Finding
Journal Articles for the
Field of Education
Julie Hannaford
[email protected]
(416) 978-1702
Getting Help:
1. Come and visit us in the library!! Come and talk to us about your question
at the Reference Desk – ground floor of the library
2. Email a question to OISE librarians at: [email protected]
3. Use Live Help – found on the library home page
(http://www.library.utoronto.ca) - click on the ‘Chat’ icon in the lower-right
corner. Current hours are: 1pm – 5pm Monday - Friday
How to find the Educational Indexes/Databases:
1. Start at the library home page: http://www.library.utoronto.ca
2. Click ‘Let us recommend the best databases for your topic’
3. Choose ‘Education’ from the drop-down menu that appears and click ‘go’
4. You will see a list of indexes on the left and a list of other educational
resources (encyclopedias, etc.) on the right:
5. The indexes are listed in terms of relevance to the field
6. Click on the blue link to access the database that you wish to search
How to search ERIC (ScholarsPortal):
1. After following the above steps, click on the ‘ERIC’ link (you can also select
ERIC from the ‘Frequently Used Article Databases’ menu found on the library
home page)
2. We recommend that you always use ‘Advanced Search’ (the green tab)
3. Write out your research question and identify the key concepts
4. Identify synonyms for your key concepts
5. Enter your search terms into the database in the following manner:
a. Enter different topics into different rows
b. Enter synonyms in the same row
6. Click ‘Search’
Example: You would like to find articles on literacy for boys:
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Key concepts
Synonyms
TIPS:
- If you need to add a new row, click on ‘Add Row’
- You can use the asterisk (*) if you want to truncate (use the * to take the place
of alternative endings for a word). For example: education* will find education,
educational, etc.
- You can set limitations on date range, publication type, etc., if you wish by using
the drop down fields that appear at the bottom of the search page:
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7. Filtering Results: use the tabs at the top to look at your results according to
the format of your results:
8. Checking for availability:
a. Accessing journal articles using the ‘SFX get it! Button:
The SFX get it! button will give you the following information:
 If the article is online/available in electronic format, it will supply
links to the full-text article
 If the article is not available electronically, it will supply a link to
the library catalogue – you can check to see if it is available in
paper format instead
 It will give you more information about the journal itself (whether
or not it is peer-reviewed; what its impact factor is, etc.)
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b. Accessing ERIC documents
 ERIC documents are non-journal content – usually reports,
conference papers and school board documents
 You can tell an ERIC document as the Accession Number
will begin ‘ED’, for example: ED461656
 Access them using the ‘Full-Text Linking’ link:
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9. Choosing multiple databases:
1. Rather than searching one database, you may wish to search two or more
at the same time.
2. From the search screen, click on ‘Specific Databases’:
3. Click on the checkbox(es), next to the database(s) that you would like to
search – PsycInfo or Proquest Education Journals, for example.
4. Once you have made your selections, click on ‘Continue to search’, which
can be found at the top or bottom of the page.
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Searching Education Full Text (Wilson)
1. You can access Education Full Text either by clicking your way through to
it using the ‘Let us recommend the best databases for your topic’ link (see
page 1 of this handout) or you can do the following:
a. From the library home page: http://www.library.utoronto.ca click on
the ‘All e-resources’ tab:
b. Enter ‘education full text’ into the text box and click ‘search’. You
should then be able to click through to ‘Education Full Text’
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2. Once Wilson has opened, then select ‘Education Full Text’ from the list of
databases:
3.
4.
5.
6.
In the text box(es), you can enter a search term and its synonyms
It is important to enter different concepts into different rows
Select ‘keywords’ from the drop-down menu at the end of each row
If you wish to, you can limit the date range using the ‘Limit Dates to’
section.
7. Once you have entered your search terms, click on ‘Start’
Example: You would like to find articles that assess boys’ literacy skills
Key concepts
Synonyms
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ProQuest Education Journals:


ProQuest Education has a lot of overlap with Education Full Text and
ERIC itself.
You can search it via ScholarsPortal, therefore, the search techniques are
the same as when we searched the ERIC database.
CBCA Education




This database can be useful if you are seeking Canadian material.
Use the defaults of ‘Citation and indexing’ in the drop-down menu.
If you put two words together in a search box, ProQuest will assume a
phrase.
If you use more than two words, you must enclose the phrase in double
quotes
If you would like to find a specific article:
1. Start at the library home page (http://www.library.utoronto.ca)
2. Click on ‘Article Finder’
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3. Enter as much of the citation information as is known, then click on ‘Go’.
4. The more information you can enter, the more specific the search will be.
Example:
Journal Title: Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences
Date: 2005
Article Title: Debriefing: Enhancing Experiential Learning
Author: Walker, Jane
Volume: 97
Issue: 1
Start Page: 73
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Proquest Dissertations and Theses – Full Text:
1. At the library home page (http://www.library.utoronto.ca), click on ‘All eresources’
2. Ensure that the radio button is set to ‘starting with’
3. Enter the index title: ‘Proquest Dissertations and Theses’
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4. Click on the link that appears and you will be launched into the Proquest
database
5. Enter search terms into the boxes and select the appropriate field from the
drop down menu
Example:
AU = Phillips, David Wayne
Document Title = Shifting the Gaze in Higher Education – The Importance of
Physical Education to Critical Theory
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