Action Research in Special Education

1. Action Research in Special Education Fall 2013 Amy Schleigh HayesTechnology & Electronic Resources Librarian

2. Topic Outline Starting Point: Education Subject Guide Finding Books via CoolCat, WorldCat InterLibraryLoan Searching library databases, finding scholarly journal articles, dissertations Searching the web, finding academic content

3. Starting Point for Education Research http://www.cse.edu/academics/mahoney-library/instruction/subject-guides/education.dot

4. Finding Books • Searching CoolCat: • https://coolcat.fdu.edu/CoolCat is the online catalog that CSE and FDU share. You can limit your search to CSE only, or search across both (and borrow books from FDU as well). • Use the Call Number to Locate the Book: • Books on education are found in the 370-379 range. These are located upstairs in the right wing. (Exception are reference books, which are in the Reference Room on main level of the library.)

5. What if you don’t find it? WorldCat:http://www.worldcat.org/WorldCat searches across many of the academic, public, other libraries throughout the United States, and beyond. It is useful for identifying books relevant to your research, even if we don’t have them at CSE. Nearby Libraries:http://www.cse.edu/academics/mahoney-library/services/nearby-libraries.dot Reciprocal Borrowing at other NJ college libraries:http://www.cse.edu/academics/mahoney-library/services/reciprocal-borrowing.dot How Do I…Request/Borrow from Other Libraries?http://www.cse.edu/academics/mahoney-library/services/interlibraryloan.dotForms available for book request and article request

6. Articles via Library Subscription Databases Online & Print Journals List:http://rz9gv4tk9a.search.serialssolutions.com/Use this if you have the article citation or know the name of the journal. Databases A-Z List:http://www.cse.edu/academics/mahoney-library/research/databases.dotUse this to go straight to a database, if you know the name. Databases by Subject:http://www.cse.edu/academics/mahoney-library/research/databases-by-subject.dotUse this to identify databases appropriate for a given subject. Ulrich’s Periodicals Directory:http://www.cse.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://ulrichsweb.serialssolutions.com/?libCode=CSEUse this to determine if a journal is peer-reviewed or not.

7. Key Multidisciplinary Databases • Reference Content see Encyclopedias & Reference page • Gale Virtual Reference Library (Psychology of Classroom Learning, CorsiniEncyclopedia of Psychology) • Health Reference Center (Facts on File) • Medline Plus • Streaming Video see Databases A-Z page • Films on Demand- contains education videos • Periodical Articles see Databases by Subject page • Academic Search Premier (70% scholarly, many FT) • ProQuest Research Library • ProQuest Dissertations & Theses • Omnifile Full Text Mega • Google Scholar • SAGE Premier Journals (scholarly) • Lexis Nexis Academic (for news, not scholarly)

8. Key Subject Databases • Education • Education Research Complete • ERIC • Education Full Text • [Sage Premier Journals] • Psychology • PsycINFO • PsycARTICLES • Mental Measurements Yearbook • Medicine • Medline

9. Database Searching Techniques • Take a look around, see what your options are • Keep your searches simple • Zero in on the key words and phrases for your topic • Don’t use small, unimportant words like the, in, this, that, on, etc. • Use limiters as appropriate • Scholarly (peer-reviewed), Full Text, Date, Number of Pages… • Be aware of what you’re searching • If you’re searching the entire document text (keyword), your results may be too broad • If you’re searching article title only, your results may be too narrow • Try to search the subject headings (also called descriptors in some databases) or abstracts (article summary)

10. Using the Thesaurus Ebscodatabases: ERIC, Education Research Complete, Education Full Text, PsycINFO, etc. • Click Thesaurus on the dark blue menu bar at the top of the screen. Enter a concept in the Browsing Box(use Relevancy) Click Add Select one or more terms that are relevant

11. Thesaurus, continued Click on a thesaurus term to get more information on what it’s used for, and get any Related Terms

12. Key Education Journals Educational Leadership Education Education Week Teacher and Teacher Education Middle School Journal Educational Administration Quarterly Educational Researcher American Educational Research Journal Journal of Educational Psychology School Psychology Quarterly Journal of Instructional Psychology Educational and Psychological Measurement Contemporary Educational Psychology

