EDUC 202/MEDUC 532: Materials for Teaching Reading: Scholarly Resources
Scholarly Resources for Education Students
Successful academic research requires taking many steps and utilizing scholarly resources. From the assignment of a research topic to making sense of scholarly publications, this guide provides step-by-step instructions to support your research projects.
Questions? At every point in the research process, Mount librarians are here to support you.
Using Scholarly Resources - Education Source & ERIC
Scholarly articles? Peer-review?
You will be expected to know these terms and use these materials as part of your academic coursework, but what do they mean and how are you expected to use them?
Librarians from Wayne State University have created an excellent "crash course" to explain these concepts, which are key to completing successful academic research.
Created by librarians at Wilfrid Laurier University Library, this video explains:
- The benefits of turning a topic into a research question
- How to narrow a general topic into an inquiry of appropriate scope
- How to isolate important variables using the questions: Who? What? Why? When? How?
Elements from a strong research question can be used as search terms in later steps in this process.
Education Source and ERIC (linked below) are databases we subscribe to from EBSCOhost, and we strongly recommend the use of these databases to researchers in education programs and fields.
Created by librarians at Northern Illinois University Libraries, this video explains:
- How to search in EBSCO's education databases
- Options for accessing articles within the databases
- Options for accessing articles that we do not have subscription access to directly
For additional information on how to find what you need quickly, run an advanced search (even if you don't feel like an advanced user!), and save and organize your searches from EBSCOhost: How to Search EBSCO Databases
Created by librarians at Santiago Canyon College Libraries, this video explains:
- How to select promising articles from a results list
- How to identify when articles are both on-topic and relevant to the project at hand
- How to evaluate articles for information important to your research
Created by librarians at Johns Hopkins' Sheridan Libraries, this video explains:
- (at 3:18) Structure and sections of scholarly articles in social sciences and sciences
- (at 6:28) Structure and sections of scholarly articles in the humanities
- (at 7:09) Strategies for reading scholarly articles
- (at 8:03) Reading and note-taking tips for scholarly articles
A student might meet with a librarian to discuss:
- Finding Resources: To get help locating books, articles, and other materials relevant to their research topic.
- Research Strategies: To learn effective search techniques and strategies for navigating databases and online resources.
- Citation Assistance: To receive guidance on properly citing sources and citation management strategies.
- Evaluating Sources: To get tips on assessing the credibility and relevance of sources.
- Narrowing Topics: To refine or narrow down a broad research topic into a more manageable scope.
- Developing Research Questions: To get help formulating strong, researchable questions.
- Using Library Services: To learn how to use specific library services, such as interlibrary loan.
Suggested Databases
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Education Source (EBSCO) This link opens in a new windowEducation Research Complete covers areas of curriculum instruction as well as administration, policy, funding, and related social issues. The database provides indexing and abstracts for nearly 2,400 journals, as well as full text for over 1,400 journals. This database also includes full text for more than 550 books and monographs, and full text for numerous education-related conference papers.
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ERIC - Education Resources Information Center (EBSCO) This link opens in a new windowAn authoritative database of indexed and full-text education literature and resources. It is essential for education researchers of all kinds.
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JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Journal topics include humanities, social sciences, and sciences.
Additional Guidance for Searching Library Databases
Education Source and ERIC are databases we subscribe to from EBSCOhost. Learn how to find what you need quickly, run an advanced search (even if you don't feel like an advanced user!), and save and organize your searches: Advanced Searching on the New EBSCO User Interfaces - Tutorial
Learn how to find what you need quickly, run an advanced search (even if you don't feel like an advanced user!), and save and organize your searches: How to Search JSTOR
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