Library Research
B.Ed Program - Faculty of Education

Kyle Feenstra
Education & Psychology Librarian
Elizabeth Dafoe Library

What we will talk about today:
 

• Where to find resources for research and practicum preparation
   
• Strategies for searching the library catalogue and academic databases
   
• Education Collections at UM Libraries
   
• Citation management options

The Information Landscape

Academic
Articles

Scholarly
Journals

Academic Databases

Library
Catalogue

Google
Scholar

Open Academic
Articles

Pay Wall

Searching
the Library 

 

 

vs.

 

 

Searching
the Internet

Google

Websites & non-academic articles

Resources for Research

Policy Documents
Govt Publications
Statistics & Data

Check multiple sources

Practicum Resources

Where to access the right search engines:

• The Subject Guide for Education will help you identify the resources relevant to your research and show you how to search the Education Collections at Dafoe.
   
• The advanced search of the library catalogue can be used to search for books and articles but it performs better as a search engine for books.
   
• The journal databases identified by the Education Subject Guides and Database A-Z are great places to start your search for articles.
   
• Google Scholar is a great resource as well but does not provide access to materials behind publisher paywalls.  

Searching the Education Collections

Example: Indigenous Texts

Search the library catalogue by location and topic.

Indigenous

Canadian Children's Book Centre Collection

Elizabeth Dafoe Library

Basic Search Techniques

Here are some tips to get better search results in the catalogue and databases.

 

• Combine multiple terms to specify what you are looking for by inserting AND, OR, & NOT.
   
• Put "phrases in quotation marks".
   
• Anticipate multiple word endings with the truncation symbol* as a wild card.
   
• Put (brackets around words) you want searched together when using several search terms. 

Searching the Education Collections

Example: Indigenous Texts

Search the library catalogue by location and topic.

Indigenous OR Aboriginal OR Native

PS*

"Canadian Children's Book Centre Collection"

Elizabeth Dafoe Library

Searching the Education Collections

Example: Indigenous Texts

Browse the collection based on call numbers.

If you find a good book in the catalogue or you know the call number for a topic of interest you can add the call number range to your search and also spend time browsing the books on the shelf. 

Indigenous Religion ...................

History Native Peoples .............

Indigenous Languages .............

Canadian Literature ..................

BL2500 - BL2592

E11 - E143, F1001 - F1145, F1170, F1218 - F1221

PM101 - PM501

PS8001 -  PS8599

Selecting Texts

Age Appropriateness & Reading Levels

• Know you class. Gauge their maturity
• Search book review websites

Browse for books by topic and other parameters using NoveList Plus.

 

Cultural Sensitivity
When choosing books, consider:

• How are people groups are represented?
• Who has authored and legitimized the information and the illustrations of people, their history, and culture? 
• How are power structures represented in both the text and images? 

 

 

Are you presenting Indigenous story-telling or a colonial interpretation of Indigenous culture?

Christopher, N., & Nelson, Jim. (2015). On the shoulder of a giant : An Inuit folktale.

Sjonger, R., & Kalman, Bobbie. (2005). Life of the Powhatan (Native nations of North America). New York: Crabtree Pub.

How are power relationships illustrated in image and text?

Robertson, D., & Henderson, Scott B. (2014). The ballad of Nancy April : Shawnadithit  (Robertson, David, 1977- Tales from Big Spirit).

How do we make space for marginalized perspectives in the classroom? 

Robertson, D., & Flett, Julie. (2016). When we were alone.

How do we teach critical perspectives?

Reading with empathy?

Downie, G., & Lemire, Jeff. (2016). Secret path (Simon & Schuster Canada ed.).

Some Advanced Search Strategies

• Use Subject Terms to find related materials. 
• Compare bibliographies to identify influential authors.
• Consult "Cited By..." lists in ERIC and Google Scholar. 

Monograph Subject Headings

The Library of Congress assigns subject headings for all monograph publications

Article Subject Headings

Databases organize subject headings in a thesaurus.
ERIC offers a comprehensive thesaurus for education.
(See other Education Thesauri.)

Use Bibliographies to Your Advantage

Compare bibliographies to find which authors and publications have influenced your area of research.

Consult "Cited by..." Lists

ERIC and Google Scholar will show you how many times an article has been cited by other publications in that database.

Citation Management

There are many citation management apps available to make the research and writing process easier. 

 

Zotero Workflows

• Create libraries for: 
  • research topics
  • projects / assignments
  • your thesis
• Use the timeline feature to view items in your library chronologically
• Use the MS Word processor integration to:
  • Import / edit references 
  • Import / edit bibliographies

 
Use Zotfile to create off-line library folders on your computer. (Recommended)

APA Style Guides

UM Library copies of recommended APA Guides

Questions?

Kyle Feenstra
Education & Psychology Librarian
Elizabeth Dafoe Library

kyle.feenstra@umanitoba.ca