Finding Articles & More
Finding Dissertations
Use the Dissertation Abstracts database to search for theses and dissertations related to your to research. Many dissertations are now digitized, so try entering the title as a google search to see if the manuscript is online. If not, request the item through interlibrary loan.
In recent years Oregon State University theses & dissertations have been digitized in pdf format. You can search for them in Scholars Archive. Read the OSU Graduate School FAQ on Electronic Thesis & Dissertations. To search for all OSU theses go to the Library Catalog Advanced Search and use the pulldown menu to limit by Material Type to Theses. Type keywords in the search boxes. This search will find both digital & print theses.
Finding Education Articles using Library Databases & Google Scholar
ERIC (Education Resources Information Center) via Ebsco is the largest education database, covering journals, conference proceedings, classroom guides, etc. Many records are linked to full-text. Most academic and public libraries have some version of ERIC. It is government sponsored & made freely available at this ERIC site. However, the free version will not have as much full text as the version OSU Libraries subscribes to.
Education Research Complete via Ebsco also provides access to an extensive collection of journal material, conference papers and books.
Pychological & Behavioral Sciences Collection via Ebsco is a subset of the PsycInfo database via PsycNET. PsycInfo is the the most important resource for psychological literature & covers learning theory, cognitive develpment, group behavior and other areas related to education. However, the PsycNET version does not have full text articles, which may be obtained through ejournals, by requesting articles through the OSU catalog, and by interlibrary loan.
SEARCH HINT! Search 4 Ebsco Education related databases simultaneously (ERIC, Education Research Complete, Psychology & Behavioral Abstracts, & Professional Development Collection) by clicking on the Choose Databases » link above the search box, checking Education, and clicking OK.
Social Sciences Citation Index is helpful when you want to see which articles have cited to an important article in your research. These newer articles may provide a way to update your research & the articles they cite to may be related to your topic.
Google Scholar Search for articles and books on your topic using Advanced Google Scholar You can limit by year and check the category Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities. When you find items you want, go to the OSU Libraries catalog, ejournals or to interlibrary loan to request them. You may also find some articles that are freely available on the Internet, but while attending OSU never pay for articles that require purchasing! You have already paid for library subscriptions and interlibrary loan with your tuition and you may request these articles through OSU Libraries.
Requesting Books & Articles
When you are searching a database like ERIC, click on the full text pdf or html file, or click "link to full text" to see if the library has alternative access to the article, or to interlibrary loan the article or book.
To locate a specific journal article:
- Check our E-journals list first to see if we have electronic access to the journal for the date on which the article was published.
- Check the OSU Libraries catalog, check "Journals" , & type in the Journal Title to see if we have a print subscription for the date of your article. Click the Request button to put in citation information.
- If OSU doesn't have an article we can usually request it from another library via InterLibrary Loan Services. You need to register for ILL before you can use it, so do this ASAP. Electronic copies of articles are sent to you as a link in your OSU email.
- To request an ERIC document that is in microfiche format fill out the Circulation Request form
Also see:
- How to Request Library Materials
- Information on Receiving Materials
- Check Your Library Records/Renew
- Questions aboutOSU materials & Summit items, contact: valley.remote@oregonstate.edu
- Interlibary Loan questions, contact: valley.ill@oregonstate.edu
Course Instructor
- Sara Hargrave
- Contact:
Education Librarian
- Maureen Kelly
- Office Hours:
OSU Cascades Campus , Bend, Oregon - Contact Info:
1 (541) 322-3110 OR Skype: Maureen Kelly
Keeping Current with Research
Learn how to
- Ceate "alerts" & RSS feeds for searches in databases
- Subscribe to Blogs in your topic area
- Use Social Bookmarks in Del.ic.ious
Mini-tutorials on these and other topics are available at the Keeping Current with Research page.
Organizing Your Research
A useful way to organize your research is to use citation software.
Zotero is a free, open source tool that works with many of OSU Libraries' databases and will manage the citations you find in them. One of our librarians has developed a handout that clearly illustrates how to use Zotero. See it the Zotero handout.
Another popular citation software is Endnote. This software is sold commercially, but you can an educational discount while at OSU. You can also try the web version for free while you're an OSU student because it is available through the Web of Science database. The library has instructions for using Endnote. Remember that you will lose free access when you are no longer affiliated with OSU.
There are many other brands of citation software. To read more about your choices, see the Manage Citations page.
APA Style & Tutorial
If you are not using a citation manager to help you format your bibliographies and notes, you'll want to pay attention to how to follow APA Style for your citations and bibliography. The newest edition of the APA is Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Sixth Edition, 2009. Purdue has a useful guide for writing and citing in APA style:
APA has a tutorial for the new edition: APA 6th Edition Tutorial
Consider using Zotero to capture and organize your citations. It is free software that is downloadable as an extension to the Firefox browser and it also has a Microsoft Word plugin that you can use to generate bibliographies.
Last Update: May 30, 2009 13:44
