Measures of Central Tendency: Mean, Median and Mode
EDCI.500.Coffman.Summer.2012
1. Research Skills:
EDCI 500
Laura Berberian
Stafford Campus Reference Librarian
lberberi@umw.edu
2. Developing a Topic
• Topic should not be too broad or too narrow
• Use a thesaurus in a research database, such
as ERIC, to look up synonyms of your search
terms
• Define the scope of your topic-who are your
subjects? Example: adolescent male readers
3. Evaluating Sources
• Credibility- what are the author’s credentials?
• Accuracy-are there errors? Disproven
theories?
• Currency-outmoded information
• Bias-is the author affiliated with a corporation
or political organization?
4. • Online access to thousands of scholarly
journal articles, magazines, and newspapers
• 380,000 items in the library’s collection
• Access to books and eBooks
• Online subject guides
• Interlibrary loan (to borrow items from other
libraries)
8. Education Research Complete
•Place words in
quotation marks to
search for an exact
phrase
•From the drop-down
menu, you can search
within the abstract or
entire text of an article
•Use an * to search for
multiple word endings
•Limit to “full text” and
“scholarly peer-
reviewed journals”
•limit by date and
language
10. Education Research Complete: Search Results
•You can email,
save and print
articles
•View the
reference citation
by clicking on the
yellow paper icon
11. Education Full Text
•Use “Advanced Search”
•Select “full text” and “Scholarly (Peer Reviewed)”
•Limit search by publication type
13. Getting to an Article
• Click on “Locate Article” within a database to
search all of our other databases for that
article
• Search the Journal Finder for the Journal Title
14. Searching the Library Catalog:
Advanced Search
Search by subject, title,
author, etc.
Limit search to
books available at
the Stafford
Campus-“Stafford
Stacks”
16. What if my materials are at the main campus Library?
What if UMW doesn’t have what I need?
• Use interlibrary loan (ILLiad) to request materials not located
at the Stafford Library
– Create an online ILLiad Account
– Submit requests through Library’s website
– Request books, articles, dissertations
– Books are free
– $2 fee for articles located at Simpson Library
– Delivered to Stafford Library
17. Searching the Web
• Search by domain: site:.edu, site:.gov or
site:.org for educational, government, and
NGO websites
• In Google Scholar, you can search for items in
UMW Libraries’ collection by going to
“Preferences” and typing “University of Mary
Washington” in the Library Links search box
• Click “Save Preferences”
18. Need help? Have Questions?
• Come to the Library
– Mondays – Thursdays: 1 p.m. - 9 p.m.
– Fridays: 1 p.m. - 7 p.m.
– Saturdays: 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.
• Contact the Library Staff
– stafflib@umw.edu
– 540-286-8025
– IM: cgpslibrary
• Set up a Research Appointment
– lberberi@umw.edu
– 540-286-8057
– IM: staffordlibrarian