Sources for Social Work Research

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Sources for Social Work Research
Library Tutorial for Honours Year Students

• by
• Hayati Abdul
• clbha_at_nus.edu.sg

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What shall we learn?

• How to
• Search Social Work databases using keywords,
  Boolean operators...
• Locate relevant materials using LINC
• Access services and resources from
• Library portal.

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At the end of session, well learn how to

• Effectively search Social Work databases for
  journal articles, conference papers, full-texts
• Efficiently use LINC to locate relevant Library
  materials
• Access resources services from Library portal

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Contents

• Search Strategy
• Social Work databases
• Newspapers
• Other useful sources
• LINC
• Resources services accessible via Library
  portal
• Hands-on session

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Search Strategy
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Build your search

• List keywords, synonyms that describe your topic
• E.g. social support for the elderly
• Social support, social network, living
  arrangements
• Elderly, older people, aged
• Refine or broaden search using
• Boolean operators
• Truncation feature
• Parentheses

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Boolean operators

• AND All terms must be present
• OR Any of the terms may be present
• NOT Excludes specific search term

social support ANDaged
AgedOR elderly
delinquents NOT criminals
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Truncation

• Use asterisk to retrieve variant forms of
  terms
• counsel counselors, counseling
• (anything that comes after counsel)
• teen teens, teenagers, teenaged
• (anything that comes after teen)

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Parentheses ( )

• Use ( ) to execute commands inside innermost
  parentheses first
• (low income or single) and families
• low income families
• single parent families
• (teen or adolescen) and pregnancy
• teenage pregnancy
• adolescent pregnancy

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Things to remember when searching databases

• Enter search terms using natural language
• May refine, broaden and group search terms with
• AND, OR, NOT, , ( )
• Look for the following features in each database
• Limit search (by language, date...)
• Sort results (by date, relevance...)
• Descriptors, thesaurus, subject terms/headings
• Edit or modify search
• Mark, save, print, email results
• Full-texts

Best practices
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Databases
Overall, the ability to communicate with
databases as though you were talking to a
colleague is pretty amazing, as long as you know
what it can and cannot do. - Thane,
Librarians Rx, Apr 2008
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Databases for Social Work

• Scopus
• Social Services Abstracts
• Social Work Abstracts
• Web of Science
• PERIND
• Sociological Abstracts

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Scopus
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Scopus

• Provides indexing, abstracting of and citation
  linking to
• peer reviewed open access journals
• conference proceedings, books
• web sources, author homepages, university sites,
  articles-in-press, preprint servers
• Coverage, 1966-
• Focused on Scientific, Technical, Medical
  Social Sciences literature.
• Content originates from Europe, Latin America and
  the Asia Pacific region
• Cross-searching Scopus CSA Illumina databases.

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Lets search Scopus
Discuss the merits and limitations of sculpting
technique within Satirs family therapy framework
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Lets search Scopus
satir or sculpting
family therapy
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Notes on Scopus

• Offers Basic, Advanced, Author searches
• Alerts create and save search strategies
• Cited By lists articles citing the target paper
  
• Combine manipulate sets to refine results
• Indexing terms are selectively provided
• Export references sent to EndNote, RefWorks
• Highlighting shows keywords in color within
  abstracts
• Limits select date range, subject area, or
  document type
• Display search results
• by date, relevance, author, source title, or
  times cited.

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Social Services Abstracts
CSA Illumina Quick Reference Guide http//www.csa.
com/support/QRC.pdf
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About Social Services Abstracts

• Good for literature review in Social Work
• Provides abstracts of journal articles, book
  chapters, conference papers dissertations.
• Coverage 1952-present
• Topics - Crisis intervention, family and social
  welfare,
• gerontology, social work practice, support
  groups/networks, violence, abuse, neglect,
• Search LINC for full-texts of references
  retrieved.

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Lets search Social Services Abstracts
Successful ageing for Singapore the roles of
the government and family
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Lets search Social Services Abstracts
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Lets search Social Work Abstracts
Is Singapore a welfare state? If yes, why and
from which perspective? If no, how would you call
the Singaporean social policy regime?
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Notes on Social Services Abstracts

• Quick Search
• Searches single words or phrases
• Quick search anywhere search
• Enter Boolean operators in search box
• AND, OR and NOT
• Advanced Search
• Allows for more complex searches
• Combine terms using Boolean operators from
  drop-down lists
• Use drop-down menus to select specific fields
• Anywhere, Keywords, Author, Title, Descriptors
  

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Notes on Social Services Abstracts

• Limits
• Date
• Use drop down menus to limit to range of years
• Latest update
• limits results to include only most recent
  records
• Journal articles, English
• limits search to journal articles English
  records
• QuickBib
• Use records to create bibliography in ASA style.

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Notes on Social Services Abstracts

• Displaying and viewing records
• Click on View record for more details, including
  abstract
• Results displayed by All Publication Types
• Results can be sorted by
• Most recent or Relevance...
• Click on Edit Search to modify search
• Add or remove term(s) to refocus search
• Managing search results
• Mark, Print, Email, Save
• Export to EndNote Web

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Social Work Abstracts
Quick Reference Guide http//www.ovid.com/site/pdf
/osp/OvidSP_QRC_021108.pdf
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About Social Work Abstracts

• Focuses on Social Work research including theory
  practice, areas of service, social issues
  social problems related to Social Work, from
  1977-
• Provides abstracts of journal articles,
  dissertations, citations to book reviews
• Some overlap in journals coverage between this
  database and Social Services Abstracts.
• Click Library holdings to access full-texts.

