SPED 510: Library Research Workshop “Books in a stack” by austinevan. Librarian: Lisa Molinelli

What will we learn today? How to take advantage of the resources available to Portland State’s students at the library. How to get started with the research process. How to get help when you need it!

Home Base

Brainstorm!

Brainstorming Your Search What is currently being done to prevent violence in public schools in the United States?

Brainstorming Your Search Break down your subject into keywords. Find other words to describe your topic. Use your results to find more words to describe your topic.

Keywords and Synonyms Violence – Aggression – Bullying Prevention – Safety Public Schools – Public Education United States – America

Learning the Language of your Topic: Research Starters - Education

Going Deeper: What am I looking for? How do I know an article is scholarly?

Scholarly Journals: Characteristics Written and edited by scholars or experts in the field—people with MANY years of experience, like your professors! Written FOR other scholars in the field. Uses the vocabulary and methods of study typical for the field. Articles are narrow in scope: about a very particular topic and/or group of people in a very specific time or place. Articles will have LONG bibliographies and reference lists. Serious in appearance. NO advertisements. Check out this guide for more info:

Scholarly v. Popular Sources Popular Scholarly

Peer Review Need to figure out if a journal is peer reviewed? Find out whether it is “Refereed” (another term for peer review) with Ulrich’s International Periodicals Directory database (found under “U” in our A-Z database list: ) Learn more about peer review with this PSU tutorial:

Find What You Need: Online Research Guides After you click the link…

Find What You Need: Research Guides

Find What You Need: Scholarly Databases From the library homepage… From the online research guide….

Scholarly Database Searching Remember: We pay a subscription to these scholarly sources! Most are not available for free on the open web (google, etc.) As a PSU student, you have access to these sources.

Where were those databases again?

Education Research Complete

Education Research Complete: Results

Education Research Complete: Record

Tips and Tricks: Scholarly Databases Separate out the scholarly stuff. Need it now? Full text. Remember: this may limit your results. Use database Subject Terms to your advantage. Search more than one database. The tricks used here can be used in almost any database!

Expand Your Search: Combing Through Bibliographies  Take the time to look through bibliographies of the best articles that you find!  This is the number one way scholars do research.  Look for patterns in the bibliographies: what resources or authors are listed the most?

Expand Your Search: Google Scholar Tip: Go through the library homepage to be connected with PSU resources.

Be Complete: Use ILL!  If you find an article in a bibliography that you’d like to access, and we don’t have access, don’t despair! Use ILL (Interlibrary Loan)….

Citation Management Tools

Remember: Stay flexible when you search! Don’t give up on a search until looking through several pages of results in several databases. Use the subject headings the database offers you. Use the button to find the full-text of material that isn’t full-text in the database. – More on finding full text

We are here to help! Friendly librarians at the reference desk Chat from the library homepage Call: Start with the word PDX the first time you text us. Schedule a research appointment

Thank You! “Thank you note for every language” by woodleywonderworks