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SWK 540: Social Welfare Policy & Issues
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Introduction to Library Research
Provides an overview of using URSUS, Fogler Library's catalog
Find Out about Policies in a Topic Area
CQ Researcher - topical articles on policy issues
CQ Weekly - articles about Congress
Maine Newsstand - full-text access to some Maine newspapers
Policy Archives - a variety of research reports
Finding the Specific Policy You Need
Once you know your policy topic, what kind of policy is it: is it a law? a court case? a regulation? Then you need to know what body formulated the policy: U.S.Congress? Maine District Court? U.S. Department of Health and Human Services?
Once you have these answers, then you can choose a search tool:
Congressional Universe - Access to federal bills, laws, hearings, reports
LexisNexis Academic>Legal>- for federal & state court cases
Maine
Revised Statutes Annotated - Ref KFM 30
.A24
Maine law, codified
Maine Legislature Bill Status Search - can search bills back to 2001
Law
Subject Guide - includes info on Federal and Maine legislative history
Finding Background on Policy
The above refers to ways to find the actual policy - the primary source. For interpretation of the policy, historical background, and implementation effects, you need to find secondary sources of information. These can include books, Reference materials, news items, magazine articles, scholarly journal articles, and law review articles.
URSUS - for books
and Reference materials
Fogler Library Social
Work Guide - suggested print & Internet Reference sources
Academic
Search Premier - a general, full-text index to magazines &
journals
Lexis
Nexis Academic>News - full-text newspapers
Also, the Legal section includes law reviews
Social
Services Abstracts - an index to Social Work journals
PAIS
International - an index to many kinds of policy-related materials
Google Scholar - generally, not as up to date, nor as comprehensive, as the above databases
Article Linker allows you to automatically check URSUS for electronic and/or print subscriptions in Academic Search, Social Services Abstracts, & PAIS International
Interlibrary Loan - use for journal articles we do not have access to
Still Unsure...?
There are lots of ways to get help. First, try the Help Desk - you can come in, call us at 581-1673, or use the Ask-a-Librarian chat or email service.
Nancy Lewis is the Social Work Librarian; you can send her an email on FirstClass (nancy.lewis@umit.maine.edu) or call her at 581-3613 to set up an appointment.
Nancy.Lewis@umit.maine.edu | Revised: 08/04/2009
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