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Social Work Guide

Articles

Below are some recommended databases for searching for journal articles in social work. To search for individual journals by title, go to the Journals & Newspapers section.

Key Resources

  • Social Services Abstracts (ProQuest)
    Social Services Abstracts "provide bibliographic coverage of current research focused on social work, human services, and related areas, including social welfare, social policy, and community development."
    Unlimited simultaneous users.
  • Social Work Abstracts (EBSCO)
    "Social Work Abstracts offers extensive coverage of more than 450 social work and human services journals dating back to 1977. Produced by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), the database provides indexing and abstracts dealing with all aspects of the social work field, including theory and practice, areas of service and social issues and problems. Researchers seeking scholarly and professional perspectives on subjects such as therapy, education, human services, addictions, child and family welfare, mental health, civil and legal rights, and more will find Social Work Abstracts to be an indispensable resource."
    Unlimited simultaneous users.

Additional Resources

  • Academic Search Premier (EBSCO)
    Academic Search Premier is a multidisciplinary resource that "provides journal coverage for most academic areas of studies."
    Unlimited simultaneous users.
  • America: History and Life (EBSCO)
    "America: History & Life is the definitive index of literature covering the history and culture of the United States and Canada, from prehistory to the present. With indexing for 1,700 journals from 1964 to present ... The database also includes citations and links to book and media reviews."--Database information page.
    Unlimited simultaneous users.
  • Canadian Business and Current Affairs (CBCA) Reference (ProQuest)
    Please note: CBCA Reference is now searchable as part of the larger CBCA Complete collection. Canadian Business and Current Affairs (CBCA) Complete is the nation's largest and most comprehensive bibliographic full-text reference and current events database. Available through the ProQuest Web interface, CBCA Complete combines full text and indexed content from all four CBCA database subsets (Business, Current Events, Education, and Reference). Subject coverage is comprehensive and information is available from the broadest range of Canadian sources anywhere.
    NOTE: In certain instances ProQuest has decided to omit particular 'articles' from full-text access due to copyright restrictions or because the item has not met their criteria for being an 'article' (ie. too short, a letter, not attributed to an author, etc.).
    Unlimited simultaneous users.
  • CINAHL with Full Text (Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature - EBSCO)
    CINAHL with Full Text is the world's most comprehensive source of full text for nursing & allied health journals, providing full text for more than 500 journals indexed in CINAHL. This authoritative file contains full text for many of the most used journals in the CINAHL index - with no embargo. With full-text coverage dating back to 1981, CINAHL with Full Text is the definitive research tool for all areas of nursing and allied health literature.
    Unlimited simultaneous users
  • Cochrane Library
    The Cochrane Library contains high-quality, independent evidence to inform healthcare decision-making. This database includes the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, the Cochrane Database of Methodology Reviews, the The Cochrane Methodology Register, the Health Technology Assessment Database, and the NHS Economic Evaluation Database.
    Access to the Cochrane Library in New Brunswick is through a province-wide license made possible by a partnership between UNB and the eight Regional Hospital Authority libraries.
    Unlimited simultaneous users.
  • Google Scholar
    Google Scholar searches a subset of the Web that Google has classified as "scholarly literature". They do not publish a list of chosen sites, and they do not state how often sites are checked. Some important sources are not covered at all. Thus, Google Scholar alone should not be relied on for comprehensive research.
    Unlimited simultaneous users.
  • Historical Abstracts (EBSCO)
    "Historical Abstracts is an exceptional resource that covers the history of the world (excluding the United States and Canada) from 1450 to the present, including world history, military history, women's history, history of education, and more ... Provides indexing of more than 1,700 academic historical journals in over 40 languages back to 1955."--Database information page.
    Unlimited simultaneous users.
  • Public Affairs Information Service (PAIS) International and Archive (ProQuest)
    The PAIS International database contains references to journal articles, books, government documents, statistical directories, grey literature, research reports, conference reports, publications of international agencies, microfiche, Internet material, and more. Newspapers and newsletters are not indexed. Also included in PAIS are the PAIS Archive and ProQuest Deep Indexing: Public Administration and Policy databases.
    Unlimited simultaneous users.
  • PsycINFO (American Psychological Association - EBSCO)
    PsycINFO is an abstracting and indexing database of more than 2000 journals (approximately 3.3 million records) devoted to peer-reviewed literature (journals, books and dissertations) in the behavioural sciences and mental health.
    Unlimited simultaneous users.
  • PubMed
    PubMed is the U.S. National Library of Medicine's (NLM®) database of biomedical citations and abstracts. It includes MEDLINE, which covers over 4,800 journals published in the United States and more than 70 other countries primarily from 1966 to the present.
    Unlimited simultaneous users.
  • Scopus
    Scopus, a multidisciplinary online resource, will be invaluable to students and faculty in various fields of study within the sciences, health sciences and the social sciences. Scopus offers full-text linking, abstracting-and-indexing information including peer-reviewed titles from international publishers, Open Access journals, conference proceedings, trade publications, quality web sources.
    Unlimited simultaneous users.
  • Sociological Abstracts (ProQuest)
    Sociological Abstracts "covers the world's literature in sociology and related disciplines in the social and behaviorial sciences."
    Unlimited simultaneous users.
  • SocINDEX with Full Text (EBSCO)
    SocINDEX with Full Text is the world's most comprehensive and highest-quality sociology research database. Its extensive scope and content provide users with a wealth of extremely useful information encompassing the broad spectrum of sociological study. The database features more than 2.1 million records with subject headings from a 20,000+ term sociological thesaurus designed by subject experts and expert lexicographers. SocINDEX with Full Text contains full text for 890 journals dating back to 1908. This database also includes full text for more than 850 books and monographs, and full text for over 16,800 conference papers.
    Unlimited simultaneous users.
  • Violence & Abuse Abstracts (EBSCO)
    Violence & Abuse Abstracts publishes 1,200 abstracts annually plus and extended bibliography of recent literature on all types of interpersonal violence, including sexual, physical and psychological child abuse, domestic violence, rape, sexual assault and harassment, hate crimes, workplace violence, gang violence, elder abuse and neglect. Each abstract is categorized into one of four distinct sections: medical, legal, psychological and social.
    Unlimited simultaneous users.
  • Worldwide Political Science Abstracts (ProQuest)
    Worldwide Political Science Abstracts provides "citations, abstracts, and indexing of the international serials literature in political science and its complementary fields, including international relations, law, and public administration / policy."
    Unlimited simultaneous users.

