Skip to Main Content

Course & Subject Guides

MEd in Curriculum and Instruction

This guide is designed as a resource for students in the MEd in Curriculum and Instruction program

How do I Find Databases and Articles . .

If you're seeking articles on a topic, search an Article Database.  Databases are collections of citations and articles that you can search by topic or subject.

The links below are good starting points for your searching, but the ULS offers hundreds of focused databases, and most offer links to the full text. To search a database, select the Databases tab on the ULS homepage:

  • If you know the name of the database you want to search, start at the Databases A-Z list.
  • If you're not sure which database to search, you can search databases in a particular Subject , or just ask a librarian for guidance by calling 412-648-3331 or chatting online at Ask-A-Librarian.

Educational Resources

ERIC, sponsored by the US Department of Education, is the premier national database of education literature. ERIC covers educational research and literature from 1963 to present, as well as important practitioner materials and news sources.

Descriptors are disciplinary terms the ERIC database creators use to identify the major topics covered within a particular article, book or item. Descriptors can suggest other keywords you can use in your searching, or identify a more exact disciplinary term for the concepts you are seeking.

Create complex searches by combining multiple keywords.  Once you decide on your keywords, you can combine them to create focused complex searches.

 

Field Searching:  Full ERIC records are made up of field of information -- the title of the item is listed in the Title field, the author’s name is listed in the Author field, etc.  You can use these fields when you search by focusing your search for a term to a particular informational field.  For instance, if you wanted articles by Benjamin Spock, you could search for Spock in AU Author field.  This will give you results where Spock is an author.