For example, "middle school" will find "middle school" at least once in the record or in the full-text of the article or eBook.
For example, having looping in the first field, and "middle school" OR "middle grades" OR "upper primary" OR "lower secondary" in the second field and school OR education OR classroom in the third field will find articles which mention looping in middle school/middle grades/upper primary/lower secondary education settings.
Peer-reviewed articles, also known as refereed articles, refer to articles that are published in a peer-reviewed journal.
What makes a peer-reviewed journal, 'peer-reviewed', is that all the articles in them have undergone a rigorous review process by other experts in the field.
After the author/s submit the article to a peer-reviewed journal, the editors send it out to other scholars in the same field, i.e. the author's peers, to seek their professional opinion on the quality of the scholarship, its relevance to the field, its appropriateness for the journal, and so on.
The author/s receive the following typical feedback:
Adapted from "A Guide to Peer Reviewed Articles" - Franklin Pierce University Library Guide
There are different types of peer-reviewed journal articles. These include:
- the main people working in a field
- recent major advances and discoveries
- significant gaps in the research
- current debates
- ideas of where research might go next
Derived from "A Guide to Peer Reviewed Articles" - Franklin Pierce University Library Guide
Finding peer-reviewed articles in database aggregators, like GALILEO, and individual databases is a relatively straight-forward process.
Most library databases have a limiter that you can select to refine your results to peer-reviewed articles.
If you conduct your search in Advanced Search mode, most Advanced Search forms have a limiter to restrict to peer-reviewed articles so that you can limit your results from the get-go.
Once you have chosen a general topic idea, the next step is to refine your topic and then formulate a research question. A topic will be very hard to research if it is too broad or narrow.
Some tips:
If you have difficulties in refining your topic, talk to your instructor, or a librarian. Your liaison librarian can advise you on how to refine or broaden your topic, so it is "searchable."
One way to narrow a broad topic is to apply context to it, by assigning contextual facets to what you will cover.
For example, you are interested in applying PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions & Support).
| Contextual facets | Examples |
| Discipline / Content area |
PBIS to improve communication PBIS for emotional and behavioral disorders |
| Population Group |
PBIS in the third-grade classroom PBS in the elementary classroom PBIS for high school students |
| Geographical or Socioeconomic area |
PBIS in rural schools PBIS in urban schools |
| Culture | PBIS for African-American students |
For example: PBIS for high school students with emotional and behavioral disorders.
You could integrate all or some of the facets. Note that if you combine all of the facets, your topic could become too narrow and you won't find enough results.
Sometimes it can be tricky to figure out that "sweet spot" on what is a suitably refined research topic -- what is too broad, vs. what is too narrow for a database search?
It is better to have a more specific research topic because then you might find articles or other resources that address the context of your research topic. And f you cannot find enough resources for it, you can always broaden it out.
| Broad Topic | Narrowed Topic | Further Refined Topic | Revised Research Question |
| Engaging apathetic students | Engaging apathetic students - in high school | Engaging apathetic students - in high school - in reading | How can I get my apathetic high school students to become engaged in reading? |
| Reading comprehension strategies | Reading comprehension strategies - in the elementary classroom | Reading comprehension strategies - fourth-grade classroom | What reading comprehension strategies can I implement in the fourth-grade classroom? |
| Reading Fluency strategies | Reading fluency - lower elementary grades | Reading fluency - second grade | What strategies can I use to improve reading fluency of second-graders? |
Sometimes, even if you tried to refine your topic just right, you will get too few results on it. You may need to broaden your topic. Before you do:
A librarian may know advanced search tactics and techniques you have not tried yet to help find results.
If you are still hardly getting any results, broaden your topic a little at a time until you find enough literature. You can expand your research question by widening one of your contextual facets, and if that does not help, getting rid of it altogether. Start by broadening the facet that is least important.
| Specific research topic | Broadened a little | Broadened further | Revised Research Question |
| Strategies to improve the reading fluency of a second-grade, female student | Improving the reading fluency of a second-grade student | Improving the reading fluency of an elementary student | How can I improve the reading fluency of a second-grade student? |
| Strategies to improve the reading comprehension of a third-grade male student. | Improving the reading comprehension of a third-grade student. | Improving the reading comprehension of an elementary student. | How can I improve the reading comprehension of a third-grade student? |
| Motivating seventh-grade African-American male students to read | Motivating middle school African-American male students to read | Motivating middle school male students to read | How do I motivate middle school African American male students to read? |
GALILEO searches across all of the Libraries' databases at once.
Enter a few keywords and/or "key phrases", or search by title or author > Search or hit Enter/Return
As GALILEO covers a wide range of disciplines, searching within an individual, or a small set of subject-specialty databases can be more on target and efficient. It is worth trying GALILEO first, and then run a similar search in a subject database/set of databases.
Did you know EBSCOhost databases can be searched together?
Enter one of the EBSCOhost databases below> Select 'Choose Databases' > Select desired databases > OK.
ProQuest Education Journals gives users access to over 790 top educational publications, including more than 615 of the titles in full text.
A database covering all aspects of education and educational research.
Did you know EBSCOhost databases can be searched together?
Enter one of the EBSCOhost databases below> Select 'Choose Databases' > Select desired databases > OK.
Provides electronic access to back issues (from the date of first publication) of selected, core journals, organized into the Arts and Sciences Collections I & II, the General Sciences Collection, the Ecology and Botany Collection, and the Business Collection.
PsycARTICLES, from the American Psychological Association (APA), includes full-text, peer-reviewed scholarly and scientific articles in general psychology and specialized basic, applied, clinical, and theoretical research in psychology.
Psychology & Behavioral Sciences Collection includes articles from 410 full-text journal covering information concerning topics in emotional and behavioral characteristics, psychiatry & psychology, mental processes, anthropology, and observational & experimental methods.
The American Psychological Association's (APA) resource for abstracts of scholarly journal articles, book chapters, books, and dissertations, is the largest resource devoted to peer-reviewed literature in behavioral science and mental health. The database also includes information about the psychological aspects of related fields such as medicine, psychiatry, nursing, sociology, education, pharmacology, technology, linguistics, anthropology, business, law, and others.