Welcome to the Social Work Research Guide
The Loyola University Libraries own, subscribe to and curate a large number of research materials. When starting research, the amount of information can be overwhelming. Libraries’ subject specialists have created Research Guides to bring together those most commonly needed in the subject areas. Due to changes in assignments, up-dated or new resources and shifting discipline emphasis, some items may change.
If you have questions while using this tutorial, Ask-A-Librarian (https://illiad.luc.edu/illiad/IAL/logon.html)
You should have the University Libraries website, under the catalog basic search box are 3 white boxes.
These may be in different configurations, depending on you screen configurations. Click on right arrow to find the subject area you need.
For example, when researching Pastoral Counseling, you may need indexes and articles from:
Each area may have a different perspective on the same topic. For this tutorial, click on the Social Work area.
Then select the guide that is just Social Work.
If a tab has only one page under it, you can use the tabs to move from one page to another. If the tab has more than one page, you will need to use the "breadcrumbs"at the top to get back to the main guide. Like below:
This is the main page of the Social Work Research Guide. On the left side of the page, you can see the School of Social Work (SOWK) information, with a list of the School's publications and links to them.
Below the SOWK information are quick links to Libraries' Quick Links.
On the far right of the page, is information for your Subject Specialist, Annette Alvarado.
Please contact her with any questions about the Libraries, about your research, purchase suggestions, and make an appointment (bit.ly/LUClibrarian) to go over your research.
She is the easiest to reach by email. In the middle column, is a list of the most used resources for Social Work.
Check some of these out!
These are resources that you can use for beginning research and getting quick answers.
The page includes links to:
In the upper left corner are the indexes to journal articles that you are most likely to use in common social work topics.
For some topics, you may want to use databases beyond just social work, thinking creatively about your topic and other subject areas which might provide other perspectives.
For example:
Also, note there is a list of databases that “evidence-based “ articles, this is a common project in some Social Work classes.
Lastly, look at the databases for identifying dissertations, these works usually have extensive bibliographies which you can check for more resources.
The Statistics section contains 4 pages.
Resources covering larger geographic areas may also contain breakdowns of statistics in the smaller areas within them. For example, US resources will most also divide up by state.
Examples of grey literature include government reports. policy statements and issues papers. Conference proceedings. pre-prints and post-prints of articles. theses and dissertations. research reports.
These materials are rarely peer reviewed so you will need to evaluate their credibility using the criteria at http://libguides.luc.edu/c.php?g=324390&p=2323619.
Note that Congressional hearings at the time-related Acts or Laws were passed can give information about the problem they are to solve and where their reports are filed.
For some of your assignments, you will have to look for funding information as well as non-profit filings. These are some resources that may be helpful. Also, there is information on grant writing.
The Publication Manual of the American Psychiatric Association is the standard for writing in the School of Social Work. While it is necessary for assignments, it is also needed to determine what types of resources you are asked to find.
Check out Hoonuit for videos on using APA Style in Word.
Zotero is a free citation management software program. You can use this to store, manage and organize your own database of citations.
Please enter your name and email address to retrieve a copy of your completed quiz.
You can enter multiple email addresses separated by commas. If you are doing this for a class, you may need to enter your instructor's email address also.