University of New Haven
300 Boston Post Road
West Haven
CT
06516
1-800 DIAL-UNH or 1-800-342-5864
Reference & Circulating Materials
Government Documents
Interlibrary Loan
Journals
Databases
Internet Resources
The Marvin K. Peterson Library has a strong collection for teaching and research in the field of education. This guide presents a selection of useful resources, both ours and the Internet sources we list. Use the library catalog to find more resources, and search the Internet -- carefully and critically -- for additional websites. Other library guides may also be useful. For a good overview of library research and resources, take the Virtual Reference Tour. You can also come to the Information Desk for assistance with your research, call us at (203) 932-7189 or e-mail us. For help writing papers, consult the Center for Learning Resources writing lab in Maxcy Hall.
Note: This online guide contains direct links to databases and websites. To locate any of the sites listed if you have printed out this guide, simply type in the name of the site in Google or another search engine to get to the site you want.
Go to the Peterson Library home page and take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with it. If you start at the UNH website, click on Library in the top middle. All the links for accessing library materials and services are on the left. The most important are the ones for the catalog, databases, journals, and library guides, but a quick look at all will be time well spent.
Use the Library Catalog to find circulating and reference materials, including books, audio-visual holdings, government documents, and periodical titles. (For periodical articles, see the Journals section.) Our catalog uses the Library of Congress (LC) classification system and subject headings. LC assigns call numbers (letters and numbers) according to the book's primary subject. Most books about education will be in the L call number area.
Choose the type of search you want by selecting from among the many options offered: keyword, subject, author, title, etc. Then place the cursor in the find this box and type in the words you want to search.
Look for search tips at the bottom of the catalog search page. For more detailed search strategies, consult our guide on Using the UNH Library Catalog or take our interactive Online Library Catalog Tutorial.
Reference and Circulating Books
Reference materials, such as encyclopedias, dictionaries, and statistical compilations are a good place to start research. They are kept in the reference stacks through the glass doors on the library's entry level and can be used only in the library. Circulating materials are shelved in open stacks on the second and third levels of the library and may be borrowed. The following is a sampling of the books available. Ref. before the call number means that the book is kept in the Reference area.
Academic Achievement Challenge: What Really Works in the Classroom? LB2822.8.C49 2000
Adventure of Learning. LA132 .T64
Besieged: School Boards and the Future of Education Politics. LB2831 .B49 2005
Charter School Quality and Parental Decision Making with School Choice. HB1.A2 N3 no.11252; also online via catalog or click here.
Effect of Schooling and Ability on Achievement Test Scores. HB1.A2 N3 no.9881; also online via catalog or click here.
International Encyclopedia of Higher Education. Ref. LB15 .I57
Peterson's Guide to Four-Year Colleges. Ref. L901 .P447. Permanent Reserve: ask at the Circulation Desk.
Older copies in the regular reference and circulating collections under same call number.
Peterson's Guide to Graduate Programs in Business, Education, Health, Information Studies, Law & Social Work. Ref. L901 .P459. Permanent Reserve: ask at the Circulation Desk. Older copies in the circulating collection under same call number.
Praxis Series. We have the following study guides available from the Educational Testing Service (ETS):
Teaching Ten to Fourteen Year Olds. LB1025.3.S74 1998
U.S. News and World Report: America's Best Colleges. Kept at Information Desk. Ref. LB2331.63.A46
2004 Brown Center Report on American Education: How Well are American Students Learning?: With Studies of NAEP Math Items, Middle School Math Teachers, and the Revamped Blue Ribbon Schools Awards. LB3051 .L68 2004
♦ Juvenile Literature Collection:
The library has a juvenile literature collection. Call numbers begin with JUV. The library catalog shows the location as Juvenile Literature Collection - Upper Level after Zs. The books are shelved at the end of the call numbers (after the Zs) on the top floor.
The Marvin K. Peterson Library has been a Federal Depository Library since 1971. As a U.S. Federal Depository Library, we currently receive about a third of Government Printing Office (GPO) publications.
Our collection includes a substantial number of ERIC (Education Resources Information Center) microfiche, educational reports and kits for teachers. The library has the print index Research in Education (1966-1974), continued as Resources in Education (1975-1990; 1998-1999). These are shelved on the third floor: Z5813 .R4. Online, use the indexes at ERIC.
All currently received documents, and many of the older ones, will be found through library catalog searches. Many resources are available online; look for the URL symbol or click on Linked Resources to check for the online availability of a particular item.
For more information on government resources, consult How to Find U.S. Government Documents, also available at the Information Desk. For catalog items with the U.S. Gov't Docs location that are not online, come to the Information Desk for staff assistance.
If you can't find something in our catalog, please use our Interlibrary Loan (ILL) service. ILL request forms for books and articles are available at the library Information Desk and online from the library's website. You should complete a separate ILL request form for each item requested. Note: It is the Peterson Library's policy not to order course textbooks. For more on Interlibrary Loan, click here.
