Social Sciences & Social Work: Searching

The Library Catalogue and a number of printed indexes are used to locate materials held in print while a range of online databases are used to identify titles in e-format. Often a combination of these tools need to be used to find all the relevant materials. To begin:

• Identify the organisation, body, department etc., which is responsible for the subject you are interested in.
• To find publications held in the print archive, use the Library Catalogue's advanced search which offers the following fields:

Author: Official bodies distributing their publication are usually identified as the author so this field is searched for the organisation relevant to your research

Title: If you know which publication you are looking for, search this field with the exact title.  If you don't have the exact title, use the Keyword field

Publisher: Official bodies often publish their own work although commercial publishers are also used. If you know the publisher related to your research topic, use this field

Subject: This field can be used to find materials about or authored by an official body

Classification: The Library uses an in house classification system for official publications. Titles are classified by author. If you know the classification of the official body, using this field will present a list of its publications

Keyword: Use this field when you are unsure of the publication details or wish to use a combination of the above fields

Journal: Where the official body's output is produced in the form of a series of papers, use this field to search for the series title

• To find more recent or current publications, identify the publications section of the organisation's web pages or search the appropriate online databases listed in each tab of this guide. A number of databases provide access to historic material. These may have specific searching criteria.