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Social Work

Getting Started

Social Work research papers commonly need to find three types of information:

  • BACKGROUND INFORMATION
    To find this, you will often use Factual Sources like sources of statistics, information about your practicum organization, government policy facts, etc. These sources provide background information about your study's population, the definition and scope of the problem that you are addressing, the laws that relate to your problem, etc.
     
  • RESEARCH ON THE PROBLEM'S SIGNIFICANCE / CAUSES
    To find this, you will often use Scholarly Sources  such as academic journal articles and books. You might also include a limited amount of anecdotal evidence, but anecdotes should be paired with research-based scholarly evidence whenever possible. 
     
  • STUDIES THAT HAVE USED INTERVENTIONS with similar methods, populations, or problems to yours
    To find this, you will often use Scholarly Sources - most often journal articles. Studies that are actually interventions rather than research on your problem's significance/causes can be relatively difficult to find. 

This guide also describes:

  • How to Get Access to things that are not available freely online: Summit and Interlibrary Loan
  • Citation tools