Ask-A-Librarian | View Your Account | Search This Site 
For questions and reference assistance contact:Lynn Tobola [ltobola@bama.ua.edu].
Please select one of the following options or simply scroll down
BOOKS
Libraries’ catalog [http://library.ua.edu/] - Lists books, journal titles, government documents in the Gorgas Library as well as the Business, Education, Science & Engineering and Health Sciences Libraries.
Bounds Law Library [http://www.library.law.ua.edu/] - lists books, journal titles, documents
in the Law Library at the Law Center on Bryant Drive.
ARTICLES
Choose one of the electronic databases listed below to find articles. Then, simply go to the Libraries’ Databases page [http://www.lib.ua.edu/databases/dbsearch.htm] and select the database you want. Many of the databases have full-text (FT=full-text) copies of articles. Others provide citations and abstracts.
**Social Work Abstracts—indexes core social work journals and dissertations. This index is considered one of the major ‘records of the profession’ and is a good starting place for any topic.
Academic Search Elite—multidisciplinary database with a mix of academic journals, popular publications, and news articles as well.
America: History and Life—historical coverage of journals, books, book reviews, and dissertations related to the U.S. and Canada.
American Memory—excellent resource for locating primary source materials relating to U.S. history and culture. Numerous manuscripts from the Federal Writer’s Project, 1936-1940.
Child Abuse, Child Welfare, & Adoption—abstracts to literature on all aspects of child welfare.
Congressional—provides access to information published by the U.S. Congress. Especially useful for locating federal laws and their legislative histories.
ERIC—a database that covers articles and documents related to all levels of education. Good resource for information on child development; adolescent prevention programs; peer relations; and parent-child relations.
Expanded Academic ASAP—similar multidisciplinary coverage as Academic Search Elite.
GPO Monthly Catalog—references over 380,000 documents published by the U.S. Government Printing Office since 1976. Government documents contain a great deal of current statistics and can be quite useful for information relating to social welfare programs.
Info Trac Onefile—another good multidisciplinary database.
International Bibliography of Social Sciences—from the British Library of Political and Economic Science, indexes the information contained in over 2,600 social sciences journals and 6,000 books each year. Entering the phrase ‘social work’ retrieves over 7,000 records.
LegalTrac—indexes articles in law reviews, law journals; legal newspapers; and federal and state court cases, laws and regulations
Medline—database of the National Library of Medicine. Subjects areas related to social work are clinical practice, health policy, program administration, and many more.
PsycINFO—PsycINFO is an unparalleled resource for those looking for information on all aspects of psychology, psychiatry, mental health and illness, pharmacology, and much more. The database indexes articles, books, book chapters, dissertations, reports and some Internet sources. It is an excellent resource for social workers.
Web of Science—this comprehensive database can be searched in a variety of ways for articles in the social sciences, sciences, and arts and humanities. It is definitely worth using as a resource.
GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS
The Department of Health and Human Services and it’s subsequent agencies oversee many of the laws relating to social work. To view the DHHS web site as well as the agencies, such as the Administration for Children and Families; Administration on Aging; Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; and the National Institutes of Health go to: http://www.hhs.gov/about/index.html#agencies
LAW
The Bounds Law Library on the University campus houses numerous journals and books relating to the interpretation of law and legal issues. There is some duplication of materials with Gorgas Library, such as the U.S. Code, the Code of Alabama, and some government documents. To get started doing legal research, you could begin with the databases LegalTRAC [described above] and Academic Universe to find initial material. A reference book that will be useful as well is:
Legal Information: How to Find it, How to Use it
Gorgas Reference REF KF 240 .O365 1999A conversation with any librarian would then direct you to other resources available in Gorgas or the law library.
