WRITING 125-9/EDUCATION 115: Education & the New Immigrants
Once you have an author or topic to research, there are several steps you should take to gather the information you will need for your paper.
Always start by using the Wellesley College Online Catalog. You can get to get to the Catalog via the college's Home Page, scroll down to Computing/Library, then to Library, & Library Catalog. Click on Library Catalog.
Under the Research Resources column, click on Databases A-Z, Research Guides by Subject/by Course. There are two helpful sections under the Tips & Tools subheading on the right side of the page. Both Starting Your Research & Citing Sources will provide invaluable assistance once you have begun work on a major paper. For print version citation information, go to the main desk in the Reference Room. Copies of Chicago Manual of Style (15th ed.), MLA Handbook, (6th ed.), and Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA, 5th ed.) are some of the print versions kept there for the convenience of students working on papers in the library who would prefer to use print citation guides.
Other sites of interest would be our new Reference Books Online section and the Interlibrary Loan (ILL) page. [Just a cautionary note about using the WWW --- Literary comments from articles with no designated author, or an author with no stated credentials, should be suspect. Because it is on the Web does not mean the information is accurate!]
FindIt! @ Wellesley (click on the title for more information) is one of our newest features and helps retrieve more full-text articles than ever before. It will also link the user to NExpress, Virtual Catalog, or ILL if our libraries do not have access to the title. NExpress, comprised of a small local consortium of schools, usually provides the fastest service.
To locate books in our collection: Use the Wellesley College Online Catalog. Some searching tips: To find books written by your author, do an author search. For critical evaluations, do a keyword search & enter just the the author's name or the author's name and criticism (e.g. jonathan kozol). Once these titles come up, further book records can be examined by clicking on the subject headings for any of the books listed. A keyword search is a good starting point for any central themes or periods, also. (e.g. american minority education). Further topics can, again, be examined by looking at the subject line on each individual title record.
As you work on your paper and look for resources, you will find there are basically four options available to you ---
Our libraries own a print copy.
Our libraries have the journal title on microfilm.
The article you need is in full text in one of our databases (See the Databases A to Z list).
Our libraries do not have access to the book or journal title. Request via ILL, Virtual Catalog, or Nexpress.
Titles for Background Reading:
Chance to Learn: The History of Race & Education in the United States - Clapp Lib LC3731 .W44.
Culturally Contested Pedagogy: Battles of Literacy & Schooling Between Mainstream Teachers & Asian Immigrant Parents - Clapp Lib LC2632 .L52 2006.
Education in the United States: A Documentary History, 3 vols. - Clapp Lib &/or Reserve LA 205 .C53.
Education in the United States: An Interpretive History - Clapp Lib LA212 .C53.
Encyclopedia of American Education, 3 vols. - Clapp Ref LB17 .U54 2001.
Encyclopedia of Education, 8 vols. - Clapp Ref LB15 .E47 2003.
Encyclopedia of Special Education: A Reference for the Education of the Handicapped & Other Exceptional Children & Adults, 3 vols. - Clapp Ref LC4007 .E53 2000.
Graduating Class: Disadvantaged Students Crossing the Bridge of Higher Education - Clapp Lib LC4069.6 .G66 2006.
Immigrant America: A Portrait - Clapp Lib JV6450 .P67 2006.
Immigrant Children in American Schools: A Classified & Annotated Bibliography With Selected Sources - Clapp Ref Z5814 .I4 C67 (Published in 1976 - Could be useful for earlier writings on this subject but not for current bibliographic information).
Electronic Databases:
To find books not at Wellesley College: Use WorldCat (via FirstSearch) to find books and other materials not here at Wellesley.
Three electronic sources which should provide useful research in education are:
Education Full Text with indexing back to 1983 and full text from 1996 on. This resource contins articles on all aspects of education.
ERIC - Education Journals/Digests which accesses education articles and reports from 1966 on.
Teacher Reference Center provides indexing & abstracts from the 80s on from over 280 teacher & administrator trade journals.
Additional Databases to Try:
Infotrac Onefile provides articles on current events, popular culture, the arts, social science, and sciences.
JSTOR - A collection of humanities, social sciences, & natural science journals from the earliest issues but NOT the latest 5 years. A full-text source.
[Once you decide to print an article, set the preference to PDF Economy for the quickest results. Once the print command has been given, wait for the article to be downloaded. When the JSTOR icon appears on the right side of the page, click on the printer icon directly above the reformatted article].
LexisNexis Academic - This resource provides full-text articles from newspapers world-wide. Most date from the 80s to the present.
Social Services Abstracts has articles from the 80s to the present on social welfare and policy topics plus community development pieces.
The 2008 Statistical Abstract The Statistical Abstract of the United States, published since 1878, is the authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States. This link provides the lastest information from the U.S. Census.
U.S. Census Bureau Click on Subjects A-Z at the top of this page for Census information on your topics of interest.
If you are still having difficulties once you have begun work on your papers, please contact me and set up an appointment for a one-on-one session.
Jacqueline B. Fitzpatrick
Research & Instruction Specialist
Room 247 - (781)283-3497
jfitzpat@wellesley.edu
February 13, 2008
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