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CIE 602: Research on Learning in Curriculum and Instruction

This guide provides resources for students enrolled in CIE 602.

Overview

This page will walk you through how to take your keywords and search strings and use them to search within education databases. You'll explore where to find education databases, how to use subject terms to refine your search, and applying filters to refine your results.

You can choose to watch the video or read through the steps below for strategies for database searching.

Advanced Search Techniques for Education Databases

This video will explore how to find education-specific databases, utilize their advanced search features, and conduct searches using subject terms.

Transcript

Accessing Education Databases

Access all UA Databases from the Libraries home page by clicking on Databases. Since educational research can sometimes cross into other disciplines outside of education, the list below contains a mixture of interdisciplinary databases as well as those focused solely on education. Read the database descriptions to help you determine the best place to search for your topic.

Keywords vs Subject Term Searching

When searching a database, you have the option to search using both keywords as well as subject terms.

Keyword Searching

  • Uses the words that you choose based on your research question.
  • Useful for broad, flexible, and quick searches.
  • Great for emerging topics or terms not yet standardized.
  • Database simply looks for matching words within titles, text, and abstracts; it doesn't apply any meaning to the keywords.

Example:

Searching for "project-based learning" OR "inquiry-based instruction" as keywords will find articles where those phrases appear anywhere in the record. The results will show results where these words appear multiple times in an article as the main concept as well as results where these terms are casually mentioned one-time in the text.

Subject Term Searching

  • Uses a controlled vocabulary set by each database.
  • Assigns meaning to the subject term being searched.
  • Ensures you retrieve articles where your concept is a central focus, not just mentioned casually.
  • Provides a more precise search.

Example:

In the database Education Source Ultimate, searching with the subject term for "project based learning" is "project method in teaching". Using this instead of "project based learning" will retrieve all of the articles that have been indexed and tagged with that subject term. This will only give you articles in which Project Based Learning is a major concept of the article.

Screenshot of the EBSCOhost search interface showing the "Education Source Ultimate" database. The user has typed “project based learning” into the search bar under the Subjects tab (highlighted with a red circle). Below, the subject term Project-based learning appears with a note directing users to Use: Project method in teaching, which is outlined in a red box. Other related subject terms such as “Community arts projects” and “Problem-based learning” are also listed underneath.

Combining Keywords and Subject Terms

For the most comprehensive results, combine both keywords and subject terms within your search.

Example:

In ERIC, there isn't a subject term for "Instructional coach". Instead the database uses the subject term Mentors to describe this type of instructional help. In this case, you can add the subject term Mentors to your search and add the keywords Instructional Coach, Instructional coaching and then combine it with the with the keywords of "Teacher Development" and "Professional Growth".

(DE "Mentors" OR "Instructional Coach" OR "instructional coaching") AND ("Professional Growth" OR "Professional Development")

Tips for searching with subject terms & keywords:

  • Try several variations of your search string. Adjust one element at a time to see how the search results are affected.
  • Use subject terms sparingly in your search. Start by just using one subject term alongside of keywords. Applying two or more subject terms to a search can sometimes eliminate results that could work for your topic.
  • Try searching using the term as both a subject term and a keyword to see how your results change.

Screenshot of the EBSCOhost search interface in the ERIC database. The top section shows a Boolean search with two rows: the first row includes DE "Mentors" OR "Instructional Coach" OR "instructional coaching" and the second row includes "Professional Growth" OR "Professional Development", both set to search in “All fields.” Below, the Subjects tab is open (outlined in red), with “instructional coach” typed in the search box. The results show the subject term Mentors selected, with its definition and related terms such as “Role Models” and “Beginning Teacher Induction.”