Finding articles



Library Research Strategy

Montgomery County Community College Libraries

EDU 100 – Current Issues in Education Assignment

Find and Explore a Topic: Use CQ Researcher and Opposing Viewpoints

Start with the Libraries’ current issues databases, CQ Researcher and/or Opposing Viewpoints. To access, login to the MyMC3 portal. Click the red Library button. Then, click Find Articles & More. Select ‘Current Issues’ next to ‘Databases by Subject’, as shown below:

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Click on CQ Researcher and then click the drop-down menu next to “Browse Topics”. Then select ‘Education’. Scan the list of education topics for ideas. When you click one of these topics, you will get at least one article related to the topic. You can then click one of these articles.

Next, read portions of the article you selected. Identify keywords (search terms) that will help you to narrow or focus your topic. Search terms identified from the article on “No Child Left Behind” from CQ Researcher might include the following:

“no child left behind”; achievement; teachers; school districts; legislation; funding; children; disabilities…

Find additional background information about your topic:

There are excellent articles in a classic 8-volume education reference source available in print in the library that will provide you with greater understanding of your topic, such as the following:

Encyclopedia of Education REF LB15 E47 2003 (8 volumes) at Central Campus

Credo Reference, a database of e-reference books, may also be helpful. Access it by clicking Research and then selecting Reference from the “Choose Your Subject” drop-down menu. Click Credo and then type in your search:

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As before, write down any potential search terms you find to help you to build your search.

Find articles: Search Education Databases

First – think of ways to put your keywords together to form a search:

For example:

If you have synonyms (two words that describe the same idea or are interchangeable for your purposes in your search), use the word "or" between them.

“no child left behind” AND (fund* OR legislation)

If you want to capture two ideas or two keywords, use the word "and" between the keywords, as in the example above.

Access the Education Databases:

• As above, log into the MyMC3 portal and click the red Libraries button.

• Click Find Articles & More and then select Education next to ‘Databases By Subject.’

• Scroll down to use the Education databases, Professional Reference Collection, and ERIC. You may also want to use Academic Search Premier. Search each database individually, using your search terms.

• Click ‘Advanced Search’ just below the search box.

• Type your search terms into the search boxes to begin your search. Remember, AND combines your terms to focus/narrow your search. Use OR to expand your search. Check the full-text box. There are many ways to facet or limit your search – e.g. by date, by subject, by publication, by number of pages, etc. as shown below: You can also limit by number of pages or even by type of publication and by subject as shown below:

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Some databases help you with search terms. Using a subject term or phrase such as “students with disabilities” suggested by the Professional Development Collection database can lead to more (and sometimes more relevant articles.)

If you aren’t finding the articles you need, try using different words. Remember to put ‘OR’ between synonyms for more results. If you’re finding too many results, think of different ways to narrow, such as by articles that have a certain number of pages (click on the basic search again).

Review your search results and click on a title that looks relevant to your search. This detailed record page will verify that the article is not a book review or an editorial, provide an abstract (summary) of the article and bring up the Tools menu which includes Email and Cite links that will help you with citation format. See the example that follows:

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Click the PDF link to print the full article as it appears in the original journal.

Find Credible Websites:

Google to search for websites within a particular domain, such as .gov .org or .edu –

You can also easily set up your search in the Google search box, as follows:

Site:.gov “no child left behind”

Site:.edu “no child left behind”

Cite Your Sources:

• Use the Cite button under the Tools menu in the Education databases. Select the APA style. A citation in APA format will be generated for the article. You will still need to check them to make sure that they are formatted correctly.

• Use the citation generators on the Library home page by clicking Help Zone. The citation box provides links to the Purdue University MLA and APA resources as well as to the citation generators BibMe and EasyBib. These links will be especially helpful with formatting your website citations for your Works Cited page.

Chat on the library site, stop by, email us at refdesk@mc3.edu or call 215-641-6594

We’re here to help you find more articles, help you decide what articles might be best for your topic, and show you tools to help with APA or MLA citation. Please just ask!

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Use the star * to

find multiple forms

of a word. For

example, cultur*

would find articles

using the words

culture or cultural.

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