The following is a support file related to a library instruction session conducted by a library instructor and a BHCC Early Childhood Education course instructor
IMPORTANT SUGGESTION: We recommend you fully identify any promising articles you find in your notes (including the name of the database that contains the article), so when it comes time to select your articles you won’t have to hunt for them. Plan for this at the beginning of your search by writing down the complete identifying information for every source you consult (if you want to use an article from a database, include the name of the database that contained the article; if a reference book lists helpful articles, include the call number for the reference book and the name of the library that has the reference book in the reference book’s full identification.)
Finding Information: Looking In Books – Two (2) complementary approaches to looking in books
Approach 1: Browse the shelves – at BHCC library or any library!
Here are a few books in the BHCC Library that may have helpful overview articles on aspects of child development (This overview articles may reference peer-reviewed research articles.)
- Encyclopedia of Psychology - REF BF31 .E52 2000
- Magill’s encyclopedia of social science: psychology - REF BF31 .M33 2003; REFHF5382.5U503
- Gale Encyclopedia of Childhood and adolescence - REF HQ772.G27 1998
- Encyclopedia of early childhood education - REF LB1139.23.E53 1992
- Encyclopedia of education - REF LB15.E47 2003
Important tips when browsing shelves:
Books are arranged on the shelf by subject – via a CALL NUMBER assigned to the book! A book’s call number is like an address. Start your browsing at the call number assigned to your general subject! Be aware that there are different call number area for books covering different aspects of child development.
Here are major call number areas assigned to books on different aspects of child development: (NOTE: BHCC Library may not have books in every one of these call number areas, but major research libraries probably will.)
- Books on psychological aspects of child development - BF 720-723
- Books on family aspects of child development - HQ 751-772
- Books on educational aspects of child development - LB 1115-1117
- Books on medical aspects of child development - RJ 131
- Reference books do not circulate, and have the call# prefix REF.
- Many (but NOT all!) books on the same topic have similar call numbers, and so are shelved near each other. Therefore, get the call number of ONE book that interests you, and then look at books shelved next to this book.
- Keep in mind that many books have table of contents and indexes. USE THESE
To look for specific topics in Child development: This tip is particularly important for reference books. There are reference books on virtually every topic, even specific topics WITHIN child development.
Approach 2: Use the catalog at BHCC library or any library! The catalog is a tool that lets you find physical books - and other items - in a library. Every physical book has a record in the catalog. A catalog does NOT contain the full-text of books.
Here’s the web address for the BHCC Library Catalog: http://catalog.noblenet.org/search~S37/
The catalog will help you find books on the specific aspects of child development that interest you, and some of these books will mention research articles in journals.
Important tips when using the catalog:
- Try a keyword search using one or more words that describe your specific topic. (For example: “infant emotional development”; “infant motor ability”; etc.) This search looks for every appearance of the word(s) in the catalog, and “pulls up” all the records that contain the words. There are entire books on specific aspects of child development. This is how to find them.
- You will always need at least the call number of the book to find the book on the shelf. We still strongly recommend copying all the information down.
- When you find a catalog record for 1 book on the aspect of child development that interests you, then click on the book’s subject to “pull up” all books with the same subject. (Please Note: The subjects assigned to books are intended to describe the books’ exact contents. Therefore, do not merely look for books under the subject ‘Child development,” look under subjects that are within “Child development.”
Here are examples of some official subjects within child development:
Behavioral Assessment of Children |
Infant Psychology |
Finding Information: Looking for Articles in Information Databases
Information Databases contain high-quality information - stuff not found on the web - such as full-text articles from the Boston Globe, and from magazines and journals like Time, Psychology Today, and many others, including peer-reviewed journals containing research articles on child development. Yet, databases can be confusing, because libraries usually have a lot of databases, and you need to know a bit about how to search the databases to find what you need.
