How to use
About Practora
A short guide to asking SocialGPT, searching evidence, and exporting citations you can verify.
Two ways to start.
Practora is built for social work students and professionals. Use a full practice question when you want an explained answer, or use keywords when you mainly want a list of citable articles.
SocialGPT
Best for questions that start with what, how, or why—for example, field roles, interventions, policy context, or how to think about evidence in practice. You get a short, cited reply you can follow up on in the same thread.
Evidence search
Best for keyword searches such as populations, settings, or intervention names. You get ranked scholarly results with metadata normalized for review and citation.
Using SocialGPT.
SocialGPT is Practora’s scoped assistant for social work. It sits on top of your search results: it explains practice-relevant ideas in plain language and points to sources with inline citations like [1] and [2].
- Ask in scope. Stick to practice, field education, research use, policy, ethics, and the people social workers serve.
- Read the overview first. Use it to orient yourself, then open the cited sources to verify details.
- Ask a follow-up. Continue in the same SocialGPT thread to narrow a setting, population, or concept without starting over.
- Listen if you prefer. Read aloud plays the reply so you can follow along while reviewing sources.
SocialGPT will not diagnose, give legal advice, handle emergencies, or answer unrelated topics like coding or personal finance. If a question is out of scope, it will say so and suggest social work prompts instead.
How to use Practora.
1
Enter a question or keywords
On the home page or Search, type a social work question (for SocialGPT) or keyword-style terms (for evidence results). Do not enter client names or identifiers.
2
Read the SocialGPT reply
Practice questions open a SocialGPT overview grounded in the sources returned for that search. Use Read aloud if you want to listen while you skim the text.
3
Open sources and cite
Review the linked articles, check DOIs when present, then format and export citations for assignments or practice writing.
Keep these in mind.
Research support, not clinical care
Practora helps you find and understand evidence. It does not diagnose, treat, or replace supervision.
Social work only for SocialGPT
SocialGPT answers practice, field education, research literacy, policy, ethics, and related topics. Off-topic questions are refused.
Verify before you cite
Always check titles, authors, years, and DOIs against the original source before academic or professional use.
Your judgment stays primary
Use Practora beside your ethics, coursework, and supervisors—not instead of them.
Read up before you search.
Searching goes better when you already know the vocabulary of a topic. These guides cover the frameworks and methods that come up most often in social work coursework and practice.
Evidence-based practice in social work: a working guide
How to turn a practice question into a searchable one, find relevant studies, appraise them honestly, and decide what applies to the person in front of you.
Trauma-informed practice: what it is and what the evidence supports
A practical account of trauma-informed care for social workers: the principles behind it, how it changes day-to-day work, and what the research does and does not establish.
Motivational interviewing for social workers
The spirit, processes, and core skills of motivational interviewing, where it fits in social work settings, and how to read the effectiveness literature without overstating it.
Field education and supervision: a guide for interns and instructors
How field placements are structured, what supervision is supposed to do, how competency-based evaluation works, and where the research on field education is thin.
APA 7 citations for social work assignments
How to build APA 7 references for journal articles, agency reports, and government documents, plus the fields worth verifying before you submit.
Still have questions? The FAQ answers what people ask most, and the methodology page documents the ranking weights and verification steps behind every result.
Ready to try it?
Ask SocialGPT a practice question, review the sources, and export citations you can verify.
Go to search