Best Bets for Finding Articles on Social Policy
- PAIS Index This link opens in a new windowThe PAIS Archive includes carefully selected resources to help users identify and locate information about significant political, economic, social and cultural issues affecting international and local communities, countries, governments and society. Its broad topical scope and retrospective coverage complement more specialized databases that cover the humanities, health care, agriculture, sociology, history, and many other disciplines, providing historical perspective on many of the 20th century's public and social policies. Also, the PAIS Archive database contains references to monographs, periodical articles, notes and announcements, and analytics, and the original historical subject headings have been retained within the file for enhanced searching capabilities.
- CQ Press Public Affairs Collection This link opens in a new windowCQ Public Affairs Collection brings together CQ's storehouse of current affairs content in a fully integrated reference tool. Some subjects are advocacy and public service, education, energy, the environment, health, and transportation. Provides in-depth reporting on vital issues, statistical and historical analyses, historic documents and primary source materials, as well as a directory of key government, nonprofit, and private organizations in each of the major policy areas.
- Social Services Abstracts This link opens in a new windowThis database provides bibliographic coverage of current research focused on social work, human services and related areas, including social welfare, social policy and community development. The database abstracts and indexes over 1,300+ serials publications and includes abstracts of journal articles and dissertations and citations to book reviews.
- Sociological Abstracts This link opens in a new windowAbstracts and indexes the international literature in sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. The database provides citations from 1952 to the present to journal articles, book reviews, books, book chapters, dissertations, and conference papers. Major areas of coverage include culture and social structure; demography and human biology; economic development; environmental interactions; evaluation research; family and social welfare; health and medicine and law; history and theory of sociology; management and complex organizations; mass phenomena and political interactions; methodology and research technology; policy, planning, forecast and speculation; radical sociology; religion and science; rural and urban sociology; social development; social differentiation; social psychology and group interaction; sociology of the arts, business, education; studies in violence and power; substance abuse and addiction; welfare services; women's studies.
- Family and Society Studies Worldwide This link opens in a new window
Alternate version: Family and Society Studies Worldwide in the classic EBSCO user interface (best for exporting more than 50 results or combining saved searches). Family & Society Studies Worldwide™, (FSWW) is a core resource providing the most comprehensive coverage of research, policy, and practice literature in the fields of Family Science, Human Ecology, Human Development, and Social Welfare. FSSW covers popular issues as well as meeting the requirements of professionals in all fields of social work, social science and family practice. Coverage spans from 1970 to the present indexing publications from a wide range of social science disciplines including anthropology, sociology, psychology, demography, health sciences, education, economics, law, history and social work. Source documents include professional journals, conference papers, books, book chapters, government reports, discussion and working papers, statistical documents, theses & dissertations and other sources. FSSW is an anthology of four database files providing access to more than 1.3 million records.
- Social Science Research Network (SSRN) This link opens in a new windowThe Social Science Research Network (SSRN) is a database of social science research and is composed of various specialized research networks. The SSRN eLibrary consists of two parts: an Abstract Database containing abstracts on over 384,300 scholarly working papers and forthcoming papers and an Electronic Paper Collection currently containing over 315,000 downloadable full text documents in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.
Policy Journals to Browse (Examples)
- Analyses of Social Issues and Public PolicyAnalyses of Social Issues and Public Policy (ASAP) is an outlet for psychological and social science scholarship with implications for social action and policy. Under the guidance of an international editorial board, ASAP serves a global audience that includes policy makers and advocates as well as social scientists, students, and the public at large.
Selected Social Policy Websites
- Social Policy WebsitesThe websites below are compiled from this guide by Northwestern University Library.
- Brookings InstituteOne of Washington's oldest think tanks, Brookings conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics, metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, and global economy and development.
- Center for the Study of Social PolicyThe Center's work is concentrated in the areas of family and children's services; income supports, neighborhood-based services, education reform, family support, disability and health care policy, and long term care for the elderly. Includes publications archive.
- Center for Law and Social PolicyIncludes global social policy, state-by-state policy data, child welfare, prisoner re-entry and other welfare policy matters. Includes many publications.
- Urban Institute"Non-partisan economic and social policy research" on urban issues including crime, economy, education, health care, housing, welfare, and work.
- PolicyCommonsPolicyCommons is an innovative, new digital archive of global, non-partisan public policy research. It makes use of the power, efficiency, and economy of modern Internet technology to collect and disseminate summaries and full texts, videos, reports, briefs, and multimedia material of think tank, university, government, and foundation-funded policy research.
- Center on Budget and Policy PrioritiesThe Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is one of the nation’s premier policy organizations working at the federal and state levels on fiscal policy and public programs that affect low- and moderate-income families and individuals.
- National Association of Social Workers: AdvocacyThis leading professional organization tracks current activities of Congress and provides issue briefs based on their legislative agenda in the following areas: child welfare, civil rights, economic equity, education, health, loan forgiveness, and mental health.