IMPORTANT NOTE: With a BHCC ID that has been activated at the Lending Services Desk, you can access all our databases from off-campus. To use the databases from off campus, you’ll be asked to enter your last name and the 14 digit barcode# on the back of your BHCC ID.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Boston Public Library at www.bpl.org gives access to PSYCInfo, a psychology database covering more than 1,300 journals in psychology, including child development. Some full-text articles are provided. Any resident of Massachusetts can get a library card at the Boston Public Library. Visit http://www.bpl.org/general/circulation/wherecard.htm for more information.
Here’s the web address for the BHCC Library Databases Web Page: http://www.noblenet.org/bhcc/databases.htm
Here are some suggested databases to try on this web page. This is not an exhaustive list.
- EBSCO’s Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection. – Covers topics in psychology, including child development, with the full-text of articles from many peer-reviewed journals.
How to get to it: Click EBSCO from the http://www.noblenet.org/bhcc/databases.htm web page and then click Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection from database menu.
- Infotrac Web’s Expanded Academic ASAP – Covers a broad range of subjects, including child development. Has full-text of articles from peer-reviewed journals.
How to get to it: Click Infotrac Web from the http://www.noblenet.org/bhcc/databases.htm web page and then click Expanded Academic ASAP from database menu.
- Infotrac Web’s Professional Collection – Intended for teachers and school administrators, this database has peer-reviewed full-text articles on aspects of childhood education.
How to get to it: Click Infotrac Web from the http://www.noblenet.org/bhcc/databases.htm web page and then click Professional Collection from the database menu.
- Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) – Covers all aspects of educational research and practice, including child development. Full-text of some peer-reviewed articles are provided.
How to get to it: Click Educational Resources Information Center from the http://www.noblenet.org/bhcc/databases.htm web page.
Important tips when using databases:
- Some databases assign subjects to their articles. This means if you find one article on a subject, you can then click on the article’s SUBJECT, to “pull up” all articles assigned the same subject. It is also possible to browse subject lists in these databases.
- As with book catalogs, you also can try a text or keyword search using one or more words that describe your topic. This search looks for every appearance of the word(s) in
the record, and “pulls up” all the records that contain the words. You may get a lot of
articles, so we recommend using more words. Typically, you can use this method with
every database.
- Databases do NOT contain every article that has been written about smoking. Typically, only recent articles are in databases - articles published after 1980, or even later.
- Many databases allow you to save an article to disk, or email the article to yourself. This is particularly important when you don’t have a printer available.
- If you are interested in searching for articles that appeared in the Boston Globe or the New York Times, or a favorite magazine or journal, then search our alphabetical list of
all magazines, journals, and newspapers we get – either in print or in a database - at
http://ph8vq3lq6p.search.serialssolutions.com/
- Remember: Databases can be frustrating! There are many different ways to search them. If you have any questions, ask, don't give up.
Identifying Research Articles: As you look at books and search information databases, you will probably come across a lot of articles. Yet, you are looking for peer-reviewed research articles and not just any articles. It is important to be able to identify research articles quickly.
Here are some things to look for:
- Peer-reviewed research articles usually are written by author(s) affiliated with a college or university.The affiliations of the author usually appear on the first page of the article.
- Peer-reviewed research articles are almost always organized into different sections with headings like “Introduction”, ”Methods, “Results,” “Discussion.”
- Peer-reviewed research articles are almost exclusively text, and have a listing of works cited at the end. Tables are graphs may also appear in the research article, but almost no color photos.
The best way to become familiar with how research articles look is by examining some.
Selecting a Research Article That Interests You: Let’s face it. There are A lot of research articles to choose from. We know that we’re supposed to choose an article on a research topic that interests us, but the problem is how do I decide on the research topic that interests me?
Here are a few tips to try:
- Your textbook contains references to research articles. If a chapter of your textbook interests you, consider reading the research articles referenced in the chapter.
- For every research article you come across, IDENTIFY AND WRITE DOWN IN YOUR OWN WORDS THE PRICE QUESTION THE RESEARCH ARTICLE IS TRYING TO ANSWER. Usually you’ll only have to read the title of the research article in order to identify the question the article is trying to answer. Writing down the question in your own words forces you to think about subject of the research article, and make conjectures about what is contained in the research article. Your conjectures may turn out to be wrong after you read the research article, but your initial conjectures may help spark your interest and assist your analysis of the research article.
