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Jump Start: Articles in Education

  • ERIC (ProQuest) ?

    Description: ERIC provides education research literature (in the context of the North American educational system) to improve practice in learning, teaching, educational decision-making, and research. ERIC includes journal articles, conference proceedings, government documents, theses, dissertations, reports, audiovisual media, bibliographies, directories, and books. Coverage starts in 1966.

  • Teacher Reference Center ?

    Description: Provides indexing and abstracts for nearly 300 peer-reviewed journals. Topics covered include Best Practices, Curriculum Development, Literacy Standards, Pedagogical Research, Instructional Media, Language Arts, Science & Mathematics, School Administration etc.

  • Canadian Business & Current Affairs™ (CBCA) Complete ?

    Description: More than 4.5 million records from 1,730 titles covering current events, business, education, science, the arts, and academic information as produced in Canada. The database also includes a few Canadian legal journals that are in neither Hein Online nor Lexis-Nexis, also full-text.

  • Education Index Retrospective 1929-1983 (H.W. Wilson) ?

    Description: Content from the first part of the 20th century; "Education Index Retrospective provides a vast record of important education literature in an easily-searchable format. Find information on societal trends affecting education, for example segregation, multiculturalism, feminism, economic developments, and more." - from: http://www.ebscohost.com/academic/education-index-retrospective

Courses

For information about Laurentian’s School of Education English and the courses it offers, please visit the School of Education English's web site.

Library Instruction

To learn more about the library and its resources and how you can exploit them to your advantage, register in the Research Skills Tutorial on D2L. There are several sections in the tutorial with a short quiz at the end of each; at the end you will receive a Certificate of Completion. Many professors require you to take this tutorial--and once you finish it, you can save your certificate to reprint as often as necessary.

We can hold special classes at the request of at least 5 students. If you would like to arrange a special class, or you think your course would benefit from some in-class library instruction, please ask your professor to contact the librarian responsible for your faculty to set up some sessions.

More Help

In the library: The Library User Assistance Desk to your immediate left as you enter the library is a good place to start.

By email: Email the librarian responsible for your faculty for a reply during regular working hours.

Research consultations: Book a research consultation with the librarian responsible for your faculty by Zoom or phone.

By chat: With our "Ask the Library" service. For more information, see About Ask a Librarian.

For Distance Education students: Telephone: 1-800-661-1058, ext. 2 or email: bibdesmaraislib@laurentian.ca

Get Started

Quick Tips on Preparing for Research

Before you start:

  • understand the key terms you may be using as well as the general area that interests you;

  • think about ways to narrow your topic, making it as specific as possible (unless you have been given a specific topic to research!);

  • create a thesis statement;

  • list  the main concepts (key words) included in your thesis statement (research question), then based on your readings;

  • find as many synonyms as you can for each main concept. You are now ready to start searching in the library's catalogue and databases.

When you are looking for definitions or if you don’t know much about a specific subject, reference works such as dictionaries and encyclopedias become invaluable because they contain relatively short—and understandable—articles. These articles often lay out the parameters of a subject and can assist you in trying to narrow your topic. Often such articles are accompanied by lists of readings (bibliographies) which allow you to explore your topic further.

One of the very best general encyclopedias is:  The Encyclopedia Britannica.

 

Education Dictionaries

You can also find other dictionaries of education by searching dictionary education as a title in the catalogue.

Education Encyclopedias

The Encyclopedia of Education. 1971. 10 vols.

There are also more specialized encyclopedias of education in print on such topics as Early Childhood Education, Educational Administration, and Educational Research. To find more using the catalogue, click on the subject heading:  Education--Encyclopedias

At the moment, there is one online encyclopedia,The Encyclopedia of Language and Education.  2nd ed. 2008

Get Books and Theses

Searching the Catalogue

The catalogue is your primary tool for finding books in the J.N. Desmarais Library. You can also use the catalogue to find other materials, including government publications and journals (including individual articles).

You can search the catalogue by:

  • Title
  • Author/Creator
  • Subject
  • Call Number

When you know the book you are searching for, pick Title or Author; when you are searching for a topic, start with Keyword unless you know the exact Subject heading describing your topic.

More on searching the Catalogue is available in Module 5 of the Research Skills Tutorial in D2L.

E-books

E-books are located in two different places:

  • Some may be located by using the library’s catalogue and selecting "Books & eBooks" as the "Material Type" and then further filtering your results by "Available online". 
  • E-books can also be located by searching in e-book collections. Searching in these collections is the same as searching in a database.

