Focus your topic

Reference sources can be extremely useful for narrowing a broad topic. The following online reference sources are most useful during the initial phase of a research project:

Britannica Online

Hint: Some articles have tables of contents on the left and "expand your research" links on the right. Both these features can be very helpful for topic narrowing.

CQ Researcher

Hint: CQ Researcher covers a wide variety of topics of current interest. Try clicking on the "browse related topics" link for help with developing your thesis statement or research question.
Hint: Most CQ Researcher articles include a bibliography, which is linked at the top of the page. If you find an article useful, chances are you will find the author's sources useful as well. Ask a librarian if you need help locating a source.

Oxford Reference Online

General Reference information on all subjects.

Also, take a look at the library's print reference collection. Try an advanced search of the library catalog. Limit the location to reference, then enter keywords that are broad in nature (since you are still at the background information/topic narrowing stage). For example, try the keyword "psychology." You'll get 45 results, several of which are likely to be useful if your research question is related to psychology.

Selected print reference sources:

Encyclopedias

American Educators' Encyclopedia

Encyclopedia of Education

Encyclopedia of Educational Research

Encyclopedia of American Education

Encyclopedia of Bilingualism and Bilingual Education

Encyclopedia of Early Childhood Education

Encyclopedia of Special Education

Philosophy of Education: An Encyclopedia

World Education Encyclopedia

 

Handbooks and Manuals

Handbook of Alternative Education

Home Schooling Laws: All Fifty States

International Handbook of Bilingualism and Bilingual Education

 

Specialized Dictionaries

A Critical Dictionary of Educational Concepts: An Appraisal of Selected Ideas and Issues in Educational Theory and Practice

Dictionary of Multicultural Education

 

Statistical Sources

Almanac of American Education

Condition of Education

Digest of Education Statistics

Education Statistics of the United States

Projections of Educational Statistics

Statistics on Navajo (Dine) Education

We the Americans: Our Education

 

Borrow some books

Books contain both general and specific information, and can be useful during all phases of the research process. However, they take longer to read than reference sources and periodical articles, and since they often come from other libraries, they can take longer to arrive. That's why we suggest that you start looking for books as early as possible.

TALON, the Reed library online catalog

Hint: start with a keyword search. (And remember to use Boolean operators! Ask a librarian if you don't know what that means.) When you find a useful book, notice the subject headings assigned to it. Click on the subject headings to find similar books. This technique works in most online library catalogs, including Prospector and WorldCat (see below).

Prospector--one search, 23 libraries. Materials arrive in 3-4 days or less, can be kept for three weeks, and renewed once. HIGHLY recommended.

Note: Look at the list of libraries that own the item you want, and if you see Fort Lewis on the list, there's no need to order it from Prospector.
Hint: The Prospector interface works the same as TALON, with the obvious exception that you must click on "Request this Item" and follow the instructions to have it sent to Fort Lewis. Check in with the Circulation Desk a few days later to see if your item has arrived.

WorldCat and OpenWorldCat--one search, thousands of libraries. Materials arrive in 7-10 days or less, and can be kept for three weeks.

Hint: The content of these two databases is the same, but the interface is different. Choose WorldCat for the FirstSearch interface which is good for complex searches, and OpenWorldCat for a Google interface that is better suited to simple searches. Pay attention to subject headings ascribed to materials you are interested in. To request items, go to the library home page and click on the Inter Library Loan link at the top.

Find Some Articles

ERIC

Provides access to full text journal articles and documents (research reports, pamphlets and proceedings) in the field of education.

PsycInfo

Covers all aspects of psychology:  educational, experimental and clinical.  Provides citations to journal articles, book chapters, reports and dissertations.  Links to full text of APA journals and other articles through EBSCO.

Academic Search

A great place to start looking for articles on any topic. It offers bibliographic citations with abstracts from scholarly and popular periodicals, and covers just about everything--education, literature, psychology, engineering, physiology, and other fields in the humanities, social sciences and physical sciences. Academic Search includes full-text of articles for over 3000 periodical titles. Coverage is primarily from 1980 to current.

J-STOR

J-STOR is a broad, multidisciplinary journal archive, so you need to be very specific when searching. Because the J-STOR search interface always searches the full text of articles, you are likely to get results that are not very relevant. However, it is worth it to wade through the irrelevant hits to find a few useful articles.
Hint: Use the print button on the J-STOR page, not the print function of your browser. If you need help, ask a librarian.

Create your bibliography

It is strongly recommended that you start creating your bibliography before you start writing your paper. As soon as you know you are going to use a source, create and format your citation using The OWL at Purdue, The University of Wisconsin--Madison's APA Documentation Guide, and/or Reed Library's online guide. Doing so will save you lots of time and frustration at the end; just remember to delete from your bibliography any sources you ended up not using. If you have a tricky source for which there is not an example in the online guide, a reference librarian will be glad to assist you.