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Now that you've had some practice recognizing the different types of articles, this video will show you how you can search for peer reviewed empirical research or theoretical articles using library databases.  Title slide

Two library databases in particular have filtering options that will help you limit to peer reviewed empirical research articles. These databases are called Eric and PsychInfo.

Eric is one of the best databases to search for topics related to classroom teaching and instruction, and is particularly useful for topics in the curriculum, teaching, learning and leadership track. It may have some information that is useful for the higher ed admin track, but typically does not have much that benefits the organizational leadership track.

PsychInfo is a psychology database and can apply to topics in all three tracks if they have a psychological angle or aspect like organizational psychology, testing effects, or mindfulness. 

  
You can access the list of education databases by going to your Canvas library portal, Selecting Library Quick Links and then clicking on the education databases linked.  Library Portal in Canvas course
We'll start our search with Eric. You can access Eric from the link within the key resources box.  Education Research Guide.

On the advanced search screen of the database enter your keywords at the top of the page. Then scroll down to the section titled Limit your results. Check the box next to scholarly, peer reviewed journals and from the publication type Choose Reports Research.

Once you run your search, your results should be limited to research articles. You can double check by making sure that the peer reviewed and publication type reports research limiters are showing up here on the left. This should limit your results to peer reviewed research articles.

However, sometimes the filters aren't perfect and non-peer reviewed source slips in. You can double check that you found a scholarly source by using the UlrichsWeb database, as demonstrated in the previous video about how to recognize a peer reviewed empirical study.

ERIC Database. Example search for "First generation college students"

"here on the left" refers to the filter options. 
Next, I'll show you how to filter for empirical studies in the PsychInfo database. Again, you can locate PsychInfo from the key resources box in the center of the Education guide.  Education Research Guide.
Again, you can enter your search terms at the top of the page. This time you'll notice different filtering options when you scroll down the page. In PsychInfo look for the methodology section and choose empirical study from the options there. Using this filter should limit your results to just empirical studies. Remember to double check that these studies are published in a peer reviewed journal by using UlrichsWeb.  PsychInfo database. Example search for: Students and Mindfulness
Some of you may be able to find all of your sources through Eric and PsychInfo, but many of you will need to use other sources like Education Research, Complete or the Social Sciences Premium Collection.  Education Research Guide.
In all databases besides Eric and PsychInfo, you can try adding search terms related to research to help filter your results. You'll need to use the checklist and evaluation factors covered in the last video to determine whether or not the article you've located is an empirical study. Although this may seem difficult at first, within a couple of weeks, you'll feel much more comfortable making the distinction between empirical and non empirical articles.

In all other databases, you can add terms related to research studies to your searches:

  • study/studies
  • qualitative/quanitative
  • empirical
  • method/methodology
  • participants
Similar advice applies for finding theoretical articles. There are no filters that you can use in any of the databases to limit just to theoretical articles. So instead you can try adding certain search terms or keywords in addition to search terms related to your problem of practice to help you limit to more theoretical based articles. Some of the best options are outlined on this slide. 

In all databases, you can add terms related to theoretical articles to your searches:

  • concepts/conceptual
  • framework
  • model
  • theory
  • theoretical foundation
If you've tried searching with these terms and you're still struggling to find enough theoretical articles, there are a couple other things you can try. One is to make sure that you try the Social Science Premium Collection. As a larger database, sometimes you'll have more luck finding theoretical articles here than in Eric or Education Research Complete.  Education Research Guide.

When you're running your search in the Social Science Premium Collection, make sure that you're using terms like theory, conceptual framework. If you're still finding a lot of empirical results, you can try to boost the theoretical ones to the top of your results by clicking on advanced search and entering those keywords like theory or conceptual framework linked by or into the top box.

And instead of choosing to search anywhere, look for those within the title of the publication document title. Make sure that you also have keywords related to your problem of practice and for the theoretical search, it may have to be broader. So instead of looking at another dimension related to first generation college students, I may need to look broader at just first generation college students in general, and then the idea of theory or framework in the document title.

As I mentioned, searching within the document title instead of anywhere within the document, can try to help boost some of those more theoretical results to the top of your list. Make sure that you are again limiting to your scholarly, peer reviewed journals when you run this search and you'll see that a conceptual framework and theories are appearing right at the top of my results now.

 Social Science Premium Collection example search (theory or conceptual framework) in Document title AND "first generation college students"
Need help? Have questions? Ask a librarian. You can contact me directly at l.homol@northeastern.edu 

Closing Slide: Ask a Librarian library.northeastern.edu/ask

l.homol@northeastern.edu