Education: recommended ebook collections

Theses

In addition to books, you may wish to search for book-length Master's theses or Ph.D dissertations.

Best bet:  Dissertations and Theses (ProQuest).

If you are also looking for recent theses or dissertations produced by Laurentian graduates, check out our Research Repository - LU|ZONE|UL.  Since 2013, before graduation all Masters and Doctoral candidates MUST deposit their theses or dissertations in this repository.

Get Articles

Articles: Quick Tips

The databases to the right provide references to many scholarly journal articles and papers.

  1. Start off with keyword searches expressing your topic. Keyword searching crosses all fields.
  2. Use Search Operators such as "OR" and "AND" to expand or reduce your results.
  3. Review those items that look relevant, then, exploit the details within those entries to help lead you to other relevant articles.
    • Pay attention to the subject headings (often called "descriptors") to see how the database describes your topic and use them to find related articles.
    • Find other papers written by the same author; these will typically be on similar subjects.
    • Follow citation trails: other articles that have cited this article will probably be on a related subject and will include citations to other articles of interest.
  4. For more Secrets of Searching a Database, review that section in How to Research Like a Librarian.

Subject Databases in Education

  • ERIC (ProQuest) ?

    Description: ERIC provides education research literature (in the context of the North American educational system) to improve practice in learning, teaching, educational decision-making, and research. ERIC includes journal articles, conference proceedings, government documents, theses, dissertations, reports, audiovisual media, bibliographies, directories, and books. Coverage starts in 1966.

  • Teacher Reference Center ?

    Description: Provides indexing and abstracts for nearly 300 peer-reviewed journals. Topics covered include Best Practices, Curriculum Development, Literacy Standards, Pedagogical Research, Instructional Media, Language Arts, Science & Mathematics, School Administration etc.

  • Canadian Business & Current Affairs™ (CBCA) Complete ?

    Description: More than 4.5 million records from 1,730 titles covering current events, business, education, science, the arts, and academic information as produced in Canada. The database also includes a few Canadian legal journals that are in neither Hein Online nor Lexis-Nexis, also full-text.

  • Education Index Retrospective 1929-1983 (H.W. Wilson) ?

    Description: Content from the first part of the 20th century; "Education Index Retrospective provides a vast record of important education literature in an easily-searchable format. Find information on societal trends affecting education, for example segregation, multiculturalism, feminism, economic developments, and more." - from: http://www.ebscohost.com/academic/education-index-retrospective

Peer Review

Peer Review is the evaluation of creative work by scholars in the same field in order to maintain or enhance the quality of the work in that field.

In the case of peer reviewed journals, which are usually academic, peer review generally refers to the evaluation of the articles in them prior to publication. For more, check out this definition of peer review.

  • To ascertain whether a journal is peer reviewed, consult Ulrichsweb.

Citation Sources

When researching a paper, it is useful to consult the citations used by the author of an article that you find relevant.  But that article itself may have been cited by other authors after it was first written. Two sources help you identify such citations:

Getting Articles @ Laurentian

In any database, when you see an article that interests you, click on it and, unless the article is available within the database itself, within the record you will see a "Get it @ Laurentian" image such as the following:

  Get It @ Laurentian

When you click on that,  you will arrive at a menu which will lead to an electronic copy of the article you want, or, if not available electronically, to Laurentian's catalogue which will allow you to check if the article is available in print in the library, and if not, to a final link which allows you to order the item through ILL - Interlibrary loan.

Get Films

Online Film Collections

  • NFB (National Film Board) ?

    Description: The NFB's online Screening Room features over 3,000 films, excerpts, trailers and interactive works (including) documentaries, animation, experimental films and fiction (with a Canadian context or perspective.)

Need a Film Not in Laurentian's Online Film Collections?

​Consult: Watmedia (Provincial Multi-media Catalogue).  Material held by Laurentian may be signed out in the library. To order a film not available at Laurentian, please email LUFilmLibrary@laurentian.ca and specify the date(s) you require the item.

Questions:  Please contact Ginette Gervais, coordinator of interlibrary loan.

Curriculum Resources

Books for Children and Young Adults

CM: Canadian Review of Materials
Reviews Canadiana of interest to children and young adults, including publications produced in Canada, or published elsewhere but of special interest or significance to Canada, such as those having a Canadian writer, illustrator or subject. CM reviews both books and DVDs.