Selected Core Journals

The following is a selected list of core peer-reviewed academic journals which are among the most important to social work. During database searches, you will encounter articles from these journals, plus many additional titles essential to specific social work sub-fields, research approaches, geographic regions, or related disciplines.

 

Newspapers

The library subscribes to many newspapers online, including major historical archives for The Globe & Mail, The New York Times, and The Times (London).

 

Books

Search UNB WorldCat:
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Advanced Search | Locations Guide | Help

Browsing Shelves

To browse the shelves for books in social work, try the HV1-5840 area. However, starting with a WorldCat search is recommended, as material may be found in various other areas of the library, including the following ranges:

HV6001-9960 Criminology
HM401-1281
(Prior to 1999, HM1-299 was used)		 Sociology (General)
HN1-995 Social History, Conditions, Problems
HQ1-2044 The Family, Marriage, Women
HT51-1595 Communities, Classes, Races
H1-99 Social Sciences (General)
BF Psychology
J Political Science
R Medicine
RT Nursing

 

Finding Dissertations and Theses

Dissertations and theses are like unpublished books, and may be especially useful for new research areas where not much information has yet been published. Search using Dissertations & Theses, a database that contains the work of authors from over 1,000 graduate schools and universities.

Reference Sources

 

When researching a new topic it is often necessary to get an overview, explanations of unfamiliar terms, or brief factual information.

To find additional reference materials, check our Reference Materials database, or browse section HV1-6000 of the Reference Stacks (HIL-REF) on the main floor of the Harriet Irving Library.

Key Resources

  • International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (2nd Ed.)
    see also [HIL-REF H41 .I58 2001 vols. 1-26]
    Fully revised and updated, the second edition of the International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, first published in 2001, offers a source of social and behavioral sciences reference material that is broader and deeper than any other. Available in both print and online editions, it comprises over 3,900 articles, commissioned by 71 Section Editors, and includes 90,000 bibliographic references as well as comprehensive name and subject indexes.

    UNB has online access to the 2001 edition as well as owning print volumes of the earlier edition.
    Unlimited simultaneous users.
  • Oxford Bibliographies Online
    "Oxford Bibliographies Online (OBO) is an entirely new research tool for the social sciences and humanities. A scholar-curated library of discipline-based subject modules, OBO is designed to help busy researchers find reliable sources of information in half the time by directing them to exactly the right chapter, book, website, archive, or data set they need for their research."
    Unlimited simultaneous users.
  • Oxford Reference
    Multi-part database of the online versions of Oxford University Press texts. Each topical division contains the searchable version of the latest edition of published dictionaries and encyclopedias. Additionally, information about Oxford University Press is provided. Online texts will be updated after new editions of the print monographs are published. Covers the humanities and social sciences.
    5 simultaneous users.
  • Wiley/Blackwell Reference Online
    Wiley/Blackwell Reference Online "is a vast new online library giving instant access to the most authoritative and up-to-date scholarship across the humanities and social sciences. With more than 350 reference volumes to be published in Blackwell Reference Online by the end of 2008, it is the largest academic reference collection available online and includes the critically-acclaimed Blackwell Companions and Handbooks, major reference works such as the Blackwell Encyclopedia of Management and the Companion to Syntax, and a whole host of other valuable reference materials such as dictionaries, encyclopedias and concise companions."
    Unlimited simultaneous users.

Association Websites

The best general websites for social work are the Canadian and American professional associations, both of which have a wealth of useful information:

 

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