LibGuides: Social Work: Welcome New MSW Students!

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Contact:

UNLV Libraries
Lied Library
4505 S. Maryland Parkway
Box 457014
Las Vegas, NV 89154-7014
susie.skarl@unlv.edu

702-895-2141

Subjects: Communication Studies, Couple & Family Therapy, Criminal Justice, Crisis & Emergency Management, Government Information, Journalism & Media Studies, Public Administration, Social Work, Urban Studies

Fall 2022 MSW Orientation PowerPoint Slides

Fall 2022 MSW Library Orientation

Welcome to the MSW Resource Guide!

Welcome from UNLV Libraries!

In order to access the online resources through the UNLV Libraries, please log on with your Ace Account.

To begin, view the UNLV Libraries video tutorials.

Need more help? Contact your librarian, Susie Skarl at susie.skarl@unlv.edu

To Get You Started on the Road to Research & the Inquiry Process

The Inquiry Process, Step By Step - By Tina Barseghian

Social Work Related Databases

Social Work Abstracts
Good for: Finding professional journal articles about social work
Contains: Journal articles.
Dates covered: 1977-present.

From the National Association of Social Workers, this database provides access to professional journal articles about social work from all areas of the profession.
SocINDEX with Full Text
Good for: Researching sociology and related disciplines.
Contains: Index to literature.
Dates covered: 1895-present.

Includes selected journals, monographs, and conference papers. Encompasses all subdisciplines of sociology, including abortion, anthropology, criminology, criminal justice, marriage & family, politics, religion, rural sociology, social psychology, social structure, social work, sociological theory, sociology of education, substance abuse, urban studies, and many others.
Social Services Abstracts
Good for: Finding abstracts of research in social work, human services, social policy, and community development.
Contains: Abstracts of published scholarship.
Dates covered: 1979-present.

Social Services Abstracts identify and summarize current research in social work, human services, social policy, and community development.
AgeLine
Good for: Researching social gerontology, health care, public policy, employment, and consumer issues.
Contains: Abstracts.
Dates covered: 1978-present.
Sociological Abstracts
Good for: Finding citations and abstracts of sociological research.
Contains: Citations and abstracts from journal articles, books, and association papers.
Dates covered: 1963-present.

Sociological Abstracts provides access to worldwide findings in theoretical and applied sociology, social science, and policy science. Included are citations and abstracts from journal articles, books, and association papers. The database includes research within the following topics: anthropology, business, collective behavior, community development, disaster studies, education, environmental studies, gender studies, gerontology, law and penology, marriage and family studies, medicine and health, racial interactions, social psychology, social work, sociological theory, stratification, substance abuse, urban studies, and violence.
Academic Search Premier
Good for: Conducting academic research on all subjects.
Contains: Journal, magazine, and newspaper articles.
Child Development and Adolescent Studies
Good for: Researching child development and adolescent studies.
Contains: Current and historical scholarly literature.
Family & Society Studies Worldwide
Good for: Researching family science, human ecology, human development, and social welfare.
Contains: Journal articles.
Dates covered: 1970-present.
PTSDpubs
Good for: Finding information on PTSD and other mental health consequences of trauma.
Contains: Citations and abstract to scholarly literature.

Learn Effective Database Search Strategies

Learn Effective Database Search Strategies

(The following are suggestions to improve your search results)

Use different search terms or key words

a. Try using other words to describe your topic, it will give you better results.

b. Examples: veterans and PTSD, soldiers and PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder and war, PTSD and families

Truncation or wildcard (*)

a. This will locate alternate endings for your search term.

b. Example - mar* to find marriage, marital, married, etc.

c. Note: Some databases use different symbols; consult the help page for the correct symbol

Try different databases

a. Each database contains unique material, so searching a different database may yield more relevant research.

Help page

a. Each database has a page with tips to help you effectively search that resource.

Literature Review Resources

Video--Literature Reviews: An Overview for Graduate Students.
Excellent overview of the literature review process from NCSU.

Tips for Searching on Google Scholar

Website | Feed

Google Scholar Setup Tipsheet

APA Style Resources

APA Overview: PPT (updated for 7th Edition), including potentially tricky examples such as book chapters and secondary citations.
Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) - APA Style Guide: This is a dependable site for APA questions. Look for their Sample Paper, too.

Other Resources:

APA Style and Grammar Guidelines
From APA: Detailed instructions and examples from the 7th edition
Tutorial: Basics of Seventh Edition APA Style
from APA
Free DOI Lookup Tool
Provides a DOI for an article citation when one is available.
Is it Plagiarism Yet? (Purdue OWL)
Explains when to give credit to another person for their intellectual work (and how to do it correctly). Look for the "Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing" section on the left for examples of each.

Organizing Your Research Using RefWorks

What is RefWorks?
RefWorks is a web-based bibliographic software package that enables you to:

Organize your research
Create a bibliography in a variety of citation styles, including APA, MLA and Chicago
Import references from many data sources
Create bibliographies in different document formats (Word, RTF, HTML, etc.)
Include citations while you write your paper

"New" RefWorks Instructions

Proquest RefWorks guide
New RefWorks tutorials (YouTube)
New RefWorks FAQ
RefWorks Citation Manager (For use with Office 2016)
Write N Cite for Windows
Using Write N Cite with Microsoft Word
Tips for moving to RefWorks from Mendeley

Online Movies & Streaming Videos--A Few Examples

Link to UNLV Libraries Streaming Media Platforms

A Few Social Work-related examples below:

Research Planner

Sage Research Methods--Project Planner
This tool is designed to guide you through your research project. First, think about what stage you're at in your research. If you've already gotten started, click on the stage below that best describes where you are. If you're just starting out, it might be helpful to read more about why we do research before getting started.

Social Work