Education > Curriculum and Lesson Plan Resources > Special Education
Finding articles | Finding books | Topic summary | Finding people and organizations | Related information | Citing your sources
Finding articles
1. To find articles in journals, magazines, or newspapers, you will need to use one of the Library's print indexes or article databases. An index or article database will allow you to look for by author or by a few keywords that describe your topic.
2. Once you have identified articles you would like to obtain, if the database doesn't offer you a link to the full text of the article, search Vikat to determine if it's available through the Library. Vikat (http://vikat.pdx.edu) will link to the online article (if available) or give you the call number and physical location in the Library for the journal.
The databases most useful for research in special education are:
CINAHL (Cumulated Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature)
http://stats.lib.pdx.edu/proxy.php?url=http://search.epnet.com/login.asp?profile=cin2
The CINAHL (Nursing & Allied Health) database provides comprehensive coverage of the English language journal literature related to nursing and the allied health (e.g. occupational and physical therapy) disciplines. Focus is more towards clinical and research rather than in school settings.
Cochrane Library
http://stats.lib.pdx.edu/proxy.php?url=http://www.mrw.interscience.wiley.com/cochrane/cochrane_search_fs.html
Full text of evidence-based reviews of clinical trials and healthcare/medical interventions.
Education Full Text
http://stats.lib.pdx.edu/proxy.php?url=http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com/hww/jumpstart.jhtml?prod=EDUFT
Citations and abstracts (and some full text) of articles from ~500 core practitioner and research journals; coverage from 1983- present.
ERIC
The ERIC database provides citations to journal articles and citations (and in many cases links to full text) to thousands of documents related to all aspects of education.
ERIC (Ebscohost platform)
http://stats.lib.pdx.edu/proxy.php?url=http://search.epnet.com/login.asp?profile=educationDept. of Education interface to ERIC
http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=advanced (freely available; doesn't require authentication)ERIC Thesaurus
http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=Thesaurus&_nfls=false
Look up descriptors and explore alternative terms to improve your search results.
Health and Psychosocial Instruments
http://stats.lib.pdx.edu/proxy.php?url=http://gateway.ovid.com/autologin.html
Provides citations to journal articles about measures and instruments. Helpful in identifying instruments and assessing their value.
Medline (PubMed interface)
Citations to articles published in thousands of medical research journals. (Ovid interface)
Mental Measurements Yearbook
http://stats.lib.pdx.edu/proxy.php?url=http://gateway.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?&T=JS&MODE=ovid&PAGE=main&D=mmyb
Primary source for identifying tests and measures. Includes test descriptions and extensive scholarly test reviews.
Professional Development Collection
http://stats.lib.pdx.edu/proxy.php?url=http://search.epnet.com/login.asp?profile=education
A database available through the Oregon state-wide database agreement (i.e. likely to be avaiable in your school or public library if you teach/work in Oregon). Full text of ~400 journals and magazines for educators.
PsycINFO
http://stats.lib.pdx.edu/proxy.php?url=http://gateway.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&D=psyh&PAGE=main
Citaions and abstracts for journals, books, book chapters and dissertations in psychology and its subfields.
Finding books
Search PSU Library's catalog, Vikat for books, journals (not individual articles), videos, government information, music and other material owned by the Library. You may search by keywords, author, title or subject headings.
Browsing the library shelves by call number is another strategy for locating information on a topic; call numbers can help you get to the "right neighborhood" in the library stacks.
| Class range | description of range from LC classification outline |
| RC 321-571 | Neurology and Psychiatry, Neuropsychiatry |
| RC 346-429 | Neurology, Diseases of the Nervous System (including speech disorders) |
| RC 554 -569.5 | Personality Disorders, Behavior Problems |
| RC 569.7-571 | Mental Retardation |
| RE 48 | Blindness in Children |
| RF 110-320 | Otology, Diseases of the Ear |
| RJ | Pediatrics |
| RJ 496 | Language, speech and hearing disorders and development |
| RJ 138-134 | Developmental Disabilities |
| LC 3950-4806.5 | Exceptional Children and Youth, Special Education |
| BF 712-724.85 | Developmental Psychology |
| BF 721-723 | Child Psychology |
| HQ 767.8-792.2 | Children, Child Development (including child rearing, child life, play, socialization, children's rights) |
| Social Service to: | |
| HV 701-1420.5 | Children |
| HV 873-887 | Destitute, Neglected, and Abandoned Children |
| HV 888-907 | Children with Disabilities |
| HV 1421 -1441 | Young Adults, Youth, Teenagers |
| HV 1551-3024 | Persons with disabilities (including blindness, deafness, persons with physical and mental disabilities) |
Subject headings allow you to search library catalogs for materials on a particular topic. Often subject heading searching can be more productive than searching by simple keywords. Listed here are some major subject headings of interest for research in special education. Copies of the complete set of the Library of Congress Subject Headings are available at the 2nd floor Reference Desk.
| children with disabilities (prior to ~1999:physically handicapped children) | children with visual disabilities |
| developmentally disabled children | Down syndrome |
| exceptional children | gifted children |
| hearing impaired children | learning disabilities |
| mainstreaming in education | special education |
Topic summary
Encyclopedias, subject-specific dictionaries and other reference book provide excellent background/overview information on a topic; they can be an excellent place to begin research.
