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LCD 706: Bilingualism

Recommended Databases

Using ERIC

ERIC is the most comprehensive database for scholarly articles in the field of education. It is designed to facilitate the kind of research undertaken by educational practitioners, so it foregrounds the information that researchers in the field need to quickly assess scholarship, such as the educational level discussed and the research methodology employed.

When you're looking at the list of search results, you'll notice that the page has two columns: a left-hand menu with facets to limit the search results, and the results themselves to the right.

The item descriptions in the results list typically include the following elements:

  • article title
  • type of resource (such as academic journal, book, or book chapter)
  • citation (including author, publishing journal, and publication date)
  • abstract (a brief description of the article's main argument or findings)
  • subjects (a list of subject headings tailored to research in education, usually including a controlled vocabulary of topics, the educational level studied, and the research methodology used -- the list of subject headings is a great place to identify effective search terms!)
  • link to text or "Find It @ CUNY!" button

All of these elements are selected to make it easier for you to determine -- without even reading the article! -- if it is:

  • current: check the publication date
  • relevant: check the title, abstract, and subjects
  • accurate & authoritative: almost everything included in this database is peer-reviewed
  • aligned with the purpose of your research: check the name of the publishing journal to get a sense of who the intended audience is and what scholarly conversation the article is contributing to, and check the subject headings to see what population is being studied.

You can also use the limiters in the left-hand menu to narrow your search results. I recommend narrowing by publication date.

Using APA PsychInfo

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APA PsycInfo is one of the most comprehensive databases for scholarly articles in the field of psychology. It is designed to facilitate the kind of research undertaken by professionals in the field of psychology, so it foregrounds the information that researchers in the field need to quickly assess scholarship, such as the educational level discussed and the research methodology employed. The user interface is pretty similar to ERIC's interface because both databases are made available by the same vendor, EBSCO, but there are a few differences that the reflect differences across the disciplines.

When you're looking at the list of search results, you'll notice that the page has two columns: a left-hand menu with facets to limit the search results, and the results themselves to the right.

The item descriptions in the results list typically include the following elements:

  • article title
  • type of resource (such as academic journal, book, or book chapter)
  • citation (including author, publishing journal, and publication date)
  • abstract (a brief description of the article's main argument or findings)
  • subjects (a list of subject headings tailored to research in psychology, usually including a controlled vocabulary of topics, the age and gender of the population studied, and the research methodology used -- the list of subject headings is a great place to identify effective search terms!)
  • link to text or "Find It @ CUNY!" button

All of these elements are selected to make it easier for you to determine -- without even reading the article! -- if it is:

  • current: check the publication date
  • relevant: check the title, abstract, and subjects
  • accurate & authoritative: almost everything included in this database is peer-reviewed
  • aligned with the purpose of your research: check the name of the publishing journal to get a sense of who the intended audience is and what scholarly conversation the article is contributing to, and check the subject headings to see what population is being studied.

You can also use the limiters in the left-hand menu to narrow your search results. You'll notice that there are more limiters in APA PsycInfo than there are in ERIC, so in addition to limiting by publication date, you can also limit by methodology, age, and gender.

Recommended Journals