SPED 5300: Intro to Special Education Guide
Overview
The resources listed here have been selected for the work you are doing in this class as well as for future research in your graduate program. This is by no means a complete list of resources you might need to consult. Please ask for assistance if you have any trouble locating information on your topic.
Note that you should keep track of key words and terms that retrieve relevant information. Keywords which work successfully in one source may or may not work well in another source. You may have to try multiple terms to find what you are looking for.
The sources on this list have some full text, but not everything is available in full text online. You will need to use the Interlibrary Loan or Document Delivery service to get materials not available in full text.
Please feel free to contact me if you have questions. michele.behr@wmich.edu Phone:269-387-5611
Journal Articles
ERIC
The Educational Resources Information Center indexes and abstracts over 2,000 journals and more than 450,000 reports in education and related fields. Some documents are available full text, the rest are on microfiche in the Education Library. Covers 1966-present. Updated monthly.
This is the FirstSearch version, also available from CSA and from the US government. Tutorial This is the most comprehensive source for journal articles and a variety of reports and documents. Most ERIC Documents published since 1993 are available full text.
Education Abstracts Indexes more than 700 English-language periodicals in education. Coverage: 1983 to the present, abstracts from 1994. Updated weekly. A much smaller database than ERIC, but it includes more current materials at the prtesent time.
PsycINFO Psychological Abstracts BF 1 .P65 (General Stacks)
Covers world-wide literature in psychology and related disciplines. Journal articles, technical reports, books, book chapters, and dissertations are included. Coverage: 1887-present. Updated weekly.
Use the Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms for subject words: BF1 .P65x 2007 (Education Lib. and Waldo Ref.)
Social Sciences Abstracts Indexes over 600 periodicals in anthropology, economics, ethnic studies, feminist studies, geography, human services, international relations, law and criminology, police science, political science, population studies, psychology, public administration, public health, social work, sociology, urban studies, and related social science subjects. Coverage: indexing from 1983 and abstracts from 1994. Updated weekly.
Details A good source for topics related to sociology, and criminal justice.
ProQuest Research Library Indexes popular magazines, scholarly journals, newspapers and trade publications in a wide range of subject areas, including business, education, humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Full-text available for over 2,500 journals. Coverage from 1971. A very good general purpose database. This is a good choice for topics that are more interdisciplinary.
Books/Electronic Books
Books To search for books of a particular title or by a particular author use Quicksearch or Basic Search in WestCat, WMU's online catalog. To locate books at WMU about a particular topic use Keyword searching in WestCat. Electronic books (e-books) can also be located through WestCat.
WorldCat Comprehensive catalog of books and other materials in libraries around the world. Contains millions of records in hundreds of languages. Nonbook materials include (among other publication formats) the titles of journals and magazines, manuscripts, maps, electronic resources, websites, computer programs, music scores, films, slides, sound recordings, conference proceedings, and videotapes. Items located through WorldCat must be requested through Interlibrary Loan unless they are also listed in the WMU Libraries catalog. You may also use the "Libraries" icon to see if any local libraries have the book you are interested in.
Tests and Measurements
Mental Measurements Yearbook Contains overviews, descriptions and one or more reviews of many English-language standardized tests of educational skills, personality, psychological traits, and related areas. Entries also give references to the print edition (s).
This subscription is limited to eight simultaneous users. Please logout when finished. You can use this resource to help you locate tests, profiles, and other assessment tools. If you want to use one of the tests reviewed here you may have to purchase it.
Document Delivery and Interlibrary Loan
Interlibrary Loan Set up a username & password here to submit automated requests from online indexes. Allow up to 2 weeks for materials to arrive.
Details Use the same account to request materials WMU has in its collections. Articles will be scanned and sent electronically.
Citing Sources
APA Style Guides (American Psychological Association ) APA Formatting and Style Guide (Purdue)
APA Style (Guide for Citing Sources from Ohio State)
Electronic References - APA Style. These sources should answer basic questions about citing sources. You may also need to consult the full manual for types of citations you can not find here.
Ask A Librarian
Michele D. Behr
michele.behr@wmich.edu
269-387-5611
Last updated: October 2006