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Social Sciences & Programs Team Librarians:
Sylvia Tag
Elizabeth Stephan
Emily Spracklin
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The field of study or discipline of Education includes particular theories, discourses, and foundational knowledge. Subject databases include discipline specific terms and index publications and journals in the field.
In all the databases, you can limit to scholarly or "peer reviewed" and that helps when doing a literature review on a topic.
Adding the word "methodology," "research," or "study" to your keyword search can also help. (Example: classroom management and methodology) Remember "research articles" usually contain the following information (usually denoted by separate headings). ABSTRACT - RESEARCH - METHODOLOGY - DISCUSSION/CONCLUSIONS - REFERENCES
When using ERIC, take advantage of the Descriptors field within the article record to refine your search.
Remember that many educational topics spill over into other subject areas like psychology, sociology, and even medical sciences. Generally, it is not effective to combine databases into one multiple database search. For example, retention has one meaning for educators interested in student success and another meaning for psychologists interested in the impact of memory. The Thesaurus in ERIC can help to identify and define subjects and terms, located in the top-left corner of the page.
Search Google Scholar to find citations to scholarly articles. While some articles are freely available via the web, many are not. If you find a useful article citation using Google Scholar, that is not available full-text, use Western Libraries OneSearch. If the article is not on the Internet or available in the library system, then you can request it through ILLiad (Interlibrary Loan).
Search Google Scholar for scholarly articles and books. You can see what item are in Western Libraries by setting Scholar Preference Library Links to Western Washington University.
Databases (Google, ERIC, Library Catalogs, etc.) have similar layouts. Use subject terms and keywords for the best results.
8-minute video on using ERIC to locate articles, interlibrary loan, and the Subject Term Thesaurus
A database of full-text articles from journals published by the American Psychological Association and allied publishing groups. Coverage from 1894 to the present.
Tip: All resources in PsycARTICLES are full text, though the search is very limited compared to PsycINFO.
A multi-disciplinary database of full-text access to approximately 6,600 journals and magazines and nearly 6,000 full-text peer-reviewed journals.
A multi-database search tool combining all three Web of Science indexes (the Science Citation Index, Social Sciences Citation Index, and the Arts and Humanities Citation Index).
Tip: You can use this index to find works that have cited a specific author or article.