Find an Article by Topic.
Sample topic search: teachers working with others to improve student's success
Step 1: Think about your topic. Think about the concepts or keywords that describe your topic. Think about synonyms. List them.
Example:
Teacher: special educator, special education
Collaborative: cooperation, partnership, intervention team, consultation, inter professional cooperation
Collaboration with: family, parents, nurse, speech therapist, occupational therapist, paraprofessionals
Step 2: Select an article database.
Think about the topic and the type of information you want. Do you want current information? A peer-reviewed journal article? Remember that library databases target literature for different subjects.
This page lists databases by Title (example: Education Full-text) and by Subjects (choose a category and you'll see a list of suggested databases.)
Step 3: LoginLogin
You'll be asked to enter your real name and your Banner ID number.
Step 4: Enter your search terms.
Database search screens look similar. There are usually three spaces where you can enter your topics. The default search combination will be AND. You will need to type "or" between synonyms. In one long string our search would look like this:
special educator AND (collaboration or cooperation or partnership) AND (family or parents)
Sample search (you enter):
First search box: special educator
Second search box: collaboration or cooperation or partnership
Third search box: family or parents
Step 4: Limit to Peer-reviewed articles. Then click Submit to start your search.
Look at the screen where you are entering your search terms. Do you see a Limit option? Either "peer-reviewed" or "scholarly articles?" If so, check/select that option. The articles located will now only contain peer-reviewed articles.
(Peer-reviewed articles = scholarly articles. What? See the guide: Journal or Magazine?)
Step 5: Review what you found.
You will see a list of article citations each containing the article title, author, journal title, volume, issue, pages, etc. Click on the article title to see an abstract of the article. Reading the article abstract will help you decide if you want to find the entire text of the article.
Do you see a Full-text link (HTML, PDF or other) after the article citation? Click that link to see the full-text. Remember HTML is just the text. PDF contains photos, charts, etc.
Step 6: Don't like what you found? Try another search.
Try another search using different terms or a different combination of terms. Or try another database. Remember the search terms you use in the education databases might not be successful in the psychology databases. Don't hesitate to try other terms. This is key!
Content editor, Lisa Abbott abbottlt@appstate.edu