13. Journals on Special Education Journal of Special Education Intervention in School and Clinic Journal of Emotional & Behavioral Disorders Journal of Learning Disabilities Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities Topics in Early Childhood Special Education Learning Disability Quarterly Insights on Learning Disabilities Learning Disabilities: A Contemporary Journal Exceptional Children Teaching Exceptional Children Young Exceptional Children Teacher Education and Special Education

14. “Mine” the Bibliography When you find a useful article, review the references for similar, relevant articles and track those down

15. Online & Print Journals List Look up the name of a journal or magazine, to find out if we have access to that journal. The results screen will give you links to any databases where we have full text, as well as list the dates available. http://rz9gv4tk9a.search.serialssolutions.com/

16. Putting databases to work for you • Journal Alerts • When you find a particularly useful journal, sign up to have future tables of contents emailed to you • Search Alerts • Same here – Get new results of your search e-mailed to you as they are added to the database

17. Databases that offer Alerts

18. Dissertations & Theses http://www.cse.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/pqdtft/ip • ProQuest Dissertations& Theses Over 1 million available as full text download (pdf)

19. Research on the (free) Web… ?

20. …How do you get to the good stuff? • Think about website domains.edu, .gov, .org, .info, .net, .com, .biz.nj.us, .uk, .de, .jp, .mx • Familiarize yourself with key organizations and government agencies in your area of interest and limit your search to those domains • National Center for Special Education Research: http://ies.ed.gov/ncser/ • Education Commission of the States: http://www.ecs.org/ • Think about file formats: .pdf, .ppt(research reports online are usually in pdfformat) Web Search Tools:http://www.cse.edu/academics/mahoney-library/research/web-search-tools.dot

21. More Tips for Finding Academic Content Online • Think about currency – Google and Bingallow you to limit your search by date • Try scholarly/academic search tools • Google Scholar • Scirus • Government agencies, think tanks, nonprofits, educational institutions, and other organizations release research reports regularly. Use these sites to filter through them by topic. See ‘Education’ category on right column. • FullTextReports: http://fulltextreports.com/ • DocuTickerDocuBase: http://web.docuticker.com/go/docubase/ Web Search Tools:http://www.cse.edu/academics/mahoney-library/research/web-search-tools.dot

22. Analyzing Results If you do not find what you’re looking for right away, consider that… The best resources will not always or often appear in the top 5 results. Results depend on terms and limits used, quality of indexing or metadata, general functionality of search tool There is less overlap across search engines than most people think…i.e., Google ≠ the web Use multiple strategies –different sets of search terms, different limiters (i.e. format or domain), and multiple search tools. Web Search Tools:http://www.cse.edu/academics/mahoney-library/research/web-search-tools.dot

23. A few sites to start with… Education Week http://www.edweek.org/ IDEA Individuals with Disabilities Education Act http://idea.ed.gov/ New Jersey Department of Education Office of Special Education http://www.nj.gov/education/specialed/ National Center for Special Education Research http://ies.ed.gov/ncser/ National Center for Education Statistics http://nces.ed.gov/ Teaching LD http://teachingld.org/ Education Commission of the States http://www.ecs.org/ See Education subject guide for more helpful sites

24. Review and Practice • Background information on Autism • Dissertation from College of Saint Elizabeth on education. • Full text of these two articles: • Wells, J., & Sheehey, M. (2013). Harnessing the Power of Technology: Increasing Academic Engagement of Elementary Students' with Learning Disabilities and ADHD. Insights On Learning Disabilities, 10(1), 73-86. • Hart, J. E., & Whalon, K. J. (2011). Creating social opportunities for students with autism spectrum disorder in inclusive settings. Intervention in School and Clinic, 46(5), 273-279. doi:10.1177/1053451210395382. • Get more specific, relevant results in ERIC database • Sample district plans for special education staffing • Statistics on inclusion of students with disabilities • NJ statewide classification rate of students with speech and language impairment

25. Keep in Touch Mahoney Library Reference Desk: (973) 290-4248Library Hours Mon-Thurs: 8:30am-9pm | Fri: 8:30am-5pm Sat: 10:30am-5:30pm | Sun: 2pm-6pm Make an Appointment: http://www.cse.edu/academics/mahoney-library/instruction/appointment-request.dot Search our Online Q&A Knowledge Base: (CSE Library Answers) to get answers even when we’re not open http://cse.libanswers.com/Send us your questions via system (email), chat, or text