Education Research Guide
- Find Background Info
- Find Books and Films
- Find Articles
- Find Curriculum Materials
- Citing Sources
Find Background Info
Background sources, such as specialized encyclopedias and dictionaries, are an essential piece of the research process. They can help you:
- Gather information about your topic and understand the scope of the research.
- Locate reliable sources and clarify keywords.
- Pinpoint important authors, texts, ideas, and keywords about the research area—knowing what the primary phrases and concepts are will help you a lot as you are searching through library databases and online sources.
Credo Reference
Credo Reference is a multi-publisher collection of high-quality reference titles covering everything from the arts to astronomy, law to literature, and science to Shakespeare. Credo includes several topic pages for education—these topic pages are great places to get broad overviews and recommended readings on your topic.
Education topic pages in Credo
Utah State Board of Education
Utah State Board of Education includes data about schools and education in the state of Utah, educator licensing in Utah, calendars, directories, school districts, accreditation, and more.
Find Books and Films
Print and e-books are valuable sources for academic research. They will help you gain an overview of your topic and often contain in-depth information about the scholarship or history of research on a subject. Some books are written by single authors, while others include essays or chapters by multiple scholars within a discipline. Don’t let the length of books intimidate you because you don’t need to read them from cover to cover. Look at the table of contents and index to find the sections that are relevant to your work.
Find Books Using GriffinSearch
GriffinSearch is a good starting place if you are looking for books, journal articles, films, and other materials available in the library. In addition to searching the Giovale Library catalog for physical materials, GriffinSearch finds e-books and articles from several of our databases. To get started, search by keyword or type in the title of a book here:
Academic Videos Online (AVON)
Academic Videos Online (AVON) provides unlimited access to a comprehensive selection of videos curated for the educational experience.
Search Academic Videos Online (AVON)
WorldCat
WorldCat lets you search for books, articles, videos, and other material that are available in libraries worldwide. If you are doing in-depth research on a topic and are considering requesting resources through Interlibrary Loan, WorldCat can help you discover resources that might not be in the Giovale Library collection.
Interlibrary Loan (ILL)
Interlibrary Loan is a service where patrons of one library can borrow books and other materials, and access journal articles that are owned by another library.
Explore Interlibrary Loan Materials
Utah Academic Library Consortium
Giovale Library participates in the Utah Academic Library Consortium (UALC) and Westminster University students have reciprocal circulation privileges at UALC partner libraries. Each UALC library has different circulation policies, but all require a current, valid, legal photo identification and proof of current enrollment at Westminster. Some libraries may also require other verification methods, so it is recommended that you contact the library you are interested in for details.
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Find Articles
The Giovale Library provides access to a number of subject databases that you can use to find journal articles on topics within a specific discipline or field of study. The databases listed on this page are those that are most useful for finding research published in the field of education.
ERIC (EBSCO)
The Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) database is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education to provide extensive access to educational-related literature. ERIC provides unlimited access to bibliographic records of journal articles and other education-related materials. ERIC document coverage includes peer-reviewed articles, conferences, government documents, theses, dissertations, reports, audiovisual media, bibliographies, directories, books, and monographs. A public version of ERIC is also available. This version may have fewer items than the EBSCO version. Pro Tip: You can search ERIC and Education Full Text at the same time by selecting “Choose Databases” on the main search page and adding Education Full Text.
Education Full Text (EBSCO)
Education Full Text covers every age and sector of the educational community from preschool through college. It is a bibliographic database that cites every article of at least one column in length English-language periodicals and yearbooks published in the United States and elsewhere. It abstracts selected series and supplements and cites book reviews. Full text is included for many articles since 1996. Pro Tip: You can search Education Full Text and ERIC at the same time by selecting “Choose Databases” on the main search page and adding ERIC.
Search Education Full Text (EBSCO)
Education Database (ProQuest)
Education Database (ProQuest) provides access to educational publications. Coverage includes primary, secondary, and higher education, special education, home schooling, and adult education publications. Many titles are indexed in the ERIC database.
Search Education Database (ProQuest)
GriffinSearch
GriffinSearch is a good starting place if you are looking for books, journal articles, films, and other material available in the library. In addition to searching the Giovale Library catalog for physical materials, GriffinSearch finds e-books and articles from several of our databases.
Find Curriculum Materials
The Giovale Library has a collection of curriculum materials including: textbooks, children's literature, classroom materials. This is a great resource for class projects and student teaching. You can check out materials for the whole semester.
The Curriculum Collection is located in the basement of the Giovale Library. It can
be searched in the catalog or GriffinSearch by selecting Curriculum Collection under
location. To search the Curriculum Collection, search by keyword or type in the title
of a book here:
Citing Sources
Citation Resources
Properly citing your sources shows that you’ve done research to become knowledgeable about your topic and helps you avoid plagiarism. Explore citation resources to learn how to correctly cite sources based on style.
Need help with your research?
Get in touch with:
Lizz Larson
Liaison Librarian for Education
801.832.2253
elarson@westminsteru.edu
Librarians are happy to answer questions via email, phone, or in-person.
Contact Lizz with a question or to schedule a research help appointment.
Faculty: Contact Lizz to suggest edits to this research guide.