Library Research in Education

Jennifer Thiessen Liaison Librarian, Education

Finding books and articles
Library Catalogues and Databases
Citation chasing (using a reference list)
Google Scholar; Google Books
Saving, storing and managing articles (Refworks)

Know what is appropriate:
Scholarly, academic, peer-reviewed material
Balance between non-scholarly and scholarly, if appropriate
E.g. curriculum documents, contemporary thought, gray lit
Material that presents empirical data/evidence to back up claims, not just opinions
Web?
Know where to begin searching:
Library catalogues
Library databases – Education Research Complete, ERIC, Educational Administration Abstracts, Sage Journals Online

They gather a lot of information on one topic in one place
They can provide a good overview or good background information on a topic
They often offer extensive bibliographies
Consider reference materials
E.g. 21 st Century Education [electronic resource]

Our library catalogue
Other Ontario universities
WorldCat – http://www.worldcat.org
Use keywords

Journal articles discuss one perspective
Each article makes a unique contribution
Articles can supplement information found first in books
Articles can offer more up-to-date information

Click on Education to see a list of databases for that subject area. Click on Research, then Databases.

Click on a database name, then start searching.

Recommended: Education Research Complete ; ERIC , SAGE
Tips:
Limit to scholarly (peer reviewed) journals
Look for descriptors (or subject headings) for more focused results
Use quotation marks for bound phrase searching (“standardized testing” )
Not all articles are available online in full text format
“ Get it” button looks for the full text throughout all of the Library’s databases

http://scholar.google.ca/
Caveats:
Google Scholar does not have nearly the number of publisher agreements as are available through our 300+ library databases.
Use the Get it! @Brock option to get back to full-text items from our databases (rather than going to a publisher’s page and paying them for information).
Use Google Scholar in conjunction with RACER, our interlibrary loan system at Brock University.

Have you found a fantastic article (either from a database search or your reading list)?
Use the reference list of that article (esp. if it is a recent article) to find additional relevant articles

Search for TITLE (of book)
OR JOURNAL TITLE
http://www.library.brocku.ca/
What if Brock doesn’t have it?
Use RACER (Interlibrary Loan) to request it
Borrow from another University library

Refworks
Build your own database of information
Citations and links to the full text
Create multiple folders
Allows you to create formatted bibliographies (in APA, etc.)
RefWorks allows you to create in-text references.

The Concept: database reference(s) * optional * produce bibliography bibliographic management software export

Visit the Graduate Education Research Guide or Education Course Pages
See the Help pages
Contact the Library Help Desk
905-688-5550 x. 3233 or use email form
Contact your liaison librarian:
Jennifer Thiessen (phone, chat, email)

Library Research in Education

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