Finding Articles on Topics in Education (ED130)

• Finding Articles on Topics in Education (ED130)
  • Printed Indexes
    • Notes
  • Electronic Indexes
    • Connecting to the databases
    • Using Professional Development Collection
    • Using ERIC
    • Using Education Full Text
  • Obtaining Materials from Other Library Systems

To find articles on topics relating to education, you will have to use either a paper or an electronic index that covers periodicals. Journals, magazines, and newspapers are all periodicals, but most of the periodicals covered by the indexes specializing in education are journals, which publish high-quality articles in education.

Printed Indexes

Education Index covers several hundred education periodicals. It is found on the index table in the library's Reference section.

The most recent monthly or quarterly issues of the index are paper-bound. Each complete year is bound in a separate volume. The steps in using Education Index are:

1. Find your topic among the Bold-faced subjects. They are alphabetically arranged in each volume.
2. Look for the title of an article of interest under your subject. You will find the title of the journal abbreviated and in italics after the author's name. This is followed by the volume number, the page number of the article, and the date.
3. Check the list of abbreviations in the front of the volume to get the full journal title.
4. Check the library's blue periodicals binder or online catalog to see if the library has that journal and date.
5. Find the journal shelved alphabetically by title in the Periodicals collection

Fig. 1 Example of entries in Education Index

Notes:

If Chemeketa does not have the periodical you want, ask a reference librarian about requesting an interlibrary loan. We can generally obtain a copy of the article for free.

Although many students prefer using the electronic indexes to find articles, the printed index is excellent for finding or narrowing a topic. Browse for a subject, then look to see what related subjects are listed under the words, "See also."

Electronic Indexes

Chemeketa has three electronic databases that index articles in the field of education; two are through the EBSCOhost service, one from H.W. Wilson. The databases have some, though not all, material available in full text.

Education Full Text

Includes indexing and abstracts of more than 600 education periodicals (400 peer-reviewed). Full text of articles from over 350 journals as far back as 1996. •How to connect •How to use

Professional Development Collection (EBSCOhost)

A good place to start a search for journal articles, as it is more current and complete than ERIC, below. Has a collection of nearly 550 full text education journals, over 350 of which are peer reviewed. It also includes indexing and descriptions for over 700 journals. •How to connect •How to use

ERIC (EBSCOhost)

ERIC is the "big daddy" of education databases. It provides indexing and abstracts for over 1,000 journals, although the coverage may not be as timely as Professional Development Collection. ERIC does not provide full text of journal articles, although there may be links to articles through other EBSCOhost databases. ERIC also has numerous non-periodical documents, as explained in the section on ERIC below. •How to connect •How to use

Connecting to the databases

In the library, you may connect by clicking the "Articles Indexes & Databases" link on the library's catalog page. The computers near the library entrance and the reference desk are set up for this.

From elsewhere you may connect directly to our database page. If using databases from off campus, you will need your My Chemeketa user name and password.

Using Professional Development Collection

You search by key words or by subject.

If you are looking for a number of articles on a single concept, you may wish to try a Subject search. Click the "Subject" link in the blue toolbar at the top of the screen.

Fig. 2 The subject search screen

1. Type your desired subject in the space marked "Browse for," and click the Browse button. The subject headings closest to what you typed in will appear.
2. Note that "(Book)" at the end of a heading indicates that the heading is the title of a book that is being reviewed. Avoid these entries, unless you are looking for a book review.
3. The blue links marked "View" show how many articles of each type are available on that subject. Click on one to view the articles, or,
4. Click on "Related terms" to find other headings that may relate to your subject.

For information on interpreting results, printing, saving, and e-mailing, see EBSCOhost Basics.

The form on the Advanced Search page makes it easy to combine ideas together.

Fig. 3 The advanced search screen

To be sure of finding scholarly articles, you can choose the "Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals" option.

Using ERIC

ERIC is a government database which is available in several forms. The EBSCOhost search pages for ERIC are nearly identical to those for Professional Development Collection, with one or two differences.

ERIC indexes and abstracts (summarizes) two kinds of material: journal articles and other documents. ERIC does not provide full text for journal articles, but there may be links to full text in other EBSCOhost databases. ERIC documents may be any other type of educational material: curriculum materials, conference papers, books, etc. Materials added to ERIC since 1993 have full text available through the government contractor: a link on the EBSCOhost screen will say "Full text from ERIC." Some materials, such as commercially published books, are not available in full text due to copyright restrictions.

Keyword searching in ERIC is identical to that in Professional Development Collection (above). Subject searching is somewhat different. To use the subject headings, click the "Thesaurus" link in the blue toolbar banner at the top of the screen.

Fig. 4 ERIC Thesaurus screen

1. Type your desired subject in the space marked "Browse for," and click the Browse button. The subject headings closest to what you typed in will appear.
2. Click the check box next to the term you wish to use.
3. To perform a simple subject search, click the Search button near the top of the screen.
4. If you wish to combine multiple terms, click the Add button rather than the Search button; you can continue browsing and adding terms, combining them with either "OR" or "AND."

Use of the "peer-reviewed" option in ERIC is not recommended, because many records do not have this information available.

Using Education Full Text

Type your search term(s) in the spaces provided (Fig. 5). You may click the "Peer Reviewed" option to limit your search to scholarly journals. Click "Start."

Fig. 5 The Education Full Text search screen

To use the database's subject, headings, click on "Thesaurus" in the blue toolbar banner.

Fig. 6 The Education Full Text thesaurus screen

Obtaining Materials from Other Library Systems

If the article you want is not available online or in our library system, you can request an interlibrary loan. The EBSCOhost databases make this easy for you. By clicking on the title of the article and scrolling down, you should see a link that says "Request interlibrary loan." Clicking on the link will bring up a form to fill out. When you click the Submit button, your request will be sent to the reference librarian.

Please allow extra time for interlibrary loan. The amount of time needed depends on many factors, including how many libraries have the item. It may take from a few days to several weeks; allow a minimum of one week.

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