1. LIBRARY RESEARCH IN
EDUCATION
Jennifer Thiessen
Liaison Librarian, Education
James A. Gibson Library
September 2013

2. The James A. Gibson
Library
Schmon Tower
Floors 2, 5-10
Or anywhere…
PatioLSE002 by JISC

3. Goals for today’s session
• Services (a very brief look)
• MY LIBRARY ACCOUNT
• RACER (Interlibrary Loan)
• Study Space
• RefWorks/Citation management
• Getting started with Library Research
• Finding books and ebooks
• Finding journal articles
• Where to find more…

4. What library services do you want to
know about?

8. My Library Account
• See items you have signed out
• Renew
• Place holds
• See if you have any fines
• log in to library databases
from off campus

9. Photocopying Services
• Photocopy cards
• Colour and transparency copying
• Posters, photos, banners and other large format prints
(5th Floor)

10. RACER (http://brocku.ca/library/ill)
• Interlibrary loan system
• Submit requests online for articles, books, book chapters
that Brock does not have
• Books: pick them up and return them at our Circulation
Desk
• Articles/book chapters: Get link to online copy emailed to
you (link expires after 5 views or 21 days)

12. Study spaces on library floors
• Floors 8, 9 and 10: SILENT STUDY
• One-person study rooms; first come, first serve
• Floors 5 and 7: low level talking
• Graduate Study room
• Floor 6
• Swipe card access
• Study carrels, bookable meeting room, lockers

14. Citation management
•Save references to books and articles from catalogue
and databases.
•Automatically create bibliographies or works cited pages
in APA style format.

15. database
reference(s)
* optional *
produce bibliography
bibliographic
management
software
export
The concept:

17. How do you feel about library
research?

18. Library Research in Education
• Books
• Journals
• Research Guide
Hint: Start with the Research tab.

19. • Use the Catalogue to find books (both print and e-books)
• Use the Databases to find journal articles
• Use SuperSearch to search it all
3/365 Research Aspirations by catspyjamasnz

23. Catalogue Practice
• Go to the Library Catalogue. Do a keyword search on
narrative inquiry. Now do a keyword search on “narrative
inquiry.” Why is there a difference in results?
• Do the same search in Super Search
• What changes?

24. Click on Education to
see a list of databases
for that subject area.
Click on Research,
then Databases.

25. Finding Journal
articles
• Use library databases
• Try Google Scholar
For finding info
about research
methodology

28. • Looks for full text in other locations (Does not guarantee
full text).

29. • Use Google Scholar from
the Quick Search toolbar
OR set up Library Links in
Settings
• Why use Google
Scholar?
• Another database
• Find works that cite a
particular article/book
• See who the important
authors/researchers are
• Watch: Get Better Results
with Google Scholar

30. Database Practice
• Find the Education databases.
• Select Education Research Complete.
• Search “international students.” How are the results
arranged? How can you limit your results to peer
reviewed journal articles?

31. More Search Tips
• Use quotation marks for phrases
• “grounded theory”; “educational leadership”
• Use * to search for alternate endings
• Canad* = Canada, Canadian, etc.; reflect* = reflect, reflection, reflective, etc.
• Use synonyms
• Teenager, adolescent, adolescence, teens, etc.
• Too many results?
• Use limits (peer-reviewed, date, language, etc.)
• Add additional keywords; get more specific
• Too few results?
• Remove one or more keywords
• Go broader (e.g. search Canada instead of Ontario)

32. Your Research Guide
• Review of what we’ve covered today and more

35. Summary
 Information about library services for graduate students can be found
here:
 http://www.brocku.ca/library/services-lib/grad-students
 The most important services you should know about are:
 My Library Account
 RACER
 RefWorks
 Library Resources:
 Library catalogue – books
 Library databases – journal articles
 Research Guide
 Contact me if you need help:
 jthiessen@brocku.ca