Education Resource Guide
introduction
This guide provides an overview of tools that can be used for research in Education. Included is information about relevant library research databases, journal holdings, reference sources, statistics, resources for lesson planning and curriculum and major Internet resources. All collections marked VCU are available to users on both campuses OR off-campus with EZProxy.
You can search the following selected databases for education-related articles. You may also be interested in other related guides including tests and measures, social work, education law, and psychology.
Many of the databases listed below include at least some full text articles, but very few databases are 100% full text. Look for the 
button. This service provides hyperlinks to a variety of options such as linking to electronic full-text (if available), the VCU library catalog (if we have the journal in print), ILLiad (if we don't have it in the collection), and Ask-a-Librarian (for help).
ERIC (1966 - Present) VCU
Abstracts of articles, books, and Department of Education publications including links to some full text reports. There are three versions of ERIC including EBSCO, FirstSearch, and Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (CSA), as well as the freely available database at http://www.eric.ed.gov (click on Find in a Library to get to the Get it @ VCU button). You may want to take advantage of the ERIC Thesaurus to target your search. For older articles, see the Education Index (Cabell Library Reference L11.Z994), covering education literature from 1929 - 1997.
ABI/Inform (1971 - Present) VCU
Accounting, business, finance, international business, marketing, and management journals from 1971 to the present. Covers the management and administration element of education. Includes many education related journals including The International Journal of Educational Management and Journal of Educational Administration.
Dissertations Abstracts Online (1861 - Present) VCU
Abstracts of dissertations completed in the U.S. and abroad. See finding dissertations for additional help.
Inter-university Consortium for Political & Social Research (ICPSR) VCU
The world's largest archive of social science data, ICPSR archives survey data on education reform, educational administration, assessment, child development and much more. Codebooks often include full text of survey questions and response frequencies. View more information and search help.
Academic OneFile (1980 - Present) VCU
Articles from magazines, newspapers, and journals in the social sciences, natural sciences, and humanities (almost 50% is full text). Contains many education-related titles including Adolescence, Black Collegian, Childhood Education, Children Today, Coach and Athletic Director, Horn Book Magazine, Instructor, JOPERD--The Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, Journal of Higher Education, NEA Today, Phi Delta Kappan, Scholastic Coach, School Arts, School Planning and Management, and School and College.
JSTOR VCU
Searchable backfiles of core journals in the humanities, social sciences and sciences. Includes College English, Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, Journal of Higher Education, Journal of Negro Education, and Sociology of Education.
LexisNexis Academic VCU
Contains federal and state court decisions, statutes and regulations, legal publications as well as the full text of national and regional newspapers and magazines.
LexisNexis Congressional VCU
U.S. legislative information including bills, reports, hearings, and public laws from 1970 - present. Search tip: Start with a legislative history search. For example, search using no child left behind as your search phrase, and you will retrieved a legislative history containing a summary, related bills, and references (and links) to relevant Congressional Record entries (debate), reports and hearings.
PsycINFO (1887 - Present) VCU
Scholarly psychology material including empirical research and peer reviewed journal articles. Covers psychological aspects of related fields such as medicine, psychiatry, nursing, sociology, education, pharmacology, physiology, linguistics, anthropology, business, and law.
Social Sciences Citation Index (1965 - Present) VCU
Database of references cited in articles from more than 1,725 major journals across 50 social sciences disciplines.
Social Sciences Index (1983 - Present) VCU
Citations to articles of at least one column in length from English-language periodicals. Coverage includes a wide range of interdisciplinary fields covered in a broad array of social sciences journals.
SPORT Discus (1830 - Present) VCU
Abstracts of articles from the international literature on sport and recreation research.
If you need help developing a search strategy, Ask a Librarian.
You can access the library catalog from the main VCU Libraries Web page at http://www.library.vcu.edu by clicking on the Search the Catalog link under the Find Information heading.
General Searching: When you are looking for books on a topic you may conduct a Words Anywhere search first. example: educational leadership. If you are concerned that you are getting too many irrelevant results, you may opt to conduct a subject search.
E-Books: VCU Libraries provides access to a collection of electronic books through NetLibrary VCU. (From the home page, click "Quick Links," and choose "E-Books.") NetLibrary is a collection of electronic books from leading university, trade and professional publishers available via the Internet 24 hours a day. For full access, VCU faculty, students and staff must first create free individual user accounts. More about NetLibrary.
Browsing the Shelves: The VCU Libraries use the Library of Congress Classification system for cataloging and shelving. If you would like to browse, see the Library of Congress Classification Outline for Education (this is a PDF document) to see how you can locate books by LC Call number.
"Where do I find things?": Check out where things are in the Cabell Library.
Borrowing from Other Libraries: VCU Libraries will get items you need (books, articles, and other media) if they are not in the VCU Libraries collection via Interlibrary Loan (ILL). To search for materials in other libraries, use the Worldcat VCU or check the catalogs of other Virginia Libraries.
If you need help developing a search strategy or with ILL, Ask a Librarian.
For an overview of education-related topics, you can consult the following reference books:
Encyclopedia of Education
Cabell Library Reference LB15.E47
Dictionary of Multicultural Education
Cabell Library Reference LC1099.D53
Encyclopedia of Special Education: A Reference for the Education of Children, Adolescents, and Adults with Disabilities and Other Exceptional Individuals
Cabell Library Reference LC4007 .E53
Encyclopedia of Distance Learning (netLibrary VCU)
Cabell Library Reference HM425.J64
Education: A Guide to Reference and Information Sources
Cabell Library Reference Z5811.B89
Journal Finder
This will let you know whether an electronic version of a journal is available from VCU. Links to e-journals or to the record for the hard copy in our catalog are provided via the 
button. If an electronic version is available, you can browse available issues or look up a specific citation. You will need the year, volume, issue, and stariting page number. If an online version is not available, look for the VCU Libraries Catalog link.
Note: the search box only searches for the names of journals, not the subject content - use one of the research databases for this.
Alternative: Go to the VCU Libraries Catalog, select the Journals tab, and type in the title of the journal.
Select Journals
American Journal of Education VCU
Print and Electronic Holdings, 1979/1980 (v. 88) - Present
Black Issues in Higher Education VCU
Print and Electronic Holdings, 1990-1991 (v. 7) - Present
Early Childhood Education Journal VCU
Print and Electronic Holdings, 1995-1996 (v. 23) - Present
Educational Administration Quarterly VCU
Print and Electronic Holdings, 1976 (v. 12) - Present
The following selected sources will help you find statistics related to education research. See Government Information for more sources of statistical information.
National Center for Education Statistics
http://nces.ed.gov/
Includes publications such as the Digest of Education Statistics, recently released working papers and a searchable database. Includes access to many datasets used to prepare statistical publications for online analysis or for download (to use with SAS, SPSS or Stata).
FedStats
http://www.fedstats.gov/
Federal statistics from more than 100 agencies.
LexisNexis Statistical VCU
Abstracts for statistical publications from 1973 forward; