Social Work Resources

• Keep track of your search and your results. Remember research is a process and you may try many things before you find what works best for your topic.
• Keep track of your search terms and jot down other words you find while perusing the articles that result from your searches.
• The "search history" option under the search box can also help with that.
• Email, print, or save articles that might be useful for your research, even if you're not sure that you're going to use them.

If your topic is: 

Does mental health stigma deter college students from seeking treatment?

1) Identify keywords or phrases:       

       mental health     stigma     college students     treatment 

2) Explore synonyms for your keywords/phrases:

• Mental health: well being, psychological health, mental illness, depression, anxiety, stress
• Stigma: attitudes, perceptions, values, stereotypes
• College students: university students, undergraduates, freshmen, higher education
• Treatment: counseling, intervention, therapy

3) Use these terms in your search. Combine the synonyms with the word "or".

        For example: mental health OR mental illness OR psychological health OR depression

Remember to search in the Advanced Search mode.

Enter your 1st keyword(s)/phrase(s) in the first line (here mental health).

Your second concept in our example is college students. Enter that key phrase and any synonyms in the second line of the search box. Your search results should then include both concepts somewhere in the record.

You can add as many concepts as you like!  Click on the + symbol under the green Search button to get another row of search boxes.

Once you have collected some articles, take a closer look at them.

Read and review what you have. Do you have enough information to support your topic?

If you don't like what you have or you don't have enough good information, go back to your search. Try some new keywords or a different database.

Explore some of the subject headings from the articles that you do want to use.

If some of your articles have bibliographies you might want to look at some of the sources listed in those bibliographies.

If you're stuck -- ask a librarian for help.

Reading these sections of an article/book will help you determine if the item you're looking at is relevant to your research.

• Abstract: This is a summary of the article/item and will give you a good idea if it will be of use. This is the only part that will be in the item record and in the article. 
• Introduction: This will tell you the history of the topic and the goal(s) of what you’re reading.
• Methodology: How did they approach the topic/their research? *May not be included.
• Literature Review: Summary of similar or previous research on the topic. *May not be included.
• Discussion/Conclusion: The results of what they found and their implications.