Curriculum and Instruction 550
METHODS OF EDUCATIONAL INQUIRY
A Guide to Library Resources for Curriculum & Instruction 550
Articles |
Books & Journals |
Print Resources |
Citing Sources |
Research Assistance
Welcome! This site has been created to assist you in exploring library resources related to your
C&I 550 class. Our library is one of the largest in the United States and it can be a bit
overwhelming at first. We will try to make things a little easier for you, but don't hesitate to
ask questions.
FINDING ARTICLES
Scholarly journal articles are one of the primary means of communicating research ideas. They
are an important component of academic research and give you some insight into ongoing debates and
scholarly conversations about your topic. You can find articles through database searches.
Finding articles is a two-step process:
- First, search for the topic you are interested in by using the article databases listed below.
- Try words to describe the group of individuals you are researching: Asian Americans, Latino
Americans, Gays and Lesbians, Christians, Teenage mothers, Upper class, etc.
- Try words to describe your research area: stereotypes, oppression, historical
landscape.
- Consider searching for these concepts together. For example, “Asian Americans” and “
stereotypes” = some great articles and books.
- Use the thesaurus to find additional or similar terms.
- Find an article that looks interesting? Look at the article's citation for subjects use in that
database and run additional searches using these subjects.
- Next, find the actual text of the articles you want by clicking on the
Discover button in a database.
- If the Discover page indicates that we have online full text, click the link to get to the
article. In some cases, we may have the full text article available in multiple
databases. If the Discover page says there is no online full-text available, click the link
next to "Library Catalog- Holdings in VUFIND" to search the library catalog for print holdings.
This will show you if the library owns a copy of the journal/newspaper/book in PRINT form, and
tells you the location of that print volume. NOTE: The library catalog will show you the results by
JOURNAL title (not article title). You will need to find the year and/or volume and issue number of
the journal that contains your article.
OR
- If you know the citation of the articles you want, from bibliographies or suggested readings
lists, you can use the
Journal and Article Locator to determine
if we have full-text online or in print.
Recommended Article Databases
-
Digest of Education
Statistics - Available both electronically, as well as in print (370.973 Un3d1) in our
reference collection, the Digest of Education Statistics is the official U.S. authority for
statistics on almost every aspect of education.
-
Education
Full Text - Education Full Text indexes and abstracts articles from English-language journals
and yearbooks published in the U.S. and elsewhere. English-language books relating to education
published in 1995 or later are also indexed. Abstracting coverage begins with January 1994.
Abstracts describe the content and scope of the source documents. Full-text coverage begins in
January 1996.
-
ERIC
- ERIC is a national education database sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education. Presently
the largest education database in the world, ERIC contains over 1,000,000 citations covering
research documents, journal articles, technical reports, program descriptions and evaluations, and
curricular materials in the field of education. In addition to ERIC subject descriptors and
extensive abstracts, limited full-text access to selected items is available. Covers
1966-present.
-
Web
of Knowledge: Social Science Citation Index - This database is primarily designed for citation
searching rather than subject searching. However, citation searching can be very helpful when
trying to locate and define a specific body of research.
FINDING BOOKS & JOURNALS
Library catalogs are used for two purposes. First, if you know exactly what you are looking for
- an exact title or author - you can use the catalog to locate your material. This works for book
titles and journal titles. Second, you can use library catalogs to discover material that might be
helpful to you by doing subject and keyword searching.
-
Online Library Catalog - Look here to find books, DVDs,
magazines or journals containing articles that you need, and many other resources. In
addition to the 12 million volumes we have on this campus, you can connect to 76
other libraries in Illinois and request
that books be sent to you.
When you find something you want in the catalog, write down the following:
Location- in which library the item is kept (or libraries, if we have multiple
copies)
Call Number - this number is essential for finding the item on the shelf
Status - is it available for you to check out?
-
WorldCat
and
Interlibrary Loan - The places to verify citations for books and
request books and articles you cannot find elsewhere. Ordering books and journals via interlibrary
loan is free and generally fairly quick.
SOME HELPFUL PRINT RESOURCES
-
The Cyclopedic Education Dictionary
(370.25 Sp12c/SSHEL Reference) - This guide deals with legal issues and
responsibilities, literacy development, developmental and educational psychology terminology, key
mathematical concepts and tables, and important bilingual terms in the field of education. The
Dictionary has appendices which offer specialized information covering legal terms and issues in
education. It also includes reading and language terms that cover a wide range of literacy
concepts, as well as test measurements, and literacy assessment terminology.
-
Educational Research, Methodology, and Measurement: An International Handbook
(370.78 Ed8355 1997/SSHEL Reference) - This handbook provides a wealth of
information, written by experts in the field of education, on subjects such as: methods of
educational inquiry, educational research methodology, and measurement in educational
research.
-
The Encyclopedia of Education
(Q.370.3 En193 2003/SSHEL Reference) - This eight-volume encyclopedia provides
detailed explanations for many of the terms and concepts related to the study of education. In
addition to the general information provided by this source, its 8th volume provides detailed
entries for court cases, legislation, and international agreements that have influenced the history
of education.
-
Encyclopedia of Educational Research
(370.3 En192 1992/SSHEL Reference) - This four-volume encyclopedia set has been
produced to enlighten readers on matters relating to educational research.
-
Greenwood Dictionary of Education
(370.3 G856/SSHEL Reference) - Recently published (2003), and containing over 2600
terms, this source is the first comprehensive dictionary of Education created in over a quarter of
a century. It is a valuable source for information on the foundations and fundamental concepts
related to the field.
CITING SOURCES
Guidelines for citing electronic and print resources are available from the Reference Library's
Cite a Sourcepage and the Social Sciences,
Health, and Education Library's
Style and Writing Guide.
RefWorks
A great tool for writing papers,
RefWorkshelps you export bibliographic records from
databases, change the citation styles as needed, and import the citation directly into a Word
document so you can create bibliographies on the fly.
RESEARCH ASSISTANCE
Ask-A-Librarian for Help with Your Research
Use our
Ask-A-LibrarianService to IM, chat, email,
phone or find a reference librarian.
Nancy O'Brien
Office: Social Sciences, Health, and Education Library, 100 Main Library
Email:
npobrien@illinois.edu
Contact a librarian to request an appointment for an in-depth
Research Consultation.
Finding Your Way Around
There are over 25 departmental libraries on our campus, and sometimes it may be difficult to
determine where to find the resources you need. For your class, the library that you will be using
most is the
Social Sciences, Health, and Education Library(SSHEL). We are
located in SSHEL North (Room 100) and SSHEL South (Room 101) of the Main Library building. Do no
hesitate to come in and ask one of our energetic and helpful information desk assistants.
More Help Using the Library