Worlds of Words: International Collection of Children's and Adolescent Literature, from the Univ. of Arizona College of Education.  
This Web site's mission is to promote high-quality, culturally authentic children's literature. Users may do quick or advanced searches for books and receive bibliographic information and a brief description for each book found. The site presents the option of choosing from the categories of Region, Age, or Genre. Advanced Search allows users to specify one age group, one region, and one genre but precludes choosing multiple options under a category.  Worlds of Words features two online journals: WOW Stories: Connections from the Classroom, containing vignettes written by educators about children's experiences reading and responding to literature, and WOW Review: Reading across Cultures, a quarterly whose reviews focus on the cultural authenticity of the text and illustrations. Also available are the WOW Currents blog and an events calendar limited to the University of Arizona area. Although somewhat narrowly focused, this site will be useful for teachers, parents, and librarians trying to pick the best books for children. Educators also will benefit from the teaching helps in the blog and from WOW Stories.

Curriculum Resource Centre (CRC)

The Education Resource Center is located in Room AR-102 of the Alphonse Raymond Building #20 on this Campus Map - Carte de campus and it supports School of Education students in their studies and in their teaching placements.  Its collection includes curriculum materials, textbooks, pedagogy, native studies materials, as well as teaching aides such as picture books, novels, literacy games, science kits, charts, math manipulables, and musical instruments.

The CRC follows the J.N. Desmarais Library protocols in regards to borrowing privileges, loan periods, fines, etc.

Searching for items in the Education Resource Center

Omni, Laurentian University’s library catalogue, includes all items held by the Education Resource Center.

However, if you are looking for a children’s book about penguins, you may find that items held by other libraries make it difficult to find something suitable for children.

Instead, you can filter your search results to show just the Education Resource Center:

  1. Search Omni for the keyword(s) in which you are interested.
  2. On the left-hand side, click Laurentian Library to display the list of libraries and their number of matching results in parentheses.
  3. Click Education Resource Center to limit the results to just those held by the CRC.

Ontario Physical and Health Education Association (Ophea)

  • OPHEA - H&PE Curriculum Resources ?

    Description: To access full-text content click on "Click to Access H&PE Curriculum Resources" button (bottom right hand corner). Ophea works in partnership with school boards, public health, government, non-government organizations, and private sector organizations to develop groundbreaking programs and services that support healthy active schools and communities.

  • OPHEA - Safety Guidelines ?

    Description: To access full-text content click on "Click to Access Safety Guidelines" button (bottom right corner). The Ontario Physical Education Safety Guidelines, managed by Ophea, represent the minimum standards for risk management practice for school boards. They focus the attention of teachers, intramural supervisors and coaches on safe practices, in every activity, in order to minimize the element of risk.

Citing Sources and Zotero

Why Cite?

We cite sources to acknowledge the work of others, as well as to avoid academic dishonesty or plagiarism.

The University of Toronto  has made available a comprehensive set of guidelines on How NOT to Plagiarize .which deserves to be read by every student

 

APA Style

You'll find copies of the new Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.) in the Desmarais Library, the Curriculum Resource Centre—and in the Huntington Library.  The call number is  BF 76.7 P83 2020.  It is often referred to as the APA Manual.  

 

In a hurry?

The Online Writing Lab (OWL) of Purdue University has a comprehensive online guide for citing in APA.

This guide will give you general guidelines for in-text citation and for creating an APA reference list for both print and electronic documents. 

It is intended as a quick reference only.  To be certain you are have used APA style correctly, the APA Manual is most helpful.

Managing citations with Zotero

 

Zoterois a free, web-based citation manager that allows you to:

  • Directly import references from article databases, the library catalogue, e-book collections, etc.
  • Manage and organize your references and research materials (PDFs, ePubs, web page snapshots, etc)
  • Annotate research papers with highlighting, custom notes, and capture tables or figures with automatic page references
  • Create a bibliography
  • Share your references with others
  • Add in-text citation and a bibliography directly into your assignment
  • Synchronize your references and research materials across multiple computers
  • ... all with unlimited storage for users who have an @laurentian.ca or @laurentienne.ca email address associated with their Zotero account

To enable Zotero's Library Lookup service to find full-text documents licensed by Laurentian University, set Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced -> General -> Resolver to North America -> Laurentian University

Getting started with Zotero