Distance Education Services
You may be out of sight, but you're not out of mind! As a UWEC student you can search our library catalog, read e-books, use online journal and newspaper databases, have books or journal articles sent to you, and get help from a librarian. Read the DE Library Services brochure for details and to contact our Distance Education librarian, Jill Markgraf.
The basics:
- Register for DE Services - fill out this form once every semester that you qualify for DE services. This allows us to mail materials to you.
- Read through the DE library services webpage.
- Find out how to have library books and articles sent to you.
- Learn how to access our services remotely.
Education Research
Check out this guide for tips on doing education research, including tips on using the online catalog to find books and reference materials. If you're not sure what a literature review looks like, there's a good example here. In addition, the PowerPoint presentation used in our library session can be found here.
1. Pick Topic & Get Background Information
These sources can help you identify a topic for your research. They can provide an overview of a specific issue and suggest other materials which might be useful for your research.
- International Encyclopedia of Education (2nd ed.); REFERENCE LB15 .I569 1994
- Encyclopedia of Education (2nd ed.), 2003; REFERENCE LB15 .E47 2003
- Encyclopedia of Educational Research; REFERENCE LB15 .48 1992
- Encyclopedia of American Education (2nd ed.), 2001; REFERENCE LB17 .U54 2001
- Encyclopedia of Special Education : a Reference for the Education of the Handicapped and Other Exceptional Children and Adults; REFERENCE LC4007 .E53 2000
2. Use Books to Find Detailed Information
- McIntyre Library Online Catalog (Voyager): Identify books by topic, title or author; identify journals and magazines owned by the Library. To find journal articles on your topic, use the databases listed in the section below. Remember to cross-search subject headings as you find appropriate materials.
- UW System Libraries (Universal Borrowing): Universal Borrowing (UB) is a free service that allows UWEC students, faculty and staff to borrow circulating materials from any other UW System library. UB is fast -- most items arrive in 2-4 days. For more information, read this guide.
- MORE Library Consortium: MORE is a consortium of libraries in Western Wisconsin sharing resources totaling more than a million items. You can search the online catalog to find materials or find additional information at any of the MORE member libraries.
3. Find Education Articles and Journals for Current Information
The library provides you with access to several databases specific to the field of education. General databases, such as Academic Search Premier may also prove useful, as will some in other fields -- think about how your topic spans disciplines. Each database uses its own subject terms, so the keywords that create a successful search in one database may not work in another database. Be ready with synonyms and use the database thesaurus to check your terms for the most accurate, successful searches.
Education Research Complete: This database covers areas of curriculum instruction as well as administration, policy, funding, and related social issues, provides indexing and abstracts for more than 1,730 journals and contains full text for nearly 830 journals.
- Education Full-Text: Education Full Text brings you comprehensive coverage of an international range of English-language periodicals, monographs and yearbooks. Full text of articles cover to cover, from hundreds of journals, make this a great source for research.
- ERIC (EBSCO): ERIC contains indexes and abstracts from education and education-related journals and from professional papers, reports, and documents. Journal articles have an “EJ number” and documents have an "ED number.” We have most EDs on microfilm on the 2nd floor.
- Academic Search Premier - Our new upgrade from Academic Search Elite! A multi-disciplinary database containing full text for more than 4,500 journals, including more than 3,700 peer-reviewed titles. In addition to the full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for all 8,250 journals in the collection.
- ComDisDome: A Communication Science and Disorders database. May be a good choice if you're doing a special education related topic. This database is a little harder to use and understand, so if you need help, just let me know!
- PsycInfo: Includes information about the psychological aspects of education, and can be a good choice for finding studies. TIPS: Use the thesaurus to find an exact descriptor. You can limit your search to "Quantitative Study" in the advanced search screen under "Methodology."
4. Use Reference Lists/Works Cited/Bibliographies
When you find that perfect chapter, article or reference work, use its list of cited sources and try to track down those items! Citation Linker will search all of our databases and the online catalog to see if we have a single article.
- Citation Linker - allows you to input the basic details from an article citation and then links you to the article online, if available. It is a powerful tool for tracking down references cited in bibliographies, by professors, and online.
- ONLY fill out these sections on the form:
- Journal Title
- Volume and Issue (or Date)
- Article Start Page