Handbook Of Child And Adolescent Psychiatry
V. 1. Infants And Preschoolers : Development And Syndromes
V. 2. The Grade School Child : Development And Syndromes
V. 3. Adolescence : Development And Syndromes
V. 4. Varieties Of Development
V. 5. Clinical Assessment And Intervention Planning
V. 6. Basic Psychiatric Science And Treatment
V. 7. Advances And New Directions
RJ499.3 .H356 1997 | Reference Collection -- 2nd floor
Handbook of Child Psychology
v. 1. Theoretical models of human development /
v. 2. Cognition, perception, and language /
v. 3. Social, emotional, and personality development / v. 4. Child psychology in practice
BF721 .H242 2006 | Reference Collection -- 2nd floor
Encyclopedia Of Disability And Rehabilitation
HV1568 .E53 1995 | Reference Collection -- 2nd floor
Encyclopedia Of Special Education : A Reference For The Education Of The Handicapped And Other Exceptional Children And Adults
LC4007 .E53 2000 | Reference Collection -- 2nd floor
Encyclopedia of Human Behavior
BF31 .E5 1994 | PSU Shelves -- Basement
Gallaudet encyclopedia of deaf people and deafness
HV2365 .G35 1987 | PSU Shelves -- 3rd Floor
Handbook of autism and pervasive developmental disorders
RJ506 .A9 H26 1997 | PSU Shelves --5th Floor
Learning disabilities sourcebook
LC4705 .L434 2003 | Reference Collection -- 2nd floor
Gale encyclopedia of medicine
RC41 .G35 1999 | Reference Collection -- 2nd floor
Gale encyclopedia of alternative medicine
R733 .G34 2001 | Reference Collection -- 2nd floor
Mosby's medical, nursing, & allied health dictionary
R121 .M89 2002 | Reference Collection -- 2nd floor
Health Reference Series
A series of PSU Library books on a wide variety of conditions. Each book offers consumer health information, resources, brief research summaries.
Medline Plus Health Topics Encyclopedia
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/encyclopedia.html
Provided by the National Library of Medicine, the A.D.A.M. Medical Encyclopedia includes over 4,000 articles about diseases, tests, symptoms, injuries, and surgeries. It also contains an extensive library of medical photographs and illustrations.
Finding people and organizations
Council for Exceptional Children
http://www.cec.sped.org
Largest international organization dedicated to improving educational outcomes for individuals with exceptionalities, students with disabilities, and/or the gifted.
National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities
http://www.nichcy.org/
Information clearinghouse for breadth of research information, professional organizations, resources, legislation on disabilities topics.
Education Resources Organizations Directory
http://wdcrobcolp01.ed.gov/Programs/EROD/index.cfm
Provided by the U.S. Department of Education, an extensive keyword-searchable database of educational organizations
Related information/read more about it
National Center for Accessible Media
http://ncam.wgbh.org/
Provides resources in support of the organization's mission to achieve media access equality for people with disabilities.
Council for Exceptional Children's IDEA Policy Resources page
http://www.cec.sped.org/Content/NavigationMenu/PolicyAdvocacy/IDEAResources/default.htm
Family Village: a Global Community of Disability-Related Resources
http://www.familyvillage.wisc.edu/index.htmlx
Sponsored by the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Waisman Center, the Family Village is a web site for children and adults with disabilities, their families, and their friends and allies. Family Village brings together thousands of online resources in a organized, easy-to-use directory. The centerpiece of Family Village is the library, where visitors can find information on over 300 diagnosis. Visitors can also learn about assistive technology, legal rights and legislation, special education, leisure activities and much more.
Citing your sources & Style manuals
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association
BF76.7 .P83 2001 | Ready Reference collection - 2nd floor
Citation Styles Handbook - APA
http://www.english.uiuc.edu/CWS/wWORKSHOP/writer_resources/citation_styles/apa/apa.htm
A useful site developed by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Writers Workshop providing a quick summary of citation forms for most standard resource types.
APA Style -- Electronic Resources pages
http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html
Excerpts from the style manual on how to handle citing electronic resources.