Indexes journal articles, books, and conference papers covering all levels of education from early childhood to higher education, and all areas including curriculum, administration, policy, funding, testing, and related social issues. Indexes over 1,500 journals, with full text for more than 750 journals.
*Education Research Complete database has more coverage for scholarly journals published outside the United States.
Indexes articles from education journals and books. Topics include teaching methods, multicultural/ethnic education, alternative and comparative education, testing, policy issues, teacher evaluation, school administration, higher education, and more. Selective access to full-text articles from about 350 journals. Dates of coverage: 1983 to date
The world's largest source of education information, with indexing and detailed descriptions of over 1.4 million journal articles, books, documents, research reports, surveys, curriculum and teaching guides, instructional materials, position papers, program overviews, conference papers, and other resource materials. All areas of education research and practice are included. Many items include full text. Maintained by the U.S. Dept. of Education. Dates of Coverage: 1966 to date
*Although using a different design, ERIC from the US Department of Education is available after graduation.
Indexes scholarly literature in the psychological, social, behavioral, and health sciences; covers journals, books, reviews, and dissertations. Dates of coverage: 1880s–present.
Scholarly literature in the sciences, health and medicine, social sciences, arts, and humanities and proceedings of international conferences, symposia, seminars, colloquia, workshops, and conventions. Includes cited reference searching across many databases. Search all databases in Web of Science (includes Medline and BIOSIS, direct link for on-campus users). Dates of coverage: 1965 to present.
Scholarly literature in the sciences, health and medicine, social sciences, arts, and humanities and proceedings of international conferences, symposia, seminars, colloquia, workshops, and conventions. Includes cited reference searching across many databases. Search all databases in Web of Science (includes Medline and BIOSIS, direct link for on-campus users). Dates of coverage: 1965 to present.
Multidisciplinary - good for nearly all subjects. Scholarly and trade journals, popular magazines, newspapers, conference proceedings, book reviews, and more.
If you use Google Scholar while off-campus, you can avoid hitting publisher paywalls by adding Oberlin to your library links list.
Citations and abstracts for dissertations and theses on all subjects from around the world. Previews and full text available for some titles.
When you're in a database, your results will include different types of articles--all of which can help you with your research in different ways. Two common types with usefulness for this class include:
These articles share the results of original research in which the authors collected data. Their authors will describe their research method and findings, including results, data, and ideas for future research. In the article's abstract, look for words like "study" or "studies" and information on the population studied and the findings.
Review articles are written to provide an overview or synthesis of multiple studies around a topic or area of research. They may have a similar structure to empirical articles, but they will describe what others have found. They will not collect their own data or run a study. In the abstract, look for terms like review or literature review.
Practitioner articles are written by educators in the field (and sometimes by researchers) as practical guidance for other educators. They discuss classroom experiences, share teaching tips, and are usually short and have a conversational tone. Although they are not reporting on studies or reviewing the scholarly literature, they may provide classroom context for your topic or language to use in your searches.
Many databases on the library's website include the full text of articles. Click on the PDF or HTML icon to download the article.
If full text is not available, click the Find It or 360 Link icons to see if there is access from another source.
Look for displayed for each item in the library's databases. In Google Scholar, look for Find Full Text @ Oberlin. Access via publisher websites is generally limited to subscribers.
Full text is not always accessible for immediate download. The 360 Link may lead to an intermediary page offering access through Interlibrary loan. If you have trouble, consult the library staff.