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Pollak Library

Human Services: HUSR 385

Subject Guide for Human Services

Background Information & Statistics

Resources for Finding Background Information

Links to relevant databases useful for finding full text background information in academic level electronic sources.

Social Services Statistics and Government Information

Use these sites to search for information about social services, statistics, and other government information related to human services

Census Information
Population, housing, economic, and geographic statistics, the latest economic indicators, and some historical census data back to 1790. Includes Explore Data Main page, American Community Survey, State & County QuickFacts, and the most recent Economic Census. Access to census data sets. Full-text subject reports.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Department of Health and Human Services website.
 
The federal government's Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
 
National Center for Health Statistics
Center for Disease Control statistics.

CSU Fullerton Center for Demographic Research
Accurate and timely information regarding population, housing and employment. Focuses mainly on, but is not limited to, demographics in Orange County, California.

Kidsdata.org
A public service of the Lucille Packard Foundation for Children's Health which advocates for the health and well being of children.
 

Newspaper Search for Statistics and Background Information

Statistics From the Internet

Internet Searching

Please read the information below to learn how you can construct a search of government Web sites in Google for information on your research topic.

Did You Know?
You can search for government Web sites in Google by typing: site:.gov [skipping a space and then entering your search term(s)]

To search education Web sites, please type:  site:.edu [skipping a space and then entering your search term(s)]

For a search of organization Web sites, please type:  site:.org [skipping a space and then entering your search term(s)]

Additional Tip
If needed, please try searches using different keywords, as well as placing your keywords in a different order. Also, if you are searching for a specific phrase, you may wish to place quotation marks around the phrase in order to find the phrase words together.

As always, please take the time to evaluate your sources.

Sample Keywords for Statistics

As you look for statistical information, some keywords you may want to include in different searches are:

statisticdata, prevalence, incidence, survey, rate, demographic, population, characteristic, trend, sample

Sample Search Strategies for Statistics

The following sample searches are for statistics related to childhood obesity from government Web sites. Please remember the option to search organization and education Web sites as well.

In addition, please remember to use different search terms and to try different searches as needed in order to find helpful information for your assignment. In cases where the statistics are not recent, please note the source providing the statistics and search for the Web site of that source (e.g., a government agency) so that you may continue your research on that Web site for more recent data.

As always, please take the time to evaluate your sources.

Sample Search #1

site:.gov "childhood obesity" data

Sample Search #2

site:.gov children "healthy eating" survey

Sample Search #3

site:.gov "obesity in children" statistics California

Journal Articles

Complete List of HUSR Databases

To access a complete list of databases recommended for HUSR research, please use the "Human Services Databases" link from the main Human Services guide.

This link from the Pollak Library Web site offers another way to access a list of databases recommended for HUSR research.

Boolean Operators (AND, OR, NOT)

Boolean operators help you connect your search terms and build relationships.

  • AND - Communicates that you are interested in finding information covering all search terms that are connected by this Boolean operator. It also helps to narrow results.
     
  • OR - May be used within a search box to connect the search terms you are interested in exploring. This Boolean operator also helps to increase the possibility of obtaining more results.
     
  • NOT - Placed before a search term that represents a topic or concept you are not interested in exploring. This Boolean operator, in effect, is one way to filter out unwanted results.

Truncation

This search strategy helps you find results that include the same root, or stem, of a word.

A common symbol is the asterisk (*).

For exampe, the use of employ* in a search box would look for results containing words such as employment, employer(s), and employee(s).

What concepts would the use of educat* represent?