Download - Library Research in Education
Jennifer ThiessenLiaison Librarian, Education
Finding books and articles Library Catalogues and Databases Citation chasing (using a reference list)
Google Scholar; Google BooksSaving, 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. 21st 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 TITLEhttp://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:
databasereference(s)
* optional *produce bibliography
bibliographic management
software
export
Visit the Graduate Education Research Guideor 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)