Social Work Databases
What is a Database?
A database is a collection of information resources sources like books, journal articles, conference papers etc. published by respected publishers and publications. A database is organised for easy searching and is a great place to find high quality, up-to-date information, however not all databases are the same, with:
- some databases index only items published by the publisher (e.g. Emerald)
- some databases are compiled by companies who select a variety of published materials (e.g. Proquest)
- some databases index each journal title from cover to cover (e.g. Emerald)
- some databases pick out only what they consider key articles (e.g. Informit)
- databases vary in the topics, publication titles and publication types indexed
Because of the range of information available in databases, to fully research a topic you should use ECU Library Search and a variety of library databases.
For a listing of databases you can access, visit the A-Z Databases List.
For more information on Journal Databases, please visit the Information Essentials - Finding sources of information
- Humanities & Social Sciences Collection This link opens in a new windowThe broad subject coverage ensures relevance to library users of all interests especially Aboriginal and Indigenous Studies, Arts, History, Law, Literary Studies, Media, Political Science and Sociology.
- Informit This link opens in a new window
An extensive range of authoritative subject-based databases featuring coverage of Australian and international information resources. Including Health, Engineering, Business, Education, Law, Humanities and Social Sciences.
Databases may be searched individually, or collectively by subject groupings or across all databases. - SAGE Journals Online This link opens in a new window
SAGE publishes more than 1000 journals and over 800 new books each year, spanning a wide range of subject areas. Their growing selection of library products includes archives, data, case studies and video. - Social Science Database This link opens in a new windowIndexes full text academic journals. Covers a wide range of social science disciplines including Anthropology, Communication, Criminology, Economics, Education, Political Science, Psychology, Social Work, and Sociology.
Key Social Work Databases
If you have been asked to find scholarly journal articles for your assignment, the best place to find journal articles - both scholarly and peer-reviewed - is in a database. When searching for articles for your Social Work assignments, remember:
- Search ECU Library as a starting point to help you refine your search terms and find general information on your topic
- Search the Key Social Work Databases to retrieve more targeted and relevant search results
- If you have time, or have the need for additional resources, search through multidisciplinary databases
- If you are a Research Student, you may wish to use citation databases to expand your research further.
For more information on Journal Databases, please visit Information Essentials - Finding sources of information
- Families & Society Collection This link opens in a new windowCovers Non-Traditional Families, Parenting, Marriage, Divorce, Division of Labour, Working Mothers, Birth Rates and Ageing.
- Health Collection This link opens in a new windowCovers Ageing and Aged Care, Child Health and Breastfeeding, Indigenous Health Issues, Mental Health and Rehabilitation.
- Humanities & Social Sciences Collection This link opens in a new windowThe broad subject coverage ensures relevance to library users of all interests especially Aboriginal and Indigenous Studies, Arts, History, Law, Literary Studies, Media, Political Science and Sociology.
- SAGE Journals Online This link opens in a new windowSAGE publishes more than 1000 journals and over 800 new books each year, spanning a wide range of subject areas. Their growing selection of library products includes archives, data, case studies and video.
- Social Care Online This link opens in a new windowThe UK’s largest database of information and research on all aspects of social care and social work.
- Social Science Database This link opens in a new windowIndexes full text academic journals. Covers a wide range of social science disciplines including Anthropology, Communication, Criminology, Economics, Education, Political Science, Psychology, Social Work, and Sociology.
- Health Collection This link opens in a new windowCovers Ageing and Aged Care, Child Health and Breastfeeding, Indigenous Health Issues, Mental Health and Rehabilitation.
- ATSIC (Indigenous Australia) This link opens in a new windowBibliographic abstract only database: 1968-2002. Represents the collections of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission Library. It is a bibliographic database and includes abstracts for all videos, and some monographs and articles.
- MEDLINE This link opens in a new windowAn international database indexing the biomedical literature and produced by the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM). MeSH (medical subject headings) is the National Library of Medicine's controlled vocabulary thesaurus, used in MEDLINE indexing.
- RURAL (Rural and Remote Health Database) This link opens in a new windowBibliographic abstract only database: 1966-2017. Produced by the Monash University School of Rural Health. Covers rural and remote area health issues and care, and the practice and educational needs of health providers, in particular medical practitioners and nurses.
- Social Work Abstracts This link opens in a new windowCovers more than 450 social work and human services journals from 1965. Provides citations and abstracts dealing with all aspects of the social work field, including theory, practice, areas of service and social issues and problems.
- Sociology Database This link opens in a new windowCovers the international literature of Sociology and Social Work, including Social policy, Social care, Social services, Social anthropology, Gender studies, Gerontology, Social psychology and Population studies.
- ProQuest Central (Current ECU Students & Staff) This link opens in a new window
International multidisciplinary database indexing a selection of journals in all subject disciplines. It is useful for a broad cross-disciplinary search, rather than in-depth in a subject. - APAFT (Australian Public Affairs Full Text) This link opens in a new windowCovers Australia's Political, Economic and Social Affairs on topics such as Current Affairs, Economics, Humanities, Law, Literature, Politics and Social Sciences.
- Web of Science This link opens in a new window
Web of Science is a multidisciplinary abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature, and provides both author and journal metrics (performance analytics) of the literature indexed in the database. - Scopus This link opens in a new window
A multidisciplinary abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature, and provides both author and journal metrics (performance analytics) of the literature indexed in the database.
Accessing the Full Text of a Journal Article
When database searching, you may find a journal article that is useful for your assignment, but the full text is not available. Select 
to search across all databases in the library to locate a copy of the full text.
In the case that the Findit@ECU link does not link to the article, locate the article by accessing the journal directly.
This technique is also used where you are looking for a journal article based on a reference and it doesn't come up in Worldsearch.
From the Library Homepage:
- Access the Journal search link from under the Library Resources heading on the library homepage
- Enter the Journal title in the search box and click Search
- Locate the journal in the results list and look under the link. Here you will see a listing of the places where full text access is available.
- Look at the Coverage information under each to see which option best suits the article you are looking for. Once you have identified the best one, click the hyperlinked Journal title.
- The journal in the database will display. Search or browse to locate the full text of the article you need. Use the year, issue and volume to navigate your way to the journal article.
