Start out by deciding exactly what you want to find. Entering a vague or very general phrase, e.g., "student success," won't find what you need. Use the your class notes or textbook to help you decide on particular aspects of the overall subject, and concentrate on those.
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.
Note: 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." •Skip to How to use the printed index
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.
In the library (or elsewhere on campus), 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.
You may also connect to the database page directly. If you are connecting from off campus, you will need your My Chemeketa user name and six-digit password. (Host provider students, who don't have a Chemeketa I.D., may obtain a special login from their instructors.)
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 banner at the top of the EBSCOhost page.
Fig. 1 The subject search screen
For information on interpreting results, printing, saving, and e-mailing, see EBSCOhost Basics.
You can do a simple keyword search by typing a key word or phrase in the space marked, "Find." EBSCOhost's search screen makes it easy to combine ideas together.
Fig. 2 The keyword search screen
To be sure of finding scholarly articles, you can click the Search Options link at the right side of the page, and choose the "Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals" option.
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.
Fig. 3 ERIC Thesaurus screen
Use of the "peer-reviewed" option in ERIC is not recommended, because many records do not have this information available.
Type your search term(s) in the spaces provided (Fig. 4). You may click the "Peer Reviewed" option to limit your search to scholarly journals. Click "Start."
Fig. 4 The Education Full Text search screen
To use the database's subject, headings, click on "Thesaurus" in the blue toolbar banner.
Fig. 5 The Education Full Text thesaurus screen
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:
Fig. 6 Example of entries in Education Index
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.
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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