LibGuides: SWK 315: Human Behavior and the Social Environment I

Distinguishing Scholarly vs. Popular Sources

Evaluating Info/Scholarly vs. Popular
Distinguishing Source Types
Learn criteria for differentiating between common source types.

Library Databases--Keyword Searching

Try some keyword searching in the library databases. Here are some examples:

cross-cultural and elderly
Chinese Americans and elderly
multicultural and elderly and caregiving
Italian Americans and stage theory
African Americans and family systems perspective
Jewish Americans and family dynamics

Research Databases

SocINDEX with Full Text
- This link opens in a new window
1895-
Indexes the literature of sociology and related disciplines.
AgeLine
- This link opens in a new window
1978-
Abstracts on social gerontology. Also includes health care, public policy, employment, and consumer issues.
Social Services Abstracts
- This link opens in a new window
1950s-
Abstracts of current research in social work, human services, social policy, and community development.
Social Work Abstracts
- This link opens in a new window
1977-
Access limited to 4 simultaneous users
Journal articles about all areas of social work from professional journals.

Family & Society Studies Worldwide This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
1970-
Journal articles recording research, policy, and practice literature in the fields of family science, human ecology, human development, and social welfare.
Family & Society Studies Worldwide, produced by NISC, is a core resource providing the most comprehensive coverage of research, policy, and practice literature in the fields of Family Science, Human Ecology, Human Development, and Social Welfare. FSSW covers popular issues as well as meeting the requirements of professionals in all fields of social work, social science and family practice. Coverage spans from 1970 to the present indexing publications from a wide range of social science disciplines including anthropology, sociology, psychology, demography, health sciences, education, economics, law, history and social work.
RefWorks This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Bibliography manager saves your citations and formats them into APA, MLA, or other styles.
This web-based bibliography manager lets you save citations to journal articles, books, web sites and more into your personal online database. You'll be able to quickly link to online articles, organize and share your references, and automatically create formatted bibliographies in all the major citation formats, including APA, MLA, and Chicago styles. Off-campus users, see the Using RefWorks at UNLV page for special instructions.
LGBTQ+ Source This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Provides an index to the world's literature on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues, as well as full text for 55 of the most important and historically significant LGBT journals, magazines and regional newspapers, as well as more than 100 full-text monographs/books.

Using QuickSearch

UNLV Libraries Quick Search
You can limit to scholarly/peer reviewed journals on Quick Search & also limit to the Social Work discipline.

When to Use Quick Search:

you are first starting your research
to get ideas or background info you have had difficulty finding sources in other databases you need
an alternative to Google - easy searching but with more credible/reliable results

On the left sidebar, you can "Refine Your Search" a number of different ways--including by publication date & scholarly/peer reviewed sources.

Aging & Multicultural Web Resources

U.S. Administration on Aging (AoA) (http://www.aoa.gov/)
The AoA website is designed to provide a comprehensive overview of a wide variety of topics, programs, and services relating to aging, including information for elders and their families, information for professionals, and links to grant programs.

National Institute on Aging (NIA) (http://www.nia.nih.gov/)
The NIA's mission is to improve the health and well-being of older Americans through research. The agency's website provides links to health information, research programs, and funding and training.

U.S. Senate Special Commission on Aging (http://www.senate.gov/~aging/)
The Special Committee on Aging serves as a focal point in the Senate for discussion and debate on matters related to older Americans. The site contains links to hearings, help with prescriptions, legislation tracking, and publications.ad Start.

Families& Living Arrangements, U.S. Census Bureau (http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/hh-fam.html)
Demographic characteristics of households and families are collected annually in the March Current Population Survey (CPS) for the Nation.

Grandparents Raising Grandchildren: http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Grandparents.shtml

US Census Bureau, Aging Population Resources: http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/aging_population/