Zurich University
of Applied Sciences

Research guide to social work, social sciences and pedagogy resources

Be efficient in your research and use the various databases, reference works and additional literature in the field of social work, social sciences and pedagogy.

Databases

We recommend that you search the databases in order to research and review up-to-date and discipline-specific content on a topic. They mostly contain references to resources as well as full text articles from journals. Depending on the database, additional types of publications such as conference reports, book chapters, pictures, videos and much more are included.

Social work databases

Name Content Guide
Social Services Abstracts
  • Subjects: Social work and related fields such as social welfare, social policy and community development
  • Coverage: International, mostly English
  • Content: Focus on journal articles, some only abstracts
  • Special feature: Part of the database Sociological Abstracts
 ProQuest guide
WISO
  • Subjects: Economics, business administration, social sciences, social work, social pedagogy, politics and international relations
  • Coverage: Germany, Switzerland, Austria, German
  • Content: Journal articles, other publications, some only abstracts
  • Special feature: Focus on practice-oriented topics
 Guide
Policy Commons
  • Subjects: Politics and public administration
  • Coverage: International, mostly English
  • Content: Grey literature; reports, working papers and other documents from over 27,000 organisations
  • Special feature: Preserves rare or hard-to-access documents that are often no longer available on the original websites
 Introductory video
Swisslex LEX Campus
  • Subjects: Swiss law
  • Coverage: Switzerland, multilingual
  • Content: Decisions, journals, commentaries, monographs, commemorative publications, dissertations
  • Special feature: Most comprehensive legal database in Switzerland
Access only for ZHAW students and staff with free registration. Swisslex applies a monthly query limit for students, visible in the customer profile after logging in. 		Video tutorials
Social Welfare Law
  • Subject: Swiss social welfare law
  • Coverage: Switzerland, multilingual
  • Content: Laws, decisions, commentaries, practical guidelines
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Social sciences databases

Name Content Guide
WISO
  • Subjects: Economics, business administration, social sciences, social work, social pedagogy, politics and international relations
  • Coverage: Germany, Switzerland, Austria, German
  • Content: Journal articles, other publications, some only abstracts
  • Special feature: Focus on practice-oriented topics
 Guide
Sociological Abstracts
  • Subjects: Sociology, social sciences, related disciplines such as criminology, demography, social psychology
  • Coverage: International, mostly English
  • Content: Focus on journal articles, some only abstracts
  • Special feature: Comprehensive database for sociological research
 ProQuest guide
International Bibliography of the Social Sciences IBSS
  • Subject: Social sciences
  • Coverage: International, mostly English
  • Content: Focus on journal articles, some only abstracts
 ProQuest guide
Swiss Foundation for Research in Social Sciences FORS
  • Subject: Social science research
  • Coverage: Switzerland, multilingual
  • Content: Research projects, datasets, studies, reports from the social sciences
  • Special feature: Platform for research data and projects that promote the social sciences in Switzerland. Provides access to key empirical data and results from various social science disciplines
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GESIS
  • Subject: Social science research
  • Coverage: International, mostly German and English
  • Content: Research data, surveys, studies, datasets
  • Special feature: Extensive data on social, political and economic topics as well as tools for data analysis and archiving
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Pedagogy databases

Name Content Guide
Educational Resources Information Center Database ERIC
via OVID
via ProQuest
  • Subjects: Educational sciences, pedagogy, education, educational research
  • Coverage: International, mostly English
  • Content: Focus on journal articles, some only abstracts
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Teacher Reference Center
  • Subjects: Education, pedagogy, teaching methods, educational practice, school management
  • Coverage: International, mostly English
  • Content: Focus on journal articles, some only abstracts
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Fachportal Pädagogik
  • Subjects: Pedagogy, educational sciences, teaching methodology
  • Coverage: Germany, Switzerland, Austria, mostly German
  • Content: Literature, research data
 Guides
FIS Bildung
  • Subjects: Educational sciences, pedagogy, teaching methodology
  • Coverage: Germany, Switzerland, Austria, mostly German
  • Content: Journal articles, monographs, edited volumes, dissertations, research reports
  • Special feature: Central database for educational literature in the German-speaking area
 Guides
peDOCS
  • Subjects: Educational sciences, educational psychology
  • Coverage: International, mostly German
  • Content: Journal articles, studies, reports and dissertations
  • Special feature: Freely accessible, focus on practice-oriented research and applied pedagogy
 Guides
edudoc
  • Subjects: Education, educational research, educational development, education policy, educational system
  • Coverage: Switzerland, multilingual
  • Content: Studies, reports, dissertations and other sources
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SZH Literature Database
  • Subjects: Special needs and inclusive education
  • Coverage: Switzerland, German and French
  • Content: Books, journal articles, contributions to edited volumes, grey literature; some only abstracts
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Reference works

farbige Bücher stehen in einem Regal in der Hochschulbibliothek

Not sure where to start yet? Reference works are a good first step: they provide definitions, give an overview of a topic and help you find the right search terms for your research.

You can find all reference works in ZHAW swisscovery. To help you get started quickly in your specialist area, we have put together a selection of titles below. 

General reference works can be found with the monolingual and multilingual dictionaries.

Title Additional information
A Dictionary of Social Work and Social Care -
Bündner Standard -
Enzyklopädie Erziehungswissenschaft Online (EEO) -
Enzyklopädie Soziale Arbeit -
Handbook of Child Psychology and Developmental Science -
Historisches Wörterbuch der Philosophie -
International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences -
Methoden-Lexikon für die Sozialwissenschaften -
Oxford Handbook of Migration Crisis There are further handbooks of Oxford on the topic of sociology
The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Nationalism -
Wörterbuch Soziale Arbeit -
Wörterbuch der Schweizer Sozialpolitik -

Bachelor's and master's theses

A selection of bachelor's and master’s theses are published electronically and are freely accessible via the ZHAW digitalcollection. Some older Bachelor’s theses are available to borrow.