LIBRARY RESEARCH IN EDUCATION

Jennifer ThiessenLiaison Librarian, EducationJames A. Gibson LibrarySeptember 2013

The James A. Gibson LibrarySchmon Tower Floors 2, 5-10

Or anywhere…

PatioLSE002 by JISC

Goals for today’s session• Services (a very brief look)

• MY LIBRARY ACCOUNT• RACER (Interlibrary Loan)• Study Space• RefWorks/Citation management

• Getting started with Library Research• Finding books and ebooks• Finding journal articles• Where to find more…

What library services do you want to know about?

My Library Account

• See items you have signed out • Renew • Place holds• See if you have any fines

• log in to library databases from off campus

Photocopying Services• Photocopy cards

• Colour and transparency copying

• Posters, photos, banners and other large format prints (5th Floor)

RACER (http://brocku.ca/library/ill)• Interlibrary loan system• Submit requests online for articles, books, book chapters

that Brock does not have

• Books: pick them up and return them at our Circulation Desk

• Articles/book chapters: Get link to online copy emailed to you (link expires after 5 views or 21 days)

Study spaces on library floors• Floors 8, 9 and 10: SILENT STUDY

• One-person study rooms; first come, first serve

• Floors 5 and 7: low level talking

• Graduate Study room• Floor 6• Swipe card access• Study carrels, bookable meeting room, lockers

Citation management

•Save references to books and articles from catalogue and databases.

•Automatically create bibliographies or works cited pages in APA style format.

databasereference(s)

* optional *produce bibliography

bibliographic management

software

export

The concept:

How do you feel about library research?

Library Research in Education• Books• Journals• Research Guide

Hint: Start with the Research tab.

• Use the Catalogue to find books (both print and e-books)• Use the Databases to find journal articles• Use SuperSearch to search it all

3/365 Research Aspirations by catspyjamasnz

Catalogue Practice• Go to the Library Catalogue. Do a keyword search on

narrative inquiry. Now do a keyword search on “narrative inquiry.” Why is there a difference in results?

 • Do the same search in Super Search• What changes?

Click on Education to see a list of databases for that subject area.

Click on Research, then Databases.

Finding Journal articles

• Use library databases

• Try Google Scholar

For finding info about research methodology

• Looks for full text in other locations (Does not guarantee full text).

• Use Google Scholar from the Quick Search toolbar OR set up Library Links in Settings

• Why use Google Scholar?• Another database• Find works that cite a

particular article/book• See who the important

authors/researchers are• Watch: Get Better Results

with Google Scholar

Database Practice• Find the Education databases. • Select Education Research Complete. • Search “international students.” How are the results

arranged? How can you limit your results to peer reviewed journal articles?

More Search Tips• Use quotation marks for phrases

• “grounded theory”; “educational leadership”

• Use * to search for alternate endings• Canad* = Canada, Canadian, etc.; reflect* = reflect, reflection, reflective, etc.

• Use synonyms• Teenager, adolescent, adolescence, teens, etc.

• Too many results?• Use limits (peer-reviewed, date, language, etc.)

• Add additional keywords; get more specific

• Too few results?• Remove one or more keywords

• Go broader (e.g. search Canada instead of Ontario)

Your Research Guide• Review of what we’ve covered today and more

Summary Information about library services for graduate students can be found

here: http://www.brocku.ca/library/services-lib/grad-students

The most important services you should know about are: My Library Account RACER RefWorks

Library Resources: Library catalogue – books Library databases – journal articles Research Guide

Contact me if you need help: jthiessen@brocku.ca