Journals and Other Periodicals
Periodical articles from magazines, newspapers, and scholarly journals are a valuable source of information in all research fields. The Journals link on the home page is a listing of most of the periodical titles, current and historical, to which you have access through the library. Formats of journals include print, microform and electronic (online). To find:
♦ Single journals or articles: If you have the citation to an article, type the title of the journal into the top search box. Results will show which databases contain the journal electronically and give you a list of available issues to search through. Available UNH Library Holdings are also given to enable you to find and/or copy the article in the library. Current and older issues of most of our print periodicals are on the lower level. Ask for current newspapers and assistance with microform holdings at the Circulation Desk.
♦ Lists of journals by keyword or subject: Use the top search option, with the drop-down box set to Title contains all words and search with title keywords (e.g., education, educ*, learn*, teach*, etc. [*= truncation here]). You can also select a subject category (lower drop-down search box) and select a subject like Social Sciences and the listed subcategories. These methods allow you to identify periodicals in a field and browse current issues of these periodicals, either online or in the library.
♦ A list of articles on a subject: Consult the Databases section. For more on searching for periodical articles, consult our library guide on Finding Articles.
For those journals that are Government Documents, fill in a request form at the Information Desk or check to see if they are available online from our Library Catalog's Linked Resources tab.
A Sampling of Journals in Education:
American Educational Research Journal; American Journal of Education; American Secondary Education; Action in Teacher Education; Children's Literature in Education; Communication Education; Developmental Psychology; Early Childhood Research Quarterly; Education Digest; Educational Forum; Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities; History Teacher; Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy; Journal of Curriculum & Supervision; Journal of Educational & Behavioral Statistics; Journal of Learning Disabilities; Language Arts; MultiMedia Schools; Reading Research Quarterly; Research in the Teaching of English; School Psychology Review; School Talk; Science and Children; Science Education; Teaching English in the Two Year College; Urban Education; Voices From the Middle.
The most efficient way to find articles by subject is to use an index that searches the contents of many journals at one time.
The Proxy Connection provides access to most of our databases when you are outside the library and it must be used often in the library as well. Enter your 16-digit UNH ID number as instructed. (This number is on the back of newer cards.) Select databases by title or provider or use the Subject List. Check out the Annotated List of Databases on the library home page for search tips, publications included, user's guides, tutorials, and links for each database. For tips on getting the most out of the databases listed below, take our interactive Database Searching Tutorial.
♦ Education
ProQuest Education Journals and Wilson Education Abstracts. Leading education journals with full text. Areas covered include adult education, home schooling, language and linguistics, special education, and more.
Educator's Reference Complete. Journal articles for teachers, librarians, and school administrators.
♦ Psychology/Social Sciences
Criminal Justice Periodicals Index. Includes articles on juvenile delinquency in schools.
PsycARTICLES provides the full text of APA (American Psychological Association) journals back to the 1980s.
Psychology & Behavioral Sciences Collection. Largely full text of non-APA journals back to the 1970s.
PsycINFO provides citations with abstracts to psychological literature from 1887 to the present. No full text, but a citation in this database will link to the full text, if available, in either PsycARTICLES or the Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection.
♦ Legal
HeinOnline Legal Periodicals. Items are image-based and fully searchable and provide comprehensive coverage from the inception of each publication. HeinOnline has four major library collections: Law Journal Library, Federal Register Library, Treaties and Agreements Library, and the U.S. Supreme Court Library.
LegalTrac. An index of more than 1,400 titles including law reviews, legal newspapers, bar association journals and international legal journals. LegalTrac also contains law-related articles from over 1,000 additional business and general interest titles.
LexisNexis Academic. Includes the full text of legal periodical literature, case reviews, statutes, regulations, the option to search by topic, by jurisdiction (federal or state), by case name, and to Shepardize. Legal information covers all subject areas.
♦ Multidisciplinary
Academic OneFile. A source for peer-reviewed, full-text articles from the world's leading journals and reference sources. Contains extensive coverage of the physical sciences, technology, medicine, social sciences, the arts, theology, literature and other subjects. Millions of articles are available in both PDF and HTML full-text.
E-Books for Colleges (Gale Virtual Reference Library). Access to the following multi-volume reference resources on many topics: Beacham's Guide to the Endangered Species of North America, first edition; Biology; Blackbird Kid's Visual Reference of the United States; Blackbird Kid's Visual Reference of the World; Encyclopedia of Popular Culture and World of Earth Science. The following encyclopedias also appear in this collection: Alternative Medicine; Medicine; Cancer; Genetic Disorders; Multicultural America; Small Business; U.S. Economic History.
Expanded Academic ASAP provides access to citations and abstracts to over 3,200 sources, including 2,000 full text titles in both scholarly and popular periodicals.
FirstSearch provides access to many useful databases such as AlternativePressIndex and Archive, Dissertations from North America and Europe, CWI (Contemporary Women's Issues). Search databases individually or in topical groups. FirstSearch can also suggest the best database to search, depending on your search needs. Available in library only; ask at Information Desk.
