SWO 201 - Introduction to Social Work 

Remember you probably won't find information about your organization or agency in the professional literature. 

Try to think about the population it serves, and the services it provides; be creative in thinking about alternate ways to express the name or mission of your organization.

If you were volunteering at the Preble Street Resource Center, for example, you might search:

Following is a selected list of databases which cover social work and related fields. Most of these databases include citations and abstracts only. To check for the availability of articles, use Article Linker or search URSUS for the title of the periodical (not article). For more about finding the articles you want, see Finding Articles at USM or the Article Linker Tutorial. 

IMPORTANT NOTE: With rare exceptions, you won't find information on specific local agencies in scholarly journals. To look up information about your agency/organization other than their website or what you have been given, try Maine Newsstand, which provides indexing and full text of several Maine newpapers.

Social Work Abstracts
Index to articles and dissertations on social work, social welfare, and related fields.

Social Services Abstracts
Social Services Abstracts covers journal articles and dissertations in social work, human services, and related areas, including social welfare, social policy, and community development (1980-present).

Academic Search Premier
Provides full text for nearly 4,000 scholarly publications of which 3,100 are peer reviewed. Academic areas of study include: social sciences, humanities, education, computer sciences, engineering, language and linguistics, arts & literature, medical sciences, and ethnic studies.

PsycInfo
Index to the professional and academic literature in psychology and related disciplines, including medicine, psychiatry, nursing, sociology, education, pharmacology, physiology, linguistics, and other areas. Coverage includes references and abstracts to over 1,300 journals in more than 20 languages, and to book chapters and books in the English language. The database includes information from empirical studies, case studies, surveys, bibliographies.

Sociological Abstracts
Covers sociology and related disciplines including anthropology, criminology, demography, education, gerontology, mental health, minority studies, political science, public health, social psychology, social work, urban studies, welfare programs, and women's studies.

ERIC
Indexes and abstracts journal articles and documents on education research and practice, from 1966 to the present.