This guide provides information on the many different library resources available to you, some basic tips on how to do research, and contact information if you need assistance from a librarian. Note: Washburn students may search many of the resources listed below from any computer with Internet access. To access restricted resources, you will be prompted to enter your name and WU ID number.

Help

Reference librarians are ready to assist you in the use of the Library's resources, in early and continuing consultation on research projects, in the use of electronic databases, and with computer searching.

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Finding Articles

Journals are a great source of information on current topics and lists of references at the end of articles can provide leads to additional sources. Articles from scholarly journals often provide the most current and detailed information on a subject. Scholarly journals are also referred to as peer-reviewed journals or refereed journals. The articles in a refereed journal are reviewed and evaluated by experts in the field prior to publication. This process assures the reader that the content is reliable and timely. In some electronic databases you may limit your search to articles in peer-reviewed journals.

Journal articles on specific subjects can be found by searching the library's electronic databases. The electronic databases describe what has been published, not what Mabee Library owns. If you need help using one of the library's electronic databases, research guides are available from the library's homepage. You will need to conduct a "journal title" search of the library catalog to find out if we subscribe to a journal when the full text of an article is not available online. Sometimes the Library subscribes to both the print and electronic versions of a journal (see the example).

Search Strategies

• "prevention program" AND "delinquent youth" - Search engines search words within quotation marks as a phrase.
• "prevention program" AND "delinquent youth" OR "juvenile delinquents"
• "wilderness challenge program"
• "truancy prevention program" OR "truancy prevention programs" - Search engines usually provide results which match exactly your search terms.
• "prevention programs" AND truancy
• "prevention programs" AND truancy AND "department of human services"
• "prevention program*" bullying - Some search engines use the wildcard * to find variant spellings.
• "prevention programs" AND bullying OR "school-based violence" OR "youth violence"
• "prevention program" AND "social suicide"
• "prevention program" AND homeless OR "homeless persons"
• "prevention programs" OR "intervention programs" AND "delinquent youth"

General Databases

• Academic Universe (Lexis-Nexis) - LexisNexis® Academic provides searchable access to a comprehensive spectrum of full-text information from over 5,600 sources, selected to meet academic research needs, including national and regional newspapers, wire services, broadcast transcripts, international news, non-English language sources, U.S. Federal and state case law, legal news, law reviews, international legal information, business news journals, company financial information, SEC filings and reports, and industry and market news.
• CQResearcher - The CQ Researcher Online is both a tool for selecting a topic to research and a comprehensive resource for exploring the most current and controversial issues of the day.
• Expanded Academic ASAP - Expanded Academic ASAP® is comprised of more than 3,500 indexed and full-text titles — of which 2,100 are peer-reviewed — in all disciplines with more than 20 years of backfile coverage and an intuitive interface that expedites successful searches. Expanded Academic ASAP offers balanced coverage on a wide-range of topics including social sciences, humanities, education, science and technology.
• ProQuest Research Library - From business and political science to literature and psychology, ProQuest Research Library provides access to a wide range of popular academic subjects.
• Wilson OmniFile Full Text - Full text of articles from over 2,100 publications, many of them peer-reviewed.

Subject-Specific Databases

• Criminal Justice Abstracts - Topics include crime trends, prevention projects, corrections, juvenile delinquency, police, courts, offenders, victims, and sentencing. 1968 to present.
• Criminology: A Sage Full-Text Collection - It covers such subjects as Criminal Justice, Juvenile Delinquency, Juvenile Justice, Corrections, Penology, Policing, Forensic Psychology, and Family and Domestic Violence. It includes the full-text of 23 journals published by SAGE and participating societies, some journals going back 23 years, encompassing over 5,500 articles.
• ERIC - Contains annotated references to nonjournal material issued in the monthly Resources in Education (RIE) and to journal articles issued in the monthly Current Index to Journals in Education (CIJE). 1966 to present.
• National Criminal Justice Reference Service Abstracts - Topics include crime trends, prevention projects, corrections, juvenile delinquency, police, courts, offenders, victims, and sentencing. 1972 to present.
• PAIS Archives and PAIS International - PAIS is a database chronicling global public policy and social issues. PAIS Archives covers 1915 to 1976. PAIS International covers 1972 to the present.
• Science Direct Social and Behavioral Sciences - Covers social and behavioral sciences.
• Social Sciences Full Text - 1983 to present.
• Social Work Abstracts - Social work and other related journals on topics such as homelessness, AIDS, child and family welfare, aging, substance abuse, legislation, community organization, and more. 1977 to present.
• Sociology: A Sage Full-Text Collection - It covers such subjects as Childhood, Contemporary Sociology, Comparative Sociology, Consumer Culture, Classical Sociology, Ethnic Studies, Gender Studies, Leisure Studies, Social Theory, Sociology of Sport, and Sociology of Work and Employment (Labor Studies).

