Social Work: Social Policy

What's going on here in this guide? (6m)

Samples of keyword searches
Library databases work with keywords only -so spelling counts!
(note: edit and choose your own! OR change to a different database and try them)

policy OR policies
AND
social OR public OR welfare OR "human services" OR public OR community
 

policy OR policies
AND
social OR public OR welfare OR "human services" OR public OR community
AND
homeless OR homelessness
(or sort this into just the newest books!)

HERE'S MORE!
advoca* OR lobby* OR campaign* OR justice OR awareness OR endorse* OR education OR relief
OR
intervention OR trial OR solution OR program OR action OR agenda OR plan

How do I get full text for free?

Watch this mercifully short video on
Inter Library Loan
(and as always, e-mail dale.larsen@utah.edu for help)

Library research for social policy is evidence based:

In the 21st century, funding for public schools was challenged by greater support for charter schools, and voucher initiatives for private schooling. When doing evidence based research, how do we include the voices of the legislators, their constituents, the public, educators, lobbying groups, mainstream and politicized news outlets, etc. etc.?  HERE'S A SAMPLE...

CONTEXT: Parents want their children's schools to be measurably accountable for their quality, but appear to disagree on whether standardized testing is the way to go.
QUOTE “…survey found that parents were split on their views of standardized testing, with 35% wanting their child’s school to focus more on testing and 27% wanting their child’s school to focus less on testing, with the remaining 38% agnostic on the issue."
CITATION: Kingsbury, I., Marshall, D. T., & Maranto, R. (2025). Virtual school parent perceptions of public school accountability. Discover Education, 4(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44217-025-00667-4

Image above:
Tomco, B. (2024, Nov. 1). Does parent choice hurt public education? Utah voters weigh in on gubernatorial race. Deseret News. https://www.deseret.com/politics/2024/11/01/utah-governor-race-education/

If you were part of a new prohibition of alcohol movement, which of the stakeholders/constituency would you talk to first?  What would your next strategic point be? What would your final goals address? How would you assess constituents' opinions?

Note: The beer cartoon element of the figure above was created by ChatGPT on September 16, 2025.

Trends, Ideas, Keywords, General Searching
​Library Catalog (advanced search)
Academic Search Ultimate (A big mash of many disciplines)

Local news, legal, public opinion
NexisUNI >>>quick NEXISUNI tips video<<<
US Newsstream (all the newspapers, full-text)
ALSO, SHANE WALLACE, OUR GOV DOCS LIBRARIAN SAYS:
"...play with https://www.congress.gov/. Also https://www.utah.gov/index.html.
use terms like: Introduced (the bill has been formally proposed), “Referred to Committee” (The bill has been sent to a specific committee for review), “Hearing Held” (The committee has held a public meeting to gather information on the bill), “Markup Session” (The committee is debating and amending the bill), etc. This can help with tracking the process quite a bit."
-shane.wallace@utah.edu and see the Government Documents Guide
-Utah Bill Search
-Utah Bill Browser

Social Sciences & Policy
PAIS (public policy from around the world)
Sociological Abstracts (One of Dale's fav's: societies, cultures, values identities)
Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
PsycINFO (psychology, but with many applications in social sciences)

Advanced -sort by # of times cited video -how do I use these again?
Scopus  
Web of Science 

In the context of Social Work Policy Research…

Students will learn to effectively and efficiently use an academic library website in cooperation with open web and AI sites

Students will learn library resource and keyword search strategies for academic research

Students will learn the main ideas and framework of a scholarly article, how to find them at an academic library, and how to quickly interpret the main points each article makes

SEARCHING FOR EVIDENCE/INTERVENTIONS ON THE ISSUE ITSELF (TRY SOCIOLOGICAL ABSTRACTS & PAIS FOR THIS)..
suggestion: in the advanced search, put the main product/service of the organization in the "title" example: 
homeless OR homelessness

OR TRY LOOKING FOR HOW PEOPLE FEEL ABOUT AN ISSUE (TRY PSYCINFO FOR THIS)
homeless OR homelessness
AND
values OR attitudes OR feelings OR culture OR beliefs OR sentiment OR perceptions OR trends