Social Work (HE): Induction Session

Key points about books

• You can borrow up to 15 books
• Books are loaned for 2 weeks. If no one else requests your book, then we will extend your loan by another week. This will continue for 25 times and then we will ask you to return your book.  This will reset your renewals and you will be able to borrow it again as long as no one else has requested it

Key points about Reading Lists

• Find the reading list for your course in the Books and E-Books tab
• Reading lists include books and e-books
• Clicking on a reading list will take you to the Library Catalogue where you can look for other books on your subject
• You can reserve books by clicking on the Request this book button

Have a go at:

• Access the Values, Law and Justice reading list from the Books tab
• Read beyond the reading list:  search the Library Catalogue for Social Work Law

Key points about Journals

• Journals are collections of articles, news, updates and opinion on current issues, which are aimed at academic and students, and sometimes people working in the industry.
• They are published at regular intervals throughout the year which means they can include very up-to-date information, and they usually focus on a specific topic so are useful if you want more detail on your topic than provided by textbooks.
• We have some journals in print, but most are available online via our databases. 
• You should use journal articles rather than information from the Internet as they have been checked prior to publication and can be relied on to be accurate and authoritative.

Finding Journal Articles Online

• Use our Discover service to find academic articles
• Break down your topic into simple keywords
• Write lists of keywords that describe your topic, separated by the word OR.  This will mean that you find any article which mentions one of those keywords
• if you don't get many relevant results, try adjusting your search. if you are getting too many results, try being more specific.  If you are not getting many results, try using more general terms. 

Have a go:

• Log on to Discover
• Go to Advanced Search
• Enter ethics and "social work"
• How many results do you get? How could you narrow the search?

Suggestions

• Narrow to academic articles (you are getting lots of books in this search)
• Narrow by date
• Be more specific eg. "Professional Integrity" OR "Professional Ethics" OR "code of ethics"

Key points about E-Books

• We buy e-books from 3 main suppliers - this means that there are some differences in how e-books look and what you can do with them, depending on who we bought them from
• Every e-book will give you the option of linking directly to a chapter, searching for keywords, copying and pasting quotations, highlighting text, and reading offline. 
• Some e-books have limits where only one person can read the book at a time. 

Have a go at:

• Access a reading list and click on an e-book link. Then click on Read Online to view the full-text.  Use this opportunity to search for keywords, browse chapters, adjust the font size etc.

Key points about practitioner / practice databases

• Includes practice guidance, scenarios, case studies, video
• Also includes help with study and assignments on practical aspects of your course

Which Database?

Research in Practice is aimed at professional social workers. It brings together evidence-based resources for health and social care, including briefings, practice tools and customer guides.  The resource includes audio and video, case law and a range of articles. Topics include child abuse, mental health, domestic abuse and safeguarding.  Please note: students can only access the free resources on RiP.  Please ask your lecturers or Lakshmi, your Librarian, to access resources that are locked.

Social Work Toolkit is aimed at students focusing on practical skills and knowledge.

• Find resources grouped by module, including interactive activities and reflective questions.
• Students have reported that the Law module is particularly useful.

Have a go:

• Click on the link to Research in Practice and click on Create an Account.  It is useful to have your own account as you can bookmark key resources. 
• Search for Assessment to see the type of information available.  For example, you can see that some resources are Events, Publications or News.  You can Refine your search (for example, to Publications, Brief Guides and Case Studies), using the Refine Search option.
• Note that any resource with a padlock item is restricted, but your lecturers or Lakshmi (Librarian) can unlock these for you. 

• Log on to Social Work Toolkit
• Click on the Modules tab and explore the resources for Professionalism in Practice.