AHE 506: Community College Leadership Program

Selected Community College Research Sites

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American Association of Community Colleges

Center for Community College Policy

Institute for Community College Development

League for Innovation

Office of Community College Research & Leadership

Requesting Books & Articles

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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

Finding Books

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OSU Libraries shows materials owned by OSU. Click the Request button to borrow an item. Identify as Ecampus and the book or video will be FedExed to your home, if you live at least 30 miles from Corvallis.

Summit Catalog is a shared catalog for 35+ college libraries in Oregon and Washington which lets you borrow materials through a cooperative agreement. To request items use the pull down item to identify as OSU, then in your ID & select Ecampus.

WorldCat shows library collections from all over the US and some foreign countries. A good way to find theses is to change one of the pulldown menus to "material type" and to type in the word: theses. Use keywords for your topic search. It is usually easier to borrow dissertations than Masters theses, which often are published in just 1 copy. Theses are becoming more accessible due to digitization.

Google Books Google has electronically scanned thousands of books which can be searched by keywords. Use Advanced Search to narrow your search. Many books are under copyright so only a few pages can be viewed. To obtain the book, borrow through the OSU Libraries catalog or the Summit catalog, or use OSU Interlibary Loan.

APA Style & Tutorial

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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:

Purdue OWL APA

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.

Keeping Current with Research

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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.

Finding Articles & More

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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.