Here’s an example to show the power of this method:
SAMPLE ARTICLE CITATION:
Mothers, Fathers, and Infants: The Role of Person Familiarity and Parental Involvement in Infants’ Perception of Emotion Expressions. By: Montague, D.P.F.; Walker–Andrews, A.S.. Child Development, Sep/Oct2002, Vol. 73 Issue 5, p1339-1352, 14p; (AN 7351725)
SAMPLE “THOUGHT PROCESS” WHEN IDENTIFYING THE QUESTION THIS ARTICLE IS TRYING TO ANSWER:
I could write down “What is the role of person familiarity and parental involvement in infants’ perception of emotion expressions?”, but this is just repeating the title of the article. Let’s try to write this in my own words.
An infant is responding to expressions of emotions by others, the phrase “parental involvement” is mentioned, so almost certainly the infant is responding to the emotional expressions of the parent. It makes sense that the infant’s responses are also influenced by how much the infant knows the person making the emotional expression. Therefore, the question(s) that this article answers could be:
How much is an infant’s responses to human emotions influenced by how much the infant knows the person expressing the emotions? How much can parents influence their infant’s responses to human emotions?
Finding Information: Prowling the Web
A lot of information is on the web, which makes it very confusing very fast! Also, no one monitors the quality of the information on the web – some web pages are accurate, while others are not. The key question to consider is…How do we know a website is trustworthy? For every webpage you visit, consider the following questions:
- How accurate is the information? Look for spelling errors and typos, a current creation date, well-supported arguments, and even peer review.
- How credible is the information? Look for information on the author – name, job and job title, organization, affiliation, contact information, relevant credentials.
- What kind of documentation does the information have? All facts – especially numbers – should have sources. Look for a list of works cited or bibliography.
- How appropriate is the information? Look for balance – more than one view is acknowledged – and an objective rather than emotional writing style. The author should also take care to distinguish between their opinion and fact.
Here’s a helpful webpage posted by Sonoma State University Library that talks more about evaluating information: http://library.sonoma.edu/research/subject/evaluate.html
In general, web pages posted by the government, or by educational institutions are trustworthy. Their web pages have a .gov or .edu in the web address. When no printer is available, try saving the web page to a disk. Also be sure to write down the web page’s complete web address, because a saved web page may not give you the complete address.
Good general search engine: (REMEMBER: YOU’RE ON YOUR OWN ABOUT EVALUATING THE WEB PAGES YOU FIND USING GOOGLE! )
http://www.google.com (Google has advanced search techniques – if you’re interested)
Where librarians start Web research:
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SOME HELPFUL WEBSITES WE SUGGEST TRYING AS YOU EXPLORE RESEARCH IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT: (These websites can be searched, or will lead you to other helpful websites.)
EXCELLENT LIBRARY WEB PAGES:
http://library.humboldt.edu/~ccm/cochders.htm - This is an excellent listing of both print and electronic resources in child development posted by Humboldt State University Library. (NOTE: BHCC Library may not subscribe to the databases listed on this web page)
http://library.humboldt.edu/~ccm/childdev.html - This is a comprehensive listing of websites on child development, also posted by Humboldt State University Library.
http://library.csus.edu/guides/rogenmoserd/childdev2.htm - This web page posted by California State University Library in Sacremento, provides a shorter listing of print and electronic resources on child development, and also gives a listing of major journals in the field. (NOTE: BHCC Library may not subscribe to the journals or databases listed on this web page. To see if we have one of the journals listed on this page, search http://ph8vq3lq6p.search.serialssolutions.com/ )
EXCELLENT PAGES POSTED BY UNIVERSITIES AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS:
http://www.cfw.tufts.edu/ - This website, posted by Tufts University and called the “Child & Family Web Guide,” is an excellent gateway website to other websites on child development
http://www.childcareresearch.org/discover/index.jsp - This website, posted by the Child Care and Early Education Research Connections, focus on research on many aspects related to child care and early education. Helpful, but intimidating.