SWU 420: Practice-Oriented Research
Contact Joe Buenker, Social Work Librarian
The single most important strategy for conducting an effective literature review is to consult mutlipe search tools. No single search tool indexes all the published literature on a topic - so plan on searching several databases (journal article indexes) licensed by the ASU Libraries.
If you are experiencing difficulty with your literature review please either consult the Pre-Searching Preparation section of an additional SWU 420 research page or the Ask a Librarian service from the ASU Libraries.
Recommended Library-Licensed Databases
Academic Search Premier
Of all the electronic journal article indexes licensed by the ASU Libraries, Academic Search Premier is used the most.
Academic Search Premier is an excellent source for beginning a literature review. This multidisciplinary database indexes over 8,000 journals and provides full-text access to over 50% of those titles. For those results not provided in full-text format, ASU users should consult the "Get It! @ ASU" button.
Cochrane Library
"The Cochrane Library is a collection of databases that contain high-quality, independent evidence to inform healthcare decision-making. Cochrane reviews represent the highest level of evidence on which to base clinical treatment decisions. In addition to Cochrane reviews, The Cochrane Library provides other sources of reliable information, from other systematic review abstracts, technology assessments, economic evaluations and individual clinical trials – all the current evidence in one single environment."
LexisNexis Statistical
"LexisNexis® Statistical is the most comprehensive source to federal statistics. It provides detailed abstracts, indexing, and locator information for all statistical reports of general research value issued by the federal government since the early 1960's.." Sources include "American Statistics Index" (ASI), "Statistical Reference Index" (SRI) and "Index to International Statistics" (IIS).
MEDLINE
MEDLINE, a product of the U.S. National Library of Medicine, is the premier source for identifying biomedical journal literature.
Note: For a free-to-the-public Web version of MEDLINE see PubMed (below).
PsycINFO
PsycINFO is the premier database for identifying published literature on psychology topics.
One of the search limits available within PsycINFO is "Methodology." The "Methodology" limit may be used to restrict results to "Literature Review" or "Meta Analysis."
Recommended "Free" Databases
Catalog of U.S. Government Publications
http://catalog.gpo.gov/
"The CGP is the finding tool for federal publications that includes descriptive records for historical and current publications and provides direct links to those that are available online."
MedlinePlus
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/
An excellent source for reliable consumer health information.
PubMed
The PubMed database is freely accessible, but the above link to PubMed allows ASU users to also gain full-text access to electronic journals licensed by the ASU Libraries.
Note: PubMed is largely based on the MEDLINE database (see above).
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