Thank you for the presentation on researching education topics. Please let me know if you need any other assistance!

1. Education Research
Courtney Fuson
615-460-5492
courtney.fuson@belmont.edu

2. Today we’re talking about:
 How to recognize and locate scholarly resources
 How to effectively search the library’s databases
 How to evaluate resources
 How to distinguish between different citations
 How to use a bibliography (or works cited) to
identify potential sources

3. Scholarly Resources

4. Scholarly Resources
 AKA “peer reviewed”, “refereed”, “journal articles”
 discipline-specific
 peer-reviewed
 written on a higher reading level
 written by a credentialed author
 cite their sources

5. Where can you find scholarly
articles?
 Internet
 Google?
 Google Scholar?
 Wikipedia? – References list?
 Library
 Catalog?
 Databases?

6. Library Catalog
 Provides access to everything the library owns or
has access to
 Books
 Journals
 E-books
 E-journals
 Databases
 Media

7. Database
 Collection of newspaper, magazine and journal
articles
 Can include dissertations, reports and other
resources
 http://library.belmont.edu
 Click on Get Resources
 Click on Research Guides
 Click on Education to see all of the education resources

8. Effective Searching

9. Search Strategies
 Keyword searching
 Boolean Searching
• AND
• OR
 Subject searching
 Thesaurus

10. Boolean Café
 And , Or, and Not stop in at the Boolean Café for
dessert.
 And knows exactly what she wants. She orders
chocolate AND strawberries.
 Or is a big eater with a sweet tooth. He orders
chocolate OR strawberries.
 Not has to be a bit more careful. He is allergic to
strawberries, so he orders chocolate NOT
strawberries.

11. AND
Supreme
education
Court
Supreme Court AND education

12. OR
inclusion
special
mainstreaming
education
inclusion OR mainstreaming OR special education

13. Search strategies
 Supreme Court AND education
 inclusion OR special education OR mainstreaming
 public schools AND (inclusion OR mainstreaming
OR special education)
 “special education”

14. Thesaurus
 list of subjects and related terms used to
standardize the descriptions of articles in the
database.
 You can select and search for
synonyms, related, and preferred terms.

15. Other resources
 Government Documents
 Department of Education (state & federal)
 Statistics
 National Center for Education Statistics
 National Assessment of Educational Progress
 Nation’s Report Card
 Census Bureau
 http://delicious.com/library_chic/belmontedu

16. Evaluate it!
Great! I found some stuff! Now what?

17. Evaluate it!
 Accuracy
 Authority
 Currency
 Objectivity
 Coverage/Purpose

18. Reading Citations

19. Reading citations
 Is it a…
 Book
 Book chapter
 Article
 Dissertation
 Report

20. Book
 Torp, Linda, & Sage, S. Problems as possibilities:
Problem-based learning for K-12 education.
Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and
Curriculum Development. 1998.

21. How do I find books?
 Torp, Linda, & Sage, S. Problems as possibilities:
Problem-based learning for K-12 education.
Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and
Curriculum Development. 1998.
 Library’s catalog
 Title search

22. Article
 Sterling, Donna R., and Hargrove, Dori L. "Is Your
Soil Sick?."Science & Children 49.8 (2012): 51-55.

23. How do I find articles?
 Sterling, Donna R., and Hargrove, Dori L. "Is Your
Soil Sick?."Science & Children 49.8 (2012): 51-
55.
 Library’s catalog
 Journal Title

24. Dissertation
 Tsoukalas, Jillian M. "Exploring Problem Based
Learning to Promote 21st Century Learning
Skills in Full Day Kindergarten." Walden
University, 2012.

25. How do I find dissertations?
 Usually availably only through InterLibrary Loan
 ProQuest lists many dissertations (ProQuest
Dissertations & Abstracts)
 Library catalog of the publishing university
 WorldCat (http://worldcat.org)
 Tsoukalas, Jillian M. "Exploring Problem Based
Learning to Promote 21st Century Learning
Skills in Full Day Kindergarten." Walden
University, 2012.

26. Report
 Johnson, L and Adams, S. "Challenge Based
Learning: The Report from the Implementation
Project". New Media Consortium (2011).

27. Reports?
 Johnson, L and Adams, S. "Challenge Based
Learning: The Report from the Implementation
Project". New Media Consortium (2011).
 Try the publishing agency’s website
 Try Google or Google Scholar
 Try a subject-specific database (ERIC)

28. Reports?
 King, Martha L., and Rentel, Victor M. How
children learn to write: A longitudinal study. Report
to the National Institute of
Education, Washington, D. C. 1981.
 Try the publishing agency’s website
 Try Google or Google Scholar
 Try a subject-specific database

29. POP QUIZ!

30.  Eisenhard, Margaret and Borko, Hilda. Designing
Classroom Research: Themes, Issues, and
Struggles. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. 1993.

31.  Saul, Wendy, and J. Carrie Launius. "Making the
Case for ACTION Research." Science Scope 34.1
(2010): 24-29.

32.  Turner, Susan A. "Teaching research to teachers: A
self-study of course design, student outcomes, and
instructor learning." Journal of the Scholarship of
Teaching & Learning 10.2 (2010): 60-77.

33. Stumped?
 In person – 3rd floor
 Office hours: M-F 8am-4:30pm
(other times available by appointment)
 Via email – courtney.fuson@belmont.edu
 By phone – 615-460-5492
 Online – http://belmont.libguides.com/education

34. Important Links:
 Library Home page: http://library.belmont.edu
 Education Resources -
http://belmont.libguides.com/education
 Today’s slides: http://slideshare.net/library_chic
 More education resources -
http://delicious.com/library_chic/belmontedu