Start off by getting to know some databases containing references and abstracts to research.Online bibliographic databases are a great way of finding out what social care research is out there. Searching through the databases requires some basic knowledge of how to use and combine search terms in a way that the particular database you are using recognises. As a general rule it is best to visit the help section, particularly when you are getting to know a new database. You will be guided on such things as 'Boolean operators' (combining words using AND, OR, NOT, NEAR or ( ) e.g. 'older people AND mental health NOT learning difficulties' and truncation (using the stem of a word or phrase to ensure you get all its derivatives (e.g. 'mental * would cover mental health, mental illness, mentally ill people, etc).

Whether you choose advanced or basic searching options will depend on how much information you have about what you are looking for. Basic search screens allow you to enter terms for a quick search. Advanced screens allow you to be more specific about your search if you know details such as year of publication, author or publisher, and can also help if you want to combine many keywords. These searching techniques, once you have learned them, are simple to use and are relatively standardised between one database and the next. Checking the help section will save you wasting time in the long run.

Databases "“ the following are available free of charge to the public with no passwords required.

Pubmed - database of health and related research, including Medline

CRD Databases of systematic reviews (health technology assessments, cost effectiveness studies & effectiveness studies in health & related fields)

C2 - the Campbell Collaboration's database of social, psychological, educational & criminological trials

Find the databases that best suit you and save them in your bookmarks or favourites folder, or if you do not have your own computer it is worth keeping notes of URLs - Universal Resource Locators (posh way of saying web addresses) - on paper. If you are lucky enough to have access to a university or college library your range of databases will increase substantially. As mentioned above, Caredata and Pubmed are both available free of charge to anyone on the Internet. Some subscription-only databases that are relevant to Social Care are ASSIA, the Cochrane Library, BIDS and Web of Science. These databases require payment of subscriptions - usually organisations will subscribe but you can also purchase individual membership. There may be many resources offered by your organisation that you are not aware of. Contact your library to find out more. Librarians are highly trained in all these matters and can be a tremendous source of help - so one piece of advice that couldn't be more strongly recommended is get to know your library. If you have no departmental library don't fret - a training, research or information officer in your agency should know which databases and journals are available. The more people who ask and hassle for library facilities, the sooner they will come. In the mean time, use you local public library or even better, get a day pass to your local university or college library. Most are open to the public on a reference only basis but you can use their photocopiers. Also try some of the gateways, resource guides and directories that are not strictly databases but contain lists of links to places where you can find research. These do not require subscription.

To get hold of full-text journal articles use either the method described above (by consulting university libraries as a member of the public and using their photocopying facilities - respecting copyright laws of course, i.e. only one article from an issue of a journal or one chapter from a book can legally be copied). Please note that many, if not most, library catalogues are now available on the Internet, particularly for university libraries. So you can check in advance to see if your local university library contains the article/s you are looking for. It is possible to search several university library catalogues simultaneously at the copac website but note that only the larger universities are included in the search.

Alternatively use the inter-library loans system of your local public library or your departmental library - they can get hold of just about any article, book or published report in the English language and many more besides through the British Library. You will have to pay a small amount for each ILL, to cover photocopying, postage and the British Library. The amount varies according to how well subsidised the library is, but currently ranges from anywhere between 75p and £3.00 (usually at the lower end of this scale). The British Library is the key site for searching for details about publications in the UK. If you need to create a bibliography, for example, and you have the name of an author but no title or publisher, you can visit their website and search the Public Catalogue.

Critically appraise the research when you read through it. Don't skip straight to the key findings - read the methodology section in order to decide if the authors' conclusions can be trusted (all pieces of research worth their salt have a methodology section). Look for issues such as methods used, sample size, representativeness, choice of statistical tests, applicability to your work, bias that could have crept in and whether there is a follow-up period. It will save you time if you can polish up your skim reading skills - there is no harm in picking and choosing the relevant bits. Similarly don't spend hours struggling over one article - come back to it with a fresh eye and a clear mind when you are feeling more focussed.

The search engine is the traditional way of looking for material on the Internet. Each search engine looks at its vast database of web pages and matches the search terms with pages. However the pages have not been sorted into subjects. Therefore the results you receive may have nothing to do with what you want, simply because the search terms you used appear on the page quoted on the list. Despite this, search engines can be extremely useful. They are ideal if you know the name of an organisation, for example, but not the web site address. Or if you know the title of a piece of legislation or a government initiative, but don't know where to look, search engines are the best way of finding out where to find websites containing information on them.

Examples of Search Engines:

Google UK

Lycos UK

For a good guide to the pros and cons of different search engines, please see SearchEngineWatch.com