• Subject Headings
• Finding Books
• Reference Books
• Article Databases
• Periodicals
• Web Sites
• Citing Your Sources

 

Subject Headings

The following terms are some of the subject headings that can be used to locate materials about child development in the online catalog:

 

Finding Books

Use the online catalog to locate books on your topic. This example shows how to find books related to children's play activities.

 

 

Reference Books

Some reference books of interest include:

• Encyclopedia of American Education -- covers general topics
  (REF 370.97303 U57e, 2001)
• Encyclopedia of School Psychology -- includes information on Erikson's and Vygotsky's theories
  (REF 370.15 E56)
• Greenwood Dictionary of Education -- covers general terminology
  (REF 370.3 G816)
• Learning Theories A-Z -- short descriptions of various learning theories
  (REF 370.3 L581L)

 

Article Databases

Use GCC's article databases to locate journal, magazine, and newspaper articles on your topic. The following databases include articles on educational topics.

• ERIC -- This database focuses on Education. It looks like the ProQuest database listed below because it's from the same company, but it includes different sources.
• ProQuest -- This general database includes Education related resources. Use the Databases Selected link to choose ProQuest Education Journals and the Education module before doing your search.
• PsycArticles -- This database focuses on Psychology, but does include some related Education sources. It is also from the ProQuest company, but includes different sources than ERIC and ProQuest.

 

Search Tips

When searching article databases, choose your search terms very carefully.

• computers usually ignore words like of, the, in, etc.
• use the words and & or to combine terms

NO

what are typical behavior problems of preschool children

behavior problems and preschool children

YES

 

ERIC

• Go to Advanced Search and choose More Search Options to see all possible search functions.
• Use the Browse Journals link to see if a particular journal is included in this database.
• Use the Thesaurus link to find search terms.

 

ERIC Search Example:

 

 

Periodicals of Interest in the GCC Library

The GCC Library has the following education periodicals available in print. There are also many other education journals available online through our article databases. Use the searching tips in the previous section to search for articles by topic. To see if the GCC Library has access to a particular journal, go to the List of GCC Periodicals, type in the title, and search.

• Education Digest
• Teaching Exceptional Children
• Young Children

 

Web Sites

When searching for web sites on your topic, be as specific as possible with your search terms. You will find a smaller and more focused list of results if you use advanced search options (such as Google's) and you specify the domain (.edu, .gov, .org, etc.) in which you want to search. Here is an example of an advanced search in Google.

 

 

Here are a few web sites that might have useful information or links to other resources. However, you will likely have better success by doing a specialized web search using an advanced search option, such as Google's.

 

 

Child Development Resources on the Web

From Humboldt State University Library.

Child Development Resources

From CSU Sacramento's Library.

Center for Best Practices in Early Childhood

Housed at Western Illinois University.

National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition and Language Instruction Educational Programs

From The George Washington University.

 

Citing Your Sources

Choose a citation style and be consistent. The GCC Library provides some brief, online guides on the MLA and APA citation styles. You can also use the library catalog to search for style manuals, which have more in-depth information. The two most frequently used style manuals for MLA and APA styles are:

• MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers
  (808.02 G437m, 2003)
• Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association
  (808.06615 P976, 2001)