Writing a Lit Review?

We've started getting questions about literature reviews; What are they? How do I write one?

The Social Work Library has two excellent books in the Reference section that can help.

Writing with style: APA style for social work (REF HM 586.S98 2008), includes an excellent chapter on writing a literature review.

In addition, Preparing literature reviews (REF Q 180.55.E9 P36 2004) provides guidelines for qualitative and quantitative reviews and includes several model reviews.

Brendan Rapple, a librarian at O'Neill, has prepared an interesting guide to writing literature reviews.

To find literature reviews in electronic journal databases, add the keywods "literature review" to your search. For more help please use our swlib@bc.edu e-mail or come by and talk to a reference librarian.

SCHIP issue brief from KFF

The Kaiser Family Foundation website is a good place to find comprehensive issue briefs on health care topics.

To better understand the debate currently raging on the SCHIP legislation, take a look at the issue brief.

See also the site's other resouces on SCHIP.

Healthcare spending: US and OECD

A new Congressional Research Service (CRS) Report compares US healthcare spending to that of other OECD countries. CRS reports are done for the members of Congress and are generally very well-researched and authoritative. There is no mandate that they be easily available to the public, but more of them are becoming available through sites like OpenCRS.

RL34175

U.S. Health Care Spending: Comparison with Other OECD Countries

September 17, 2007

"The United States spends more money on health care than any other country in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The OECD consists of 30 democracies, most of which are considered the most economically advanced countries in the world. According to OECD data, the United States spent $6,102 per capita on health care in 2004 -- more than double the OECD average and 19.9% more than Luxembourg, the second-highest spending country. "

New York Times goes free!

Times to Stop Charging for Parts of its Website

By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA Published: September 18, 2007 "The New York Times will stop charging for access to parts of its Web site, effective at midnight Tuesday night."

"In addition to opening the entire site to all readers, The Times will also make available its archives from 1987 to the present without charge, as well as those from 1851 to 1922, which are in the public domain. There will be charges for some material from the period 1923 to 1986, and some will be free."

Project Safe Childhood Home page

Project Safe Childhood Home page: "Guided by the leadership of the Attorney General, Project Safe Childhood (PSC) aims to combat the proliferation of technology-facilitated sexual exploitation crimes against children. The threat of sexual predators soliciting children for physical sexual contact is well-known and serious; the danger of the production, distribution, and possession of child pornography is equally dramatic and disturbing. The response to these growing problems must be coordinated, comprehensive, and robust."

Cost of Health Insurance Rises Again, but at a Slightly Slower Rate - New York Times

A related item to the previous post:

Cost of Health Insurance Rises Again, but at a Slightly Slower Rate - New York Times: By MILT FREUDENHEIM Published: September 12, 2007 The cost of employer-sponsored health insurance premiums has increased 6.1 percent this year, well ahead of wage trends and consumer price inflation, but below the 7.7 percent increase in 2006, the Kaiser Family Foundation reported yesterday."

Higher percentage uninsured

From beSpacific (an excellent blog to follow for government policy info):

Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States 2006 OMB Watch: "The U.S. Census Bureau released its annual report, Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States 2006 on August 28, 2007 (78 pages, PDF). The report, which covers the most recent Current Population Survey (CPS) data, showed slight overall improvement in income and poverty, but continued declining rates of health insurance coverage. The headline numbers — a 0.7 percent increase in median household income and a 0.3 percent decline in poverty — are undermined, however, by the underlying story that middle- and low-income working Americans are not seeing substantial gains from the current economy." Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: "New Census data show that in 2006, both the number and the percentage of Americans who are uninsured hit their highest levels since 1999, the first year for which comparable data are available, with 2.2 million more Americans — and 600,000 more children — joining the ranks of the uninsured in 2006. The new Census figures also show that while the overall poverty rate declined slightly (from 12.6 percent to 12.3 percent) between 2005 and 2006, the decline was largely concentrated among the elderly. The poverty rates for children and for working age adults remained statistically unchanged as compared to 2005, and well above their levels in 2001, when the last recession hit bottom." CBPP Statement on Census' 2006 Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Data Analysis of Census Data on Number of Uninsured in 2006

Progress Report on AD 2005-2006

Progress Report on AD 2005-2006: "This 2005-2006 Progress Report on Alzheimer’s Disease summarizes recent AD research conducted or supported by NIA and other components of NIH." This new report is available in full, in pdf format, from the National Institute on Aging.

Bipolar Illness Soars as a Diagnosis for the Young - New York Times

Bipolar Illness Soars as a Diagnosis for the Young - New York Times: "The number of American children and adolescents treated for bipolar disorder increased 40-fold from 1994 to 2003, researchers report today in the most comprehensive study of the controversial diagnosis."

Inequality gap grows in Asia and US

From the Worldwatch Institute, August 31, 2007:

In a new study, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) reports that the gap between the rich and poor in many Asian countries, particularly China, has grown significantly in recent decades as economies have boomed. The United States is struggling with the same issue as new technologies such as the Internet converge with fluid and speculative economic markets, bolstering the “super-rich,” according to The Observer. ... “Growing inequalities can weaken social cohesion,” observes Ifzal Ali, the ADB's chief economist. The Bank warns that urban-dominated economic growth has created high levels of migration to cities and a dearth of foreign investment in rural areas. This, combined with large differences in educational access, has caused the living standards of the wealthiest in society to improve at a much faster rate than the poorest populations. In the United States, meanwhile, the number of “severely poor” people—those living at or below half the poverty level—is at a 32-year high, according to The Observer. Yet the number of U.S. billionaires has also increased, from just 13 in 1985 to more than 1,000 today. In 2005, an estimated 227,000 new millionaires emerged, many bolstered by lucrative financial hedge funds. The wealth of all U.S. millionaires that year was $30 trillion, or more than the gross domestic products (GDPs) of Brazil, China, the European Union, Japan, and Russia combined.