Special Education (SPED) Program: Databases

• From the Arnold Bernhard Library homepage
• Click on Databases on the left hand side
• Scroll down and click on LexisNexis Academic
• Click on the arrow key next to Search by Subject by Subject or Topic
• Under Legal, select Federal and State Cases or Federal Statutes and Regulations (see below)

To begin:

• From the Library’s homepage, click on Databases
• Scroll down to PsycINFO and click on it
• Type in keywords or use subject terms from the Thesaurus 
• Then Limit your results to:
     Publication Year – the years to be searched
     Check off Limit to Peer Reviewed
     Check off English
     Scroll down and set other limits as needed, for instance Age Groups or Methodology (Limits can be changed during a search by reviewing options in left margin)
• Under Methodology, select Qualitative Study or Quantitative Study
• Click on Search button
• On the left hand side Limit by Source Type check Academic Journals
• Some of these articles could be both qualitative and quantitative.  When you click on the article title scroll down and check under methodology
•  Click on printer icon to print the record.
• Click on Linked Full Text or PDF Full Text for the full article
• Click on Check for Full Text to determine availability at Quinnipiac if a full text link is not available.
• If an article is on point, click on the author's name to view their other writing
• Click on Search History above results list and Print Search History (this is your record of the search terms and strategy used in a particular session)
• Submit an interlibrary loan request for any article we do not have

Click here to enter PsycINFO

The Library offers two versions of the ERIC Database.  The Federal Government version is free and accessible to all.  While at Quinnipiac our journals will be linked from the references either directly from ERIC or pasting the title of the article into Library OneSearch. This version does not work with RefWorks, our citation management program.

The EBSCO ERIC is available to all members of the QU community but not after leaving Quinnipiac.  Its advantages are:

• linking to QU journals is straightforward - has the same interface as Academic Search Complete, PsycINFO, SocINDEX
• it works with RefWorks
• thesaurus terms can be integrated into a search strategy for more precision   

The ERIC Resources in Education database using the EBSCO interface which allows easy import into RefWorks citation manager.
ERIC is a comprehensive database of education research and information. Includes indexing of ERIC documents and over 600 education journals.

To begin:

• From the Library's homepage, Click on Databases
• Scroll down to ERIC(EBSCO) and click on it
• Type in keywords or use Thesaurus
• Then Limit your results to:
• Check off Limit to Peer Reviewed
• Under Journal or Document, select Journal Articles (EJ)
• Under Publication Type, select Numerical/Quantitative Data
• Click Search
• If you need Qualitative Data, type in terms and add the term "Qualitative Research.

A comprehensive database of education research and information. Includes indexing of ERIC documents and over 600 education journals. 

This is the primary resource for the field of education.  It provides citations and abstracts of journal articles and the full-text of many documents addressing education research and practice.  All types and levels of education are included dating back to 1966.  ERIC is a free Internet database available from the U.S. Department of Education. 

Click here to enter ERIC. 

A search can be limited to journal articles only and a particular span of years.  Pay close attention to the year of publication since the most recent references do not necessarily appear first; the listing is by relevance.  Also, note the Descriptors which are located below the abstract for additional keywords.

Please note that the Bernhard Library does not own all of the journals within the ERIC database so you will need to use the Direct Link option provided by ERIC or copy and paste the article title into Library OneSearch (note last bullet point) to determine availability.  If the journal is not owned by Quinnipiac, submit an Interlibrary Loan request.

To begin searching:

• From the Library's homepage, click on Databases and then Education
• Click on ERIC Resources in Education
• Type in keyword(s) or search the Thesaurus for Scope Note (definition) and Broader, Narrower and Related Terms
• Check off Peer reviewed only
• Do not check off Full-Text Available on ERIC - will miss out on QU available journal articles
• Click Search
• Now use the left margin to focus/limit the search
  • Limit Publication Date
  • Limit to Descriptor(s) - terms assigned by ERIC
  • Limit Publication Type to Journal Articles or Numerical/Quantitative Data other Types as needed
  • Limit Education Level(s)
  • If you need Qualitative Data, type in terms and add the term "Qualitative Research".
• Review the article citations, paying close attention to year of publication
• Click on Title of article to read Full Abstract
• For articles of interest, note descriptors
• ***Is the full-text article available?  Click on "Direct link" in the gray box to the right of the article title.  Click on the link to leave Eric.  If the link does not work, copy the article title and paste it into the Library OneSearch box on the Library homepage.  The article will appear at the top of the list and indicate full text online, if the text is not available please submit an interlibrary loan request. 

Please Note:  ERIC is free and you do not need Quinnipiac to access it, but while you are a Quinnipiac community member, please use the Bernhard Library website or this Library Guide to enter ERIC.  Doing this will provide direct linking to any full text journal articles which are part of the library collection. .

Click here to enter ERIC.

Try some of these suggestions to identify better search results. 

• Start with keywords
   
• Remember the singular and plural of a word may yield different search results, therefore use the * (asterisk symbol) after the root of the word and it will find all words with that root.  For example, crim* will find crime, crimes, criminal, criminals, criminology, etc., but note that it will also find Crimea if in the database.
   
• Use these connectors when appropriate:  and, or
   
• Use quotes around phrases
   
• Check for database options to limit results, such as language, peer-reviewed, article, etc.
•  
• Read abstract of article for a summary
   
• Recognize and incorporate database subject headings
   
• Use Ctrl F to search a word or phrase in an article 
   
• Click on author's name(s) for their other articles
   
• Use the references or works cited or bibliography to identify additional articles
   
• If there is an HTML or text version of the full article, the references may be hyperlinked