REFERENCE BOOKS
Reference books can give you an overview of a topic, additional sources of information, and definitions of important terms. For these reasons, reference books are a good starting point for research. Here is a small sample of what is available on the first floor of the Gorgas Library:
**Encyclopedia of Social Work
[located at the Information Services Desk on the 1st floor of Gorgas Library]**Social Work Dictionary
REF HV 12 .B37 2003
American Reform and Reformers
REF HQ 1412 .A46 1996American Social Leaders and Activists
REF HV 27 .H345 2002Biographical Dictionary of Social Welfare in America
REF HV .B57 1986DSM-IV-TR
REF RC 455.2 .C4 D536 2000Encyclopedia of Adolescence
REF HQ 796 .E58 1991Encyclopedia of Aging
REF HQ 1061 .E53 2001Encyclopedia of Associations
[see Associations Unlimited on the Libraries' Databases page]Encyclopedia of Gerontology: Age, Aging, and the Aged
REF RC952.5 .E58 1996Encyclopedia of Human Behavior
REF Bf 31 .E5 1994Encyclopedia of Marriage, Divorce & the Family
REF HQ 9 .D38 1989Encyclopedia of Mental Health
REF RA 790.5 .E58 1998Encyclopedia of Psychotherapy
REF RC 475.7 .E55 2002Handbook of Family Measurement Techniques
REF HQ 728 .H267 2001Handbook of Infant Mental Health
REF RJ 502.5 .H362 2000Historical Dictionary of the Welfare State
REF JC 479 .C74 1998Landmark Legislation, 1774-2002: Major U.S. Acts and Treaties
REF KF 68 .S73 2003Legal Rights of Children
REF KF 479 .L44 1994Major Acts of Congress
REF KF 154 .M35 2004Measures for Clinical Practice
REF BF 176 .C66 2000Mental Measurements Yearbook
REF Z 5814.P8 B932Social Work Speaks: NASW Policy Statements, 2003-2006
REF HV 88 .N686 2003Social Workers’ Desk Reference
REF HV 40 .S6464 2002Welfare Reform: A Reference Handbook
REF HV 95 .H54 1996
WEB SITES
The websites listed below can be useful in locating information on many topics. The inclusion of a website does not constitute an endorsement, but rather that the site has useful reliable information. They contain a variety of content including information about the profession and lists of schools of social work as well as subject specific information.
World Wide Web Resources for Social Workers
[http:www.nyu.edu/socialwork/wwwrsw]Social Work Access Network
[http://cosw.sc.edu/swan/]Social Work Search
[www.socialworksearch.com]Social Work Help
[www.socialworkhelp.com]
Professional Associations
Ageworks[http://www.ageworks.com/]
American Board of Examiners in Clinical Social Work (ABE)[http://www.abecsw.org/]
America's Charities[http://www.charities.org/]
American Psychological Society[http://www.psychologicalscience.org/]
American Public Human Services Association (APHSA)[http://www.aphsa.org/home/news.asp]
Association of Baccalaureate Social Work Program Directors (BPD)[http://www.bpdonline.org/]
Association for Community Practice & Social Administration (ACOSA)[http://www.acosa.org/]
Association of Oncology Social Work (AOSW)[http://www.aosw.org/]
Association of Social Work Boards
Child Welfare League of America, Inc.[http://www.cwla.org/]
Child Welfare League of America, Inc. National Data Anaylsis System (NDAS) [http://ndas.cwla.org/]
Clinical Social Work Association[http://www.associationsites.com/main-pub.cfm?usr=CSWA]
Council on Social Work Education (CSWE)[http://www.cswe.org/]
Cross Cultural Solutions[http://www.crossculturalsolutions.org/]
Family and Marriage Counseling Directory[http://family-marriage-counseling.com/index.htm]
Family Therapy Practice Academy of the Clinical Social Work Federation[http:www.csf.org]
Group for the Advancement of Doctoral Education[http://www.cosw.sc.edu/gade/]
Independent Social Work[http://indepedentsocialwork.com]
Institute for the Advancement of Social Work Research[http://www.iaswresearch.org/]
International Association of Schools of Social Work[http://www.iassw-aiets.org/]
International Network for School Social Work
National Association of Social Workers[http://www.socialworkers.org/]
National Organization for Women[http://www.now.org/]
National Organization of Forensic Social Work[http://www.nofsw.org/]
Nephrology Social Work Archives
North American Association of Christians in Social Work[http://www.nacsw.org/index.shtml]
Professional Ethics Resources Website [http://hometown.aol.com/JBOUSHKA/isethics.htm]
Rural Social Work Caucus[http://www.uncp.edu/home/marson/rural/]
Social Science Information Gateway[http://www.sosig.ac.uk/]
Social Work Exam Prep[http://www.socialworkexam.com/]
Social Work Image Campaign[http://www.socialworkimage.org/]
Social Work p.r.n.[http://socialworkprn.com/]
Social Work World[http://pages.prodigy.net/volksware/socialworkworld/index.htm]
INTERLIBRARY LOAN
Interlibrary Loan permits you to order articles and books from other libraries across the United States. ILL staff will notify you when the item arrives. Please be aware that some deliveries incur charges for copying or delivery.
APA Style Manual Websites
The American Psychological Association ’s style guide (5th edition) is the official guide to formatting papers and citing sources. The guide is available at the Information Desk on the first floor of the Gorgas Library. Here are also some links to web sites with APA examples:[same as criminal justice, but add www.apa.org and delete content relating to the department of CJ]
Examples from Purdue University Online Writing Lab Web Site [http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_apa.html]
Tutorial from University of Southern Mississippi Libraries Web Site [http://www.lib.usm.edu/legacy/tutorials/apatutorial/tutorialindex.html]
Examples from Writer ’s Handbook of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center [http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocAPA.html]
APA Online [http://www.apa.org/]
©2007-2009 The
University of Alabama
Last modified:
08/28/08
Comments about this site to: webmaster
Return to Top