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Social Work

This guide covers selected resources for Social Work research available through the Wolfgram Library.

Getting Started

  • Every major government and private agency has a website.
  • Most major government agencies have subsidiary agencies.  Both the parent agency’s website and the subsidiary agency’s website provide access to policies and information.
  • You can get valuable policy and program information from both the parent agency’s website and the subsidiary agency’s website as well as links to additional agencies and policies.
  • The sites include important primary source material about the policies and programs as well as the policies themselves.
  • Laws and legislation are examples of pure policies that assist people.  By finding the full text of legislation, you can obtain the language used by legislators to address social problems.

Sources to Consider:

  • Government Agency Websites
  • Private Agency Websites
  • Legislative Websites

Searching for Social Policies and Legislation

Set Up Your Search

In the following example  search for Government Agencies Shows the search term Mental Illness with Site or domain highlighted and .gov circled
working on Mental Illness.

 

  1. Go to Google Advanced Search - https://www.google.com/advanced_search
  2. Enter your Search Terms in the all theses words section (ex: Mental Illness)
  3. In the narrow your results by section, under site or domain, enter .gov (This ensures all results will come from U.S. Government sites)
  4. Select Advanced Search.

 

 

 

 

 

From the Results List

Select:

Mental Illness - National Institutes of Mental Health - https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness

  1. Click on Health Topics and brows the many topics listed.

  2. select Depression - This page includes information and links to many resources about this mood disorder.

  3. Click on the Research tab, and you obtain:

    1. Research funded by NIMH

    2. Research Conducted at NIMH

    3. Priority Research Areas

    4. Research Resources

Set Up Your Search

In the following example search for policy information about Head Start.
Advanced Google Search with the Search Term Head Start and site or domain highlighted with .gov entered

 

  1. Go to Google Advanced Search - https://www.google.com/advanced_search
  2. Enter your Search Terms in the all theses words section (ex: Office of Head Start)
  3. In the narrow your results by section, under site or domain, enter .gov (This ensures all results will come from U.S. Government sites)
  4. Select Advanced Search.

 

 

 

 

 

From the Results List

 

Select: Office of Head Start (OHS) - https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ohs

  1. This site provides background about the program, information about Head Start Services, data & and reports.

  2. Click on Policy & Regulation and then the Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act of 2007 to access the full text for this legislation.

 

 

 

 

Set Up Your Search

  1. Go to congress.gov
  2. In the search box drop down, change from Current Congress to All Congresses
  3. Enter the search term: "Respect for Child Survivors Act" (use quotation marks to locate the exact legislation)
  4. Click SearchScreen Shot of Congress.gov site with the Legislation "Respect for Child Survivors Act" and the Status of Legislation and Bill Number Highlighted
  5. From the Results List, limit your search to Status of Legislation: Select Became Law to obtain only bills that have become law.
  6. Clicking on the Bill Number  S.4926 -- will bring you to the full text of the Legislation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Results Options

The results provide you will extensive information about this and related legislation, including:

  • Summary - A brief summary of the legislation
  • Text: The full text of the legislation, providing definition and other status. Click on PDF to read and download the legislation.
  • Related Bills - A list of related legislation you can explore.

The full result of the Respect for Child Survivors Act, showing a brieft summary and links to other information