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OvidSP Test Database

• Use http//ovidsp.ovid.com to access Social Work
  Abstracts

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Lets search Social Work Abstracts
Discuss the application and usefulness of
genogram and enmeshment in working with
families. Give examples to illustrate your
answer.
How do you think Satir's family therapy theory is
suitable for work with elderly persons in
Singapore? Give reasons and examples to support
your answer
SW4101 exam question, Nov/Dec 2007
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Lets search Social Work Abstracts
Genogram enmeshment in families
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Lets search Social Work Abstracts
How can a study of feminist theory change social
work practice?
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Notes on Social Work Abstracts

• Basic search
• Use free text or plain English terms
• Use nouns more than verbs
• Avoid using Boolean operators, parentheses,
  truncation
• Keep the Check Spelling and Include Related
  Terms boxes pre-selected
• Select limits to specifically focus your search
• Search Aid tool shows terms used for search and
  highlights them in the record titles display
• Click Library Holdings Full Text to access
  full-texts

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Notes on Social Work Abstracts

• Advanced Search
• For more specific complex searches by fields
• Keyword, Author, Title, Journal
• Defaults to keywords searching
• Use Boolean operators, ( ), truncation symbols ,
  to combine terms
• Click Library Holdings Full Text to access
  full-texts
• Click Search History to combine searches
• Results Manager manages records in the display
  for output

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PERINDPeriodical Indexto articles relating to
Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei ASEAN
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About PERIND

• Good source for research relating to Singapore,
  Malaysia, Brunei ASEAN, 1980s-
• Index to journal articles, book chapters and
  conference papers in humanities, social sciences,
  business, architecture, building, science,
  technology, law medicine
• Uses Boolean operators, truncation (), drop-down
  list to search on specific fields
• Save selected records using IE Filegt Save
  asgtfilename...

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Lets search PERIND
What potential problems does the existing social
security system in Singapore pose?
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(No Transcript)
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Lets search PERIND
Living arrangements, social support of older
people in Singapore
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Newspapers
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E-Newspapers

• International local newspapers
• New York Times, Asian Wall Street Journal,
  Business Times, The Straits Times, more
• Two major databases
• Factiva
• Lexis/Nexis Academic

Click to view E-newspapers
Access Factiva directly
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Newspapers

• Press Clippings
• In-house collection of articles from Straits
  Times and Business Times
• Articles about Singapore, Malaysia, ASEAN
• Check LION under Press Clippings Collection -
  Subject Headings List
• Available from Singapore-Malaysia Collection
  (SMC)
• Microfilms
• The Straits Times from 1880 -

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Lets search Factiva or LexisNexis
Discuss the extent to which the Workfare Income
Supplement scheme reflects a major change in the
welfare policy of the government.
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Lets search Factiva
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Lets search LexisNexis Academic
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Lets search Factiva or LexisNexis
Citizen participation and the CDCs efforts to
encourage self-help groupsin public housing
estates
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Other Useful Sources
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Foreign Theses

• ProQuest Dissertations Theses Database
• Index to Theses with Abstracts Accepted for
  Higher Degree by the Universities of Great
  Britain Ireland
• Australian Digital Theses Database

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NUS Theses Academic exercises

• Search LINC, by call no, HV13 200 (for 2000- )
  in Theses Collection
• Search LINC, by keywords
• m soc sc social work national university
  singapore
• academic exercise social work national university
  singapore

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Statistical Sources

• EIU Country Data
• Inter-University
• Consortium for Political Social Research
• SingSTAT Time Series
• Statistics on Singapore
• World development Indicators
• Yearbook of statistics, Singapore

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Resources on WWW
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The enhanced Library catalogue
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LINC Results Display
Relevance sorting
Summary
Summary
Book cover
Refine limits
Limit by tags
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Resources services accessible via Library
portal
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Materials Not Found in Library

• Document Delivery Services (DDS)
• Journal articles, Book Chapters,
• Request via E-Forms (Library Portal)
• All requests must be approved by Supervisor

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Writing Citation Style

• Refer to Social Work subject guide under
• Research and Writing
• Writing with style APA style for social work
• Writing skills for social workers
• Library Instruction Online
• How to cite references
• American Psychological Association Style
• Bibliographic management software
• EndNote/EndNote Web

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Subject Guides

• Good starting points for research

Click to search for Social Work subject guide
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Library Instruction ONline
Or click here
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EndNote Web

• Software that stores organizes references
• Can import references directly into a Word
  document in a preferred citation style
• Register via Web of Science (WoS)
• Registration valid for one year
• Install Cite While You Write Plug-in
• Save references from Web of Science other
  databases into MyEndnote Web Library
• May manually add references into EndNote Web.

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We are here

• Advisory Service atInformation Desk,Central
  Library,Level 5.
• Email me clbha_at_nus.edu.sg
• Tel [phone]