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Finding Books

Encyclopedias and Dictionaries

A good starting point to find background information on a topic is in general and special encyclopedias, dictionaries or handbooks. These sources provide an overview of a topic, identify key people and concepts, define unfamiliar terms, and often include a list of books and articles on a given topic. They are also good for narrowing down a topic. Several general reference works, such as Encyclopaedia Britannica, Merriam-Webster's Online Thesaurus, and World Almanac, are available online from http://www.washburn.edu/mabee/researchTools/elec_dbs.html .

Encyclopedias and dictionaries specific to the discipline of Human Services may be found in the HV call number of the reference collection on the main floor of the library. These include the

• Human Services Dictionary (REF HV12 .R67 2003)
• Public Human Services Directory (REF HV89 .A55), as well as related works, such as the
• Encyclopedia of Social Work (REF HV35 .S67)
• Community Resources Directory (REF HV99.T65 C65)
• Encyclopedia of Drugs and Alcohol (REF HV5804 .E53 1995), and
• Domestic Violence and Child Abuse Sourcebook (REF HV6626.2 .D672 2000).

The Library Catalog

Books are generally not as current as journal articles, but they provide a more comprehensive coverage of a subject. Search the library catalog to find books on a specific subject. You may search by book title, subject, keyword(s), or a combination of author and title.

Examples:

• Keyword search: human services
• Keyword search: drug interventions
• Keyword search: prevention program* (the * is a wildcard that searches the records for books that contain the word program as well as the word programs)

Subject searching is most effective when you already know the Library of Congress Subject Heading to use, for example, Drug Abuse--Prevention. If you don't know the subject heading to use, try a subject search of the library catalog using this format:

• Prevention AIDS
• Prevention Bullying
• Prevention School Violence

You may also conduct a subject search of the library catalog to find the titles of journals available in the library. For example:

• Human Services Periodicals
• Psychology Periodicals
• Health Periodicals.

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Web Resources

Finding scholarly content on the World Wide Web can be a challenge...and time consuming. Here are several search tools that may help:

• Google Advanced Search - Once you know the basics of Google search, you might want to try Advanced Search, which offers numerous options for making your searches more precise and getting more useful results.
• Google Scholar - Google Scholar is a meta-search engine that gathers materials from academic publishers, professional societies, pre-print repositories, academic institutions, and the free Web. The results list may include citations, abstracts, and links to full text articles (which are often restricted to subscribed users). However, once you have a citation, you can conduct a "journal title" search of the Mabee Library catalog to see if you have access to the full text through Washburn.
• INFOMINE - INFOMINE is a virtual library of Internet resources relevant to faculty, students, and research staff at the university level. It contains useful Internet resources such as databases, electronic journals, electronic books, bulletin boards, mailing lists, online library card catalogs, articles, directories of researchers, and many other types of information.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - Conduct a search for prevention programs on the CDC web site.
• NREPP SAMHSA's National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices - NREPP is a searchable database of interventions for the prevention and treatment of mental and substance use disorders.
• RESOLVE Research and Education for Solutions to Violence and Abuse - A resource manual for school-based violence prevention programs.

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Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery

If the Mabee Library does not own or have access to a particular book or journal, you may request a copy of the article or the book through Interlibrary Loan; this free service normally takes 7-10 days for books and 2-7 days for journal articles..

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Citing Your Sources

Style manuals provide the necessary information for documentation and style in writing research papers and reports. The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers is located on the Mabee Library Reference Desk. A good online MLA style guide is available from the Purdue University Online Writing Lab at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_mla.html . An APA Style Guide is available from the Mabee Library Web site (http://www.washburn.edu/mabee) under the Research Guides link.

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http://www.washburn.edu/mabee/crc/courses/hs300

February 2008