University of Vermont  Bailey/Howe Library Information and Instruction Services

Example: Your topic is the relationship between poverty and homelessness.

Your keywords are:  poverty and homelessness.   Relationship is implied and does not need to be included.

• Use "and" to narrow your search down and focus onto your specific topic by combining two or more terms. All terms must be present.
  Example:  poverty  and homelessness

• Use "or" to broaden your search by combining synonyms or alternative forms of words. Any of the words must be present.
  Example: poverty or low income or poor

• Tip: Use truncation to automatically get words with variant endings, including plurals. This makes your search more efficient because it cuts down on your number of searches.  Various punctuation marks are used for truncation in different indexes, but the asterisk is common.
  Example:  homeless*  finds homeless, homelessness etc.

• Tip: To find research studies, add the keywords research or study to your search strategy
  

An index to journal articles provides a list of articles on a topic you are researching. The index will provide a citation to an article, all the information you need in order to locate the article, including: author of article, title of article, title of journal, volume, issue, year, and page numbers.

Sample Citation

An Understanding of Poverty from Those Who Are Poor. Baker Collins, Stephanie. Action Research; 2005, 3, 1 Mar 9-31

Article title: An Understanding of Poverty from Those Who Are Poor.  Article author: Baker Collins, Stephanie. Journal title: Action Research date: March 2005  volume/issue: v3 n1 pages: 9-31.

INDEXES FOR RESEARCH IN SOCIAL WORK

Social Work

Social Services Abstracts provides bibliographic coverage of current research focused on social work, human services, and related areas, including social welfare, social policy, and community development. Entries date from 1980 - present.  Here is a detailed guide to searching Social Services Abstracts.
Search tips: Truncation is *.  Phrases are entered without special punctuation.  Searches can be limited to journal articles only and/or by date of publication.

Social Sciences

Social Sciences Abstracts provides abstracts of articles from international, English-language periodicals in sociology, anthropology, geography, economics, political science, and law. Coverage: 1983-present with abstracts beginning in 1994.
Search tips: Truncation is *.  Phrases are entered in quotes.

Sociology

Sociological Abstracts indexes and abstracts articles from 2,000 scholarly social science journals published worldwide, in many languages other than English. It contains both the Sociological Abstracts and Social Planning Policy and Development databases. Coverage is from 1963 to the present.
Search tips:  Truncation is *.  Phrases are entered without special punctuation.

Education

PsycINFO is used to find citations and abstracts to journal articles, book chapters and dissertations in psychology and related fields from 1872 to present. PsycINFO contains information on a wide range of topics in education, including organizational behavior, management styles, and ethics.
Search tips: Truncation is *. Phrases are entered without special punctuation.  Search results can be limited to journal articles only by checking the appropriate box.

Public Administration

How Would I Find the Actual Article?

After finding a citation to an article of interest, check to see whether the index provides a link labeled Full text, Check local holdings, Check your library or something similar.  If not, perform a "Journal Title" search (using the Quick Search option), in the Library Catalog [http://voyager.uvm.edu/] to determine if UVM owns the journal and the year you need. If the journal title was Children and Youth Services Review, you would type the title, omitting any initial article such as a, an, or the, in the search box, and then select "Journal Title" from the menu below the search box.

 Remember! Type in the name of the journal, not  the article title.

The full record in the library catalog looks like this:

• The Periodicals Department is on the 2nd floor of Bailey/Howe Library.
  
• The journal record in the Library Catalog will tell you: Library Has: what years the library owns; Current issues: which issues are considered  "current"; Collection: whether the back issues are in the Bound Periodical Stacks, in Microforms, or in the Library Research Annex; Internet: if the journal has an electronic version (e-journal) accessible for viewing online.
• Current issues are shelved in a large room opposite the Periodicals Service desk, arranged alphabetically by title or by corporate author (the organization that publishes the journal).
  
• Back issues are shelved in the Bound Periodical Stacks, arranged alphabetically by journal title, or found on microfilm. The Microforms Room is on the 2nd floor. NOTE: most journal holdings in paper copy before 1960 are housed in the Library Research Annex.

• Choose one of the resources listed above based on the general subject area of your topic.
• Develop a basic search strategy by selecting keywords from your topic and using the appropriate connector (AND, OR).
• From your list of results, choose the article that seems most likely to contain useful information.
• Determine whether the full text of the article is available online.  If not, determine whether the UVM LIbraries subscribe to the journal.  If not, request the item through the Interlibrary Loan service.
  

Return to SWSS 164 home