NSU Education Librarians - we're here to help! |
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Broken Arrow Campus: Jamie M. Holmes Office: Telephone EXT. 6456 (449-6456) |
Tahlequah Campus: Peggy Kaney Office: Telephone (918) 456-5511 EXT.3276 |
General Information for Students |
Resources |
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Search Tips |
Following APA style rules |
Glossary of terms |
Why use journals? |
Evaluating Websites |
Suggested Keywords
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Access:
Remote Access to NSU's Databases: |
Remote Access to NSU's I Drive (Instructor Drive) and L Drive (your personal storage space online) - (If you've never done this before, you may want to use the Help provided at the login screen!) |
NSU John Vaughan Library Web Page: http://library.nsuok.edu/index.html |
Search the NSU Libraries' Online Catalog: http://library.nsuok.edu/vtls.english/index.html
Search for E-Books using NetLibrary and/or eBrary: http://library.nsuok.edu/Refdesk/vrdbks.html
Academic Search Premier - This is a general database, which means it contains article citations and full text articles covering many academic subjects. It is one of the twenty-five databases produced by EbscoHost for which NSU has a subscription. It is probably our most widely used database and is sometimes referred to simply as "Ebsco."
ERIC - This is another database produced by EbscoHost. ERIC stands for the Educational Resource Information Center. It contains more than 2,200 digests along with references for additional information and citations and abstracts from over 1,000 educational and education-related journals. ERIC contains a thesaurus, which can be very helpful in figuring out which search terms to use when looking for information.
Professional Development Collection - Designed for professional educators, this database provides a highly specialized collection of more than 550 high quality education journals, including more than 350 peer-reviewed titles. This databasealso contains more than 200 educational reports.
Education Full Text - Part of Wilson's Omnifile Full Text, Mega Edition, EFT provides comprehensive coverage of an international range of English-language periodicals, monographs and yearbooks. Coverage includes 79 journals (37 with full text) not covered by ERIC's Current Index to Journals in Education. Index coverage goes back to 1983. Full text articles from 1996 to the present. Contains a thesaurus.
Sites for Teachers: http://www.sitesforteachers.com/
Language Arts (Government Resources): http://www.free.ed.gov/
Can Teach: http://www.canteach.ca/index.html
Teachers' Top Sites: http://www.americanteachers.com/topsites/index.php?a_m=2
Tom Messner's Search Engine Page: http://arapaho.nsuok.edu/~messner/eresearch/e%20research.htm
Web English Teacher: http://www.webenglishteacher.com
1. Be prepared with synonyms in case your original search produces no results. Use a thesaurus if the database is equipped with one.
2. Pay attention to search tips or help screens provided by each database. Even experienced researchers (like professors and librarians!) can have trouble when dealing with a new interface. Take the time to learn how to use the tool - it will help you to avoid frustration!
3. Remember that most databases allow for Boolean Searching. Use and to narrow, or to expand, not to exlude. Truncation is also useful for bringing back all relevant results. For example, type counsel* to bring back documents containing the words counsel, counseling, counselor...
4. Take advantage of the following sources of help:
- Reference desks:
Broken Arrow - First and second floor service desk - open whenever the library is open
Tahlequah - First floor of the JVL, staffed from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Mon - Thurs, and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday
- IM the Answer - NSU Libraries' Chat Reference Service - Mon - Thurs 9 a.m. - 8 p.m. & Friday 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
- College of Education Resource Co-Coordinators: Jamie M. Holmes and Peggy Kaney. Feel free to email us with a question or to schedule a one-on-one reference session.
The American Psychological Association originally created a publication manual to provide a common structure for all journal manuscripts in the area of the social sciences.
Many other disciplines (including psychology, the behavioral sciences, nursing, personnel administration and many areas within education) have adopted this as their professional writing standard as well.
In an academic environment, you will often be expected to conform to this standard when writing. At this point, you should be mostly concerned with creating an accurate reference list using proper format and providing citations within the text to give credit for an idea or concept to the source from which you got it.
Print:
Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). (2001). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
The library owns several copies of the style guide; however, only the 4th edition circulates (can be checked out). There are five copies of the 5th edition in reference and one on reserve. (
Websites:
Using APA format (Purdue University) - this comprehensive guide summarizes the print version of the book. Click on Your Reference List to find examples of the proper format to use when listing sources you used.
APA style.org's Frequently Asked Questions
Use the following terms individually or in combination with one another:
language arts
English
writing and improv* (truncate using * to bring up all forms of the word)
reading
speaking
listening
spelling
handwrit* and practice (combine the terms using and)
literacy
rubrics
poetry or verse (use or to bring in all documents whether they use the word poetry or verse)
elementary
middle school
junior high
high school
secondary
students not college (use not to exclude articles regarding college students)
It's important to remember that publishing on the web is very easy - almost anyone can do it! The problem with that is knowing what's credible (worth your time) and what's not.
Ultimately the researcher must be the one to determine whether or not to use information found on a web site. The following information from the University of California at Berkeley provides some excellent guidelines for evaluating sites:
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.htm
Back to Library's Page for Curriculum & Instruction