Social Work

Find articles by searching our databases by subject or choose a specific database from our alphabetical list.

Do you already have a citation? Use the Journal Search option in One Search to see if Hood provides access to the journal, newspaper, or magazine.

"Open Access allows everyone — regardless of institutional affiliation, geographic location, or financial means–to access the research relevant to their lives and communities" (DeCarlo & Pendell, n.d.).

Social work students and practitioners are expected to perform practice-informed research and research-informed practice. Open Access journals and articles are freely available to all. Utilizing these resources is an important way to combat information privilege during and beyond your time at Hood. Listed below are a few Open Access journals and websites you may which to use as part of your research. 

DeCarlo, M., & Pendell, K. (n.d.). Publish open access. Open Social Work. https://opensocialwork.org/research/publish/ 

The terms scholarly article, academic article, research article, peer-reviewed article, and refereed article are often used interchangeably. So what do these terms actually mean? And where should you look to find scholarly articles?

Peer review refers to the editorial process that research undergoes before it's published in an academic journal. Before publication, an article is evaluated by a group of scholars in that field of research. Sometimes articles are rejected; sometimes they're accepted; and other times, they're sent back to the author for revisions. Peer review isn't a perfect system, and peer review doesn't guarantee that the research that is published is above reproach. (It also doesn't mean that solid research can't be found outside of academic journals.) But it's the way much of academic research is vetted, published, and distributed--and it's what your professors generally mean when they ask you to look for a "scholarly article."    

It's possible to find peer-reviewed articles through a basic web search, but because of the high cost of academic journals, you'll typically find more academic research by searching one of our library databases. 

What isn’t a scholarly article?

• A popular magazine article written for the general public
• A book review, even if it is published in a scholarly journal
• A dissertation abstract, the brief summary of a graduate student’s thesis

Research Tips

• When starting a new search in a particular database, look for ways to limit your results. Many databases have check boxes labeled “peer reviewed” or “scholarly journals” while others allow you to choose multiple document types (e.g., books, articles, etc.).
• If you choose not to limit the results of your search and you’re uncertain about a particular item in your list of results, you can click the title to view the full record and check the document type. 

Can't find the article you need at Beneficial-Hodson Library? You can request it through our interlibrary loan service (ILL).

ILL Log-In & Frequently Asked Questions