Article Indexes

Social Work Abstracts (use to find scholarly, peer-reviewed articles)
Social Work Abstracts provides citations to over 35,000 journal articles in the field of Social Work and related disciplines. Topics include homelessness, AIDS, child and family welfare, aging, substance abuse, legislation, and community organization.

Once you have identified articles in Social Work Abstracts, check to see whether the library has the journals that your articles come from using the Journal Search box on the library's Journals & Newspapers page. Enter the title of the journal that the article comes from (not the article title). If the journal that you need is not available at the Scribner Library, please order your article through Interlibrary Loan.

Social Services Abstracts (use to find scholarly, peer-reviewed articles)
Social Services Abstracts indexes and abstracts current research (articles are from 1980 to the present) in social work, human services, and related areas, including social welfare, social policy, and community development. Major areas of coverage include community and mental health services; crisis intervention; evaluation research; the family and social welfare; gerontology; policy, planning and forecasting; poverty and homelessness; professional issues in social work; social development; social work education; support groups/networks; violence, abuse and neglect; and welfare services.

Once you have identified articles in Social Services Abstracts, check to see whether the library has the journals that your articles come from using the Journal Search box on the library's Journals & Newspapers page. Enter the title of the journal that the article comes from (not the article title). If the journal that you need is not available at the Scribner Library, please order your article through Interlibrary Loan.

Academic Search Premier (use to find articles in the popular press; does contain some scholarly articles as well)
Academic Search Premier indexes and provides selected full-text access to popular and scholarly articles in a wide range of subject areas.

Lexis-Nexis Academic (use to find articles in the popular press)
Use the "Guided News Search" in Lexis-Nexis Academic to find newspaper (and some magazine) articles relating to your selected social problem. Be sure to select an appropriate date range and keep in mind that you can search a specific newspaper title by using the "step five" search box at the bottom of the screen.

Lexis-Nexis Academic offers full-text access to the articles that it indexes. Articles may be printed out or e-mailed.

Please see a reference librarian for assistance in using Lexis-Nexis Academic.

*Help! How Do I Tell the Difference Between Scholarly and Popular Periodicals?*

Statistical Sources
Use these sources to find statistics relating to your term paper topic.

Dataset Resources on the WWW and Online Statistics and Fact Books
These two sites, created by Scribner librarians, compile links to a wide range of statistical sources, including the Statistical Abstracts, the General Social Survey and FEDSTATS.

Statistical Abstract of the United States (2003)
The Statistical Abstract is one of the most comprehensive sources for statistical information about all aspects of the U.S. Consult the Statistical Abstract for information about population, health, education, crime, human services, income and more. In addition to the online version, a print volume of the Statistical Abstract is available at the library reference desk. Back issues reaching to the early twentieth century are in the library's reference section, call number HA202.

Lexis-Nexis Statistical
Lexis-Nexis Statistical offers access to statistics (over 30,000 statistical tables) produced by the U.S. government, major international intergovernmental organizations, professional and trade organizations, commercial publishers, independent research organizations, state government agencies, and universities.

Please see a reference librarian for assistance in using Lexis-Nexis Statistical.

U. S. Census
The U.S. Census web site offers a large variety of statistical information about U.S. individuals, families and children. From the Census home page, use "Subjects A to Z" to try and locate statistics about your chosen social problem or "American Fact Finder" to locate basic census statistics (population, age, housing, ethnic group, education, income, etc.) by geographic area.

Web Sites and Site Evaluation

Tips for locating reliable Web sites:

 - Search from a directory created by humans, not search robots.

For example, Librarians Index to the Internet is an extensive, searchable directory of sites chosen by librarians as being particularly useful, high-quality and trustworthy.

World Wide Web Resources for Social Workers [site now defunct - 9/29/05] is a searchable directory of sites chosen by Social Work educators for their value to Social Work students.

 - Limit your search to trustworthy domains.

In Google, go to the advanced search screen. One of your limit options will be by domain. Select "only return results from the site or domain" and then fill in the domain codes that you feel comfortable using. Educational (.edu) and governmental (.gov) sites usually present trustworthy information, as do many (but certainly not all!) organizational (.org) sites. Use commercial (.com) sites with caution.

 - Learn to look at Web sites critically.

Use the criteria discussed on the library's Evaluating Internet Sites and Resources page and outlined on the Website Evaluation Checklist to choose high-quality, trustworthy sites.

Library Services

Reference Desk
A reference librarian is always happy to help you locate the information that you need. Please feel free to ask for assistance in person or by calling extension 5503.

Subject Librarian
Elizabeth Putnam (eputnam@skidmore.edu, extension 5542, library room 211) is the Social Sciences librarian. Please contact her with any questions or problems that you may encounter during your research.

Interlibrary Loan
The Interlibrary Loan service exists to supply library users with books, articles and other materials that are unavailable within the Lucy Scribner Library. The process is easy; simply fill out an online request form ("Submit Book Request" or "Submit Journal Article Request") and the library will contact you when your materials have arrived.

APA Citation Style

For the most authoritative information on how to cite references using APA style, consult the APA style manual (titled "Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association"). A copy of the manual is located at the reference desk (just ask the reference librarian for it); another copy is on reserve (ask for it at the Circulation desk, call # BF76.7 .P83 2001).

A good online example of how APA citations should be constructed is available from Long Island University, C.W. Post Campus.

Tip: When you are photocopying pages from a book or journal, be sure to also photocopy the book's title page or the journal's front page (the one that identifies volume/number/date). This will ensure that you have all the identifying information about that book or journal needed to create a proper citation.