How to search key Social Work databases
Searching Abstract Databases
A library database is an organised, searchable collection of electronically stored information. It provides access to a wide range of resources including: articles, ebooks, images, video, audio, and grey literature.
Results can include just the abstract (summary) of the material, or the complete article, book, video, etc. Many databases contain full text where you can download a PDF or read on screen. Other databases that provide records with just the main reference details and an abstracts/summary (Abstract Databases), and some that provide a mixture of full text and just abstracts.
While full text databases might initially seem like a better option there are benefits to abstract databases. Abstract databases often allow you to gain a comprehensive overview of what has been published in an area or region. Some useful abstract databases for Social Work include:
- Index New Zealand
- Social Services Abstracts
- Sociological Abstracts
But how do I get the full text?
This will vary by database, but there is often a link in the record to Find@WaikatoLibrary or Find a Copy. If you cannot see a link like this then you may need to go back to Library Search and search for the item. Try searching in Library Search for the title of the article/item and if that fails search for the title of the publication (journal/magazine/newspaper) and then browse to the year, volume, issue of your citation. If you have any problems please ask for help.
Advanced searching
Brainstorm keywords for your search, for example if you are looking for:
children who have witnessed domestic violence
You don’t need to include the joining words, so you might start off with the search keywords:
children witness domestic violence
This will automatically search for all of these words. All of these words should appear somewhere in the record or full text of the search results.
Quotation marks will search for an exact phrase, use it around words that you want to appear together in that exact order:
children witness “domestic violence”
"Phrase searching" can be very useful to narrow down your search results but be aware that you will not find spelling variations or different ordering of those words (e.g. violence in a domestic setting).
As you search, look out for other useful keywords in your search results. The literature doesn’t always use the same language as practitioners, and there may be regional variations in spelling and language. Domestic violence has a number of synonyms or narrower terms that may uncover relevant results, for example: family violence, domestic abuse, intimate partner violence. If you use brackets and an upper case OR in between synonyms you can search all variations in a single search:
children witness (“domestic violence” OR “family violence” OR “domestic abuse” OR “intimate partner violence”)
You can use an asterisk * symbol to search for variations on the ending of a word (truncation):
child* witness* (“domestic violence” OR “family violence” OR “domestic abuse” OR “intimate partner violence”)
Will search for child, children, childhood AND witness, witnesses, witnessed AND any of the phrases in brackets.
For more help see: Create a Search Strategy.
Searching for evidence
Chapter Two in this ebook outlines principles for finding information for practice in social work, locations to search, and criteria for evaluating evidence: Finding the evidence for practice in social work from the ebook Evidence Discovery and Assessment in Social Work Practice.
Searching online
Anyone can create a website so it is important to make sure a website is credible, relevant and reliable enough for academic research. We have a guide to help you evaluate websites: How to Evaluate Websites.
Many of the tips above work in most internet search engines (e.g. Google). Truncation will not work in Google but phrase searching using “quotation marks” and Boolean using brackets and OR will also work in Google:
“domestic violence” (children OR youth)
Will give you results with the exact phrase domestic violence and either one, or both or the terms children or youth. Some internet search engines (including Google and Google Scholar) automatically search variant endings, variations on spelling, and some synonyms. You can use quotation marks around an individual word to force it to only search that exact word.
Google allows you to search within a specific website or domain, for example:
“foster care” site:govt.nz
Will give you results with the exact phrase "foster care" within New Zealand Government websites where the URL ends in govt.nz You can also use the site: function to search for New Zealand domain websites site:.nz
Evaluating sources
There are many ways to judge the sources you find when searching. The Rauru Whakarare Evaluation Framework provides a kaupapa Māori-informed approach to evaluating sources.
The framework uses the following interconnected concepts to evaluate information:
- Orokohanga The origins
- Mana – The authority
- Whakapapa – The background
- Māramatanga – The content
- Aronga – The lens
More information on the framework is available here
Social Work Searching Help
How to search key Social Work databases
Searching Abstract Databases
A library database is an organised, searchable collection of electronically stored information. It provides access to a wide range of resources including: articles, ebooks, images, video, audio, and grey literature.
Results can include just the abstract (summary) of the material, or the complete article, book, video, etc. Many databases contain full text where you can download a PDF or read on screen. Other databases that provide records with just the main reference details and an abstracts/summary (Abstract Databases), and some that provide a mixture of full text and just abstracts.
While full text databases might initially seem like a better option there are benefits to abstract databases. Abstract databases often allow you to gain a comprehensive overview of what has been published in an area or region. Some useful abstract databases for Social Work include:
But how do I get the full text?
This will vary by database, but there is often a link in the record to Find@WaikatoLibrary or Find a Copy. If you cannot see a link like this then you may need to go back to Library Search and search for the item. Try searching in Library Search for the title of the article/item and if that fails search for the title of the publication (journal/magazine/newspaper) and then browse to the year, volume, issue of your citation. If you have any problems please ask for help.
Advanced searching
Brainstorm keywords for your search, for example if you are looking for:
children who have witnessed domestic violence
You don’t need to include the joining words, so you might start off with the search keywords:
children witness domestic violence
This will automatically search for all of these words. All of these words should appear somewhere in the record or full text of the search results.
Quotation marks will search for an exact phrase, use it around words that you want to appear together in that exact order:
children witness “domestic violence”
"Phrase searching" can be very useful to narrow down your search results but be aware that you will not find spelling variations or different ordering of those words (e.g. violence in a domestic setting).
As you search, look out for other useful keywords in your search results. The literature doesn’t always use the same language as practitioners, and there may be regional variations in spelling and language. Domestic violence has a number of synonyms or narrower terms that may uncover relevant results, for example: family violence, domestic abuse, intimate partner violence. If you use brackets and an upper case OR in between synonyms you can search all variations in a single search:
children witness (“domestic violence” OR “family violence” OR “domestic abuse” OR “intimate partner violence”)
You can use an asterisk * symbol to search for variations on the ending of a word (truncation):
child* witness* (“domestic violence” OR “family violence” OR “domestic abuse” OR “intimate partner violence”)
Will search for child, children, childhood AND witness, witnesses, witnessed AND any of the phrases in brackets.
For more help see: Create a Search Strategy.
Searching for evidence
Chapter Two in this ebook outlines principles for finding information for practice in social work, locations to search, and criteria for evaluating evidence: Finding the evidence for practice in social work from the ebook Evidence Discovery and Assessment in Social Work Practice.
Searching online
Anyone can create a website so it is important to make sure a website is credible, relevant and reliable enough for academic research. We have a guide to help you evaluate websites: How to Evaluate Websites.
Many of the tips above work in most internet search engines (e.g. Google). Truncation will not work in Google but phrase searching using “quotation marks” and Boolean using brackets and OR will also work in Google:
“domestic violence” (children OR youth)
Will give you results with the exact phrase domestic violence and either one, or both or the terms children or youth. Some internet search engines (including Google and Google Scholar) automatically search variant endings, variations on spelling, and some synonyms. You can use quotation marks around an individual word to force it to only search that exact word.
Google allows you to search within a specific website or domain, for example:
“foster care” site:govt.nz
Will give you results with the exact phrase "foster care" within New Zealand Government websites where the URL ends in govt.nz You can also use the site: function to search for New Zealand domain websites site:.nz
Evaluating sources
There are many ways to judge the sources you find when searching. The Rauru Whakarare Evaluation Framework provides a kaupapa Māori-informed approach to evaluating sources.
The framework uses the following interconnected concepts to evaluate information:
More information on the framework is available here