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EDU3235 Instructional Foundations (K-12)


Prof Nelson's Note

Professor Nelson's Note on Acceptable Sources
(4 scholarly sources required)

Yes

  • Professional Journal Articles from Scholarly or Trade publications
  • Published lecture or presentation of research
  • ERIC Documents if author can be verified

No

  • Magazine Articles
  • Internet Blog posts*
  • ERIC Digests

Education Databases

Remember that many educational topics spill over into other subject areas like psychology or communications. See below for tips on how to combine database in one search.

Combining Databases in a Single Search

Databases specializing in Education can be combined with those in other fields in one search.  
Start with an EBSCO database like Teacher Reference Center or ERIC.

Choose a database: Ebsco

On the screen that appears, you can check multiple databases. 
For an education literature review, I might add general databases like Academic Search Premier and other specific subject databases that might overlap with my topic like PsychArticles, ATLA Religion full text, or Music Index

Tips for Finding "Studies" and "Research"

When doing a literature review on a topic.  Frequently "studies" and/or "research" are the preferred type of article.  In all the databases, you can limit to scholarly or "peer reviewed" and that helps. 

Adding the word "methodology,"  "research,"  or "study" to your key word 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  *  CONCLUSIONS *  REFERENCES

Journal Title Search

Search for periodicals available full text.

Google Scholar

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, check the Berntsen Library's Journal Title Search to see if you can access the journal via the library. Otherwise, you may request the article via Inter-Library Loan by submitting a request through Library Search.

Google Scholar Search

Education Websites