SOC WEL 112: Social Welfare Policy

Please note: this course guide was created during a previous semester, and is no longer being actively maintained. For a list of current course guides, please see http://lib.berkeley.edu/alacarte/course-guides. 

UCB: Use OskiCat to find books related to your topic at UC Berkeley. Oskicat will show you where it's located, and will also show you the Library of Congress Subject Heading -- which can help you find material other relevant books.

UC: Not enough books  at Berkeley? Use Melvyl to find more books at other campuses in the UC system.  Clickon the REQUEST button (in the detailed view of a catalog record) to request the item through  Interlibrary Loan.

World: Still want more? You can search thousands of libraries through WorldCat on FirstSearch and then request the material through UC e-links or directly via Interlibrary Loan. 

Google Books: Library catalogs don't search inside of books. Google Books can help you identify the book you need, then click on "Find in a Library" to see if we have it.

We have hundreds of research databases which help you find articles (and more) on a wide variety of topics. They are organized according to academic discipline, by name, or by type of database (newspapers, articles, dissertations, etc.) A few of the core resources for this class are listed below.

• Social Services Abstracts
  Indexes journals worldwide related to the fields of social work, human services, and social policy. (Search all CSA/Illumina Social Sciences databases.)
  
• Social Work Abstracts
  Indexes hundreds of journals related to social work on a wide range of topics.
  
• Sociological Abstracts
  Core database in sociology, many overlaps with social welfare.(Search all CSA/Illumina Social Sciences databases.)
  
• PAIS International
  For the public policy aspect of social welfare, this is a useful index. Also indexes government documents. International in focus. (Search all CSA/Illumina Social Sciences databases.)
  
• Academic Search Complete
  An interdisciplinary index to articles in over 10,000 journals, many are available fulltext.
  
• Family and Society Studies Worldwide
  Indexes scholarly journals (and more) related to social science research about the family and society.
  

• Use synonyms -- there are many ways to express a concept (teenager or teenagers or adolescent)
• Use truncation to get different forms of the word, for example teenage* will retrieve teenagers, teenager, teenaged, etc.
• Use quotation marks when you want an "exact phrase"

This definition of social policy from the Dictionary of Sociology, may help clarify what a policy is, and how it's different from a plan or a program that implements a policy.

The Green Book (in progress) is a FANTASTIC resource for federal programs. It provides updated statistics and information on programs such as Medicare, Social Security, Unemployment Compensation, Foster Care and welfare. Additionally, it includes a discussion of related issues, such as the well-being of the elderly and of children and families. (If the program you're interested in hasn't been updated yet, you can also try the 2004 Green Book.)

LexisNexis Congressional contains congressional documents (hearings, committee prints, documents, and legislative histories) which are searchable through this fulltext database.

Polisphere a very helpful custom search engine -- lets you search the web for policy related issues, and you can refine your search by limiting it to policy organizations, or federal, state, or local government.

MetaLib and USA.gov are two ways to search a variety of US Government sources at one time.

LexisNexis Government Periodicals Index Indexes over 170 periodicals published by agencies of the US Government.

News sources can be a great way to find information about  federal and state social and educational policies. There are numerous sources of fulltext news, some available freely on the web. The ones below are all databases that we pay for, they each have specialized features.

• LexisNexis Academic
  Over 6,000 individual titles of international, national and local newspapers and wire services.
  
• Ethnic News Watch
  Over 200 ethnic, minority, and native press publications -- a great way to uncover information that may not appear in the mainstream press.
  
• GenderWatch
  Newspapers, magazines, academic journals, and more that focus on gender across a broad spectrum of subject areas.
  
• Factiva
  General and business news and information from more than 9,000 sources.Includes The Wall Street Journal and the Associated Press.
  
• ProQuest Newspapers
  New York Times (1999-present), Los Angeles Times (1985-present), Wall Street Journal (1982-present).
  

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VPN (Virtual Private Network)
After you install and run the VPN "client" software on your computer, you can log in with a CalNet ID to establish a secure connection with the campus network.

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The Statistical Abstract of the United States is a great compilation of national statistics from many sources -- government and private. It also is used as an index, or finding tool, to find the source of the statistics.

The Green Book is the standard reference for social policy and federal entitlement programs. It includes descriptions of the program descriptions and historical data on a wide variety of social and economic topics. 

Looking for data about children? Kids Count Data Center from Annie E. Casey provides additional data not covered in Factfinder -- such as rate of substantiated child abuse and number of hours of television watched. You can drill down on some of the indicators to county and city level data.

Demographics of people with and without health insurance coverage is tracked by Census Bureau through three surveys. A national snapshot is available of Income, Poverty and Health Insurance in the United States.

The U.S. Census Bureau provides local, state and national statistics relating to poverty, educational attainment, overcrowded housing, single parent families, grandparents raising grandchildren, etc. Much of the data can be "cross-tabulated" by another variable such as race/ethnicity, gender, immigrant status, language or age. American FactFinder is the main entry point. This isn't as easy to use as it should be -- ask your librarian if you'd like help!

Importing from Social Services Abstracts (or any CSA database) into RefWorks

1. Search CSA Social Services Abstracts.
2. Select the desired references by checking the box to the left of each citation.
3. After all the desired citations have been selected, click on RefWorks
4. You will be asked if you want the records added, if so click on Export to RefWorks. (If you have a pop up blocker, it will then confirm that you do want to open RefWorks.)
5. RefWorks then displays the last citations you added, and you can choose to add them to a specific folder . Or you can just leave them in the Last Imported folder. (If you want to create a new folder, just click on Folder and the drop down arrow will let you select make a new one.

Search OskiCat. Once you have records you want to export, if you are:

A. Viewing a list of results, check the box to the left of each record you wish to add to RefWorks, then click Save Selected Records, or

B. Viewing an individual record, click the Save Records button near the top of the window and then:

1. Click the View Saved button near the top of the window
2. Click Export Saved
3. Select EndNote/RefWorks under Format of List
4. Select Screen under Send List To
5. Click Submit
6. Use your browser’s Select All function, then Copy
7. Open another browser window and access your RefWorks Account.
8. Click References from the drop-down menu and select Import
9. In the drop-down menu next to Import Filter/Data Source, choose Innovative Interfaces (EndNote/RefWorks Format)
10. For Database, choose University of California, Berkeley
11. In Import References into Folder, choose the desired folder, if you have already created a folder into which you want these references to import.  If not, make no selection here
12. Click Import
13. Select the radio button next to Import Data from the following Text.
14.  Put your cursor in the box below Import Data from the following Text and select Edit > Paste in your browser.
15. By default, all newly imported references appear in the Last Imported folder. Under View / Folders, select your folder to see the citations you just imported.  Note the UC-eLinks icon next to each reference.

Thanks to the Public Health Library for creating this guide!

Evidence Based Practice, to quote Professor Gambrill, is "a new educational and practice paradigm for closing the gaps between research and practice to maximize opportunities to help clients and avoid harm.”

• The Campbell Collaboration (Motto: What helps? What harms? On what evidence?) is an international research network that produces systematic reviews of the effects of social interventions.
• The California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare reports on programs being used or marketed in California.
• The Social Work Policy Institute on Evidence-Based Practice.
• The Cochrane Library indexes journal articles, reviews, and bibliographies which provide evidence-based effects of health services
• Evidence Database on Aging SWLI populates the evidence database with published studies and articles that inform and advance policy discussions regarding aging care and the role of social workers.

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