from 1987 - present.
• You may limit your search by Publication Type (All Journals, Peer-Reviewed Journal), Intended Audience, Document Type, and Methodology (Empirical Study).
• Use the same steps to search as described above.
• Use quotation marks around multiple-word search terms to return only records where they appear together. (For example, Asperger's Disorder returns far more hits than "Asperger's Disorder").
• Browse through the results and look at the subjects and keywords to get ideas for other search terms.
• Some articles may be retrieved from PsycINFO by clicking on PDF Full Text. Otherwise, use the button.

Sample Reference books available in the Turlock Library Reference Room

• American Public Human Services Association. (2004). 2004 public human services directory. Ref HV89 .A55 2004
• Davies, Martin, ed. (2001). The Blackwell encyclopaedia of social work. Ref HV12 .B53
• Davies, Martin, ed. (2002). The Blackwell companion to social work. HV245 .B53 2002
• Slade, C. (2003). Form and style: Research papers, reports, theses. (Reserve) Ref LB2369 .C3 2003 
• And many more!  Ask the Reference librarian

Government Information

How to Cite Information

• Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.) Ref BF76.7 .P83 2001
• APA Citation Style
• Purdue University OWL's Using APA Format
• Annotated Bibliographies
• APA Sample Paper from Hacker-Shaw

Ask a Librarian

Revised by Tim Held, 9/07
Based on materials by Warren Jacobs, Reference Librarian, 8/07, and Arthur Buell, Reference Coordinator, 9/03