Evidence-Based Practice and Information Literacy in Social Work: An Assessment of Students' Reference Lists

Abstract

ABSTRACT To date, only a small number of articles have been written about the information literacy needs of social work students. This is a topic that needs to be addressed more among librarians because of the emergence of the evidence-based practice paradigm within the social work profession. Now more than ever, social work students need to know sophisticated techniques for searching and identifying high-quality research. The authors of this paper have attempted to start to address this need by conducting a small citation study in order to assess the information literacy needs of graduate level social work students at Boston College. The results of our study indicated that the students need instruction that emphasizes evidence-based searching skills. These skills include retrieving peer-reviewed articles and identifying research-based sources. We outline recommendations for incorporating evidence-based searching skills in instruction sessions.