General OneFile. A one-stop source for news and periodical articles on a wide range of general interest topics. Access to 10,000 titles from general interest magazines, academic journals, newspapers and news services. Full text for 6,000 of the titles it indexes.
¡INFORME! A collection of Spanish language publications with full text, covering business, health, technology, culture, issues of current interest and other subjects
IRIS (Illinois Researcher Information Service). Provides information on grants, funding and scholarship opportunities in all disciplines. Includes online guides to writing grant proposals and allows you to sign up for an e-mail alert service.
LexisNexis Academic. A general purpose database that provides the full text of journals and newspapers from around the world, plus materials from selected reference works. LexisNexis provides full text but not graphics. Also well-known for its coverage of U.S. and international legal materials.
LexisNexis Statistical. A collection of over 30,000 statistical tables from U.S. Government and international, trade and professional organizations. Covering most topics.
NBER Working Papers from the National Bureau of Economic Research database. Use library catalog for NBER publications in the library; all are also available online.
ProQuest Newspaper Collection includes full text for the following newspapers: Boston Globe; Christian Science Monitor; Hartford Courant; Los Angeles Times; New York Times; Wall Street Journal and Washington Post. The ProQuest Historical Newspaper Collection covers most of these newspapers for earlier dates, but cannot be searched at the same time as the regular newspaper collection.
ScienceDirect Web Editions. An index to books, journals, reviews, conference proceedings and videos published by Elsevier.
There is much valuable information on the Internet. As with any material you use, evaluate the source when citing information. Look for a home page and the About us link. Besides considering what qualifies the individual or organization to provide or comment on information, also consider whether the information is up-to-date, whether the organization has a particular viewpoint or agenda, and how this relates to your purpose.
The following is a brief list of potentially useful Internet sites:
The American Educational Association's Special Interest Group's directory of open access journals in education are "scholarly, peer reviewed and accessible without cost." Find Journals via the link on our home page.
Connecticut Digital Library, a joint project of the Connecticut State Library and Department of Higher Education, provides Connecticut's public library cardholders, schools and institutions of higher education access to electronic resources. The Additional Research Resources link provides access to online dictionaries, citation guides, databases, Internet searching tutorials, etc.
Directory of Open Access Journals. Freely available online journals, organized by subject. Hosted at Lund University, Sweden, a co-project of SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) and Open Access Institute, Budapest. Browse journals in education.
The ERIC (Education Resources Information Center) portion of the Federal Government's Department of Education web site. Includes links to the online ERIC thesaurus and the ERIC database. ERIC clearinghouses were discontinued at the end of 2003, but the "old" ERIC search interface moved to the Educator's Reference Desk, also sponsored by the U.S. Education Department.
Federal Government's Department of Education
FedStats. This Internet site from the Federal Interagency Council on Statistical Policy provides access to the full range of statistics and information produced by more than 70 agencies of the U.S. government.
FREE - Federal Resources for Educational Excellence
Gateway to Educational Materials (GEM) links to educational materials on many government, non-profit and commercial sites on the Web. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education and Syracuse University.
GPO Access. The Government Printing Office site offers Ben's Guide to Government for Kids.
Infomine, "Scholarly Internet Collections," is a University of California - Riverside project. It searches the Internet for electronic journals, databases and web sites. Organized by subject category.
Knowledge Loom. A site on best practices in education, managed by the Northeast and Islands Regional Education Laboratory at Brown University. Visitors can browse the site or register (free) to create a user ID to log in to discussions, sign up for e-mail alerts and more. If you do log in, you should log out.
Literacy Web from the University of Connecticut with links to literacy resources.
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). A wealth of links to online publications, Fast Facts, and other useful information.
School Psychology Resources. Includes job postings, links to other sites and materials on assessment and evaluation.
Social Explorer provides demographic information using data maps.
The Solution Site provides access to lesson plans.
The State of Connecticut. You can search the site, or go to the list of Agencies and Organizations and then to the one you want. The Judicial Department site on the front page includes resources for school children. The Learning link leads you to information on higher education, continuing education, special education, and more.
The State of Connecticut's Department of Education. Includes CAPT scores, School District Profiles, Education Directory, teaching resources, certification information, links to national and international web sites. Scroll down to the buttons.
The State of Connecticut's Department of Higher Education. Includes links to statistics on enrollment. Also links to the Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium.
Test Prep Review. A site that provides some free Praxis practice tests.
Theory Into Practice, developed by Greg Kearsley, Ph.D, an educational psychologist. Provides a database of learning theories as well as some links to other sites.
USA.gov. Most U.S. agencies and departments have web pages for children. Use the search box and terms "kid's pages" as well as agency name or keywords at
The Voice of the Shuttle is one of the most comprehensive web resources for all academic topics. A search for education in the search box will bring up a wealth of important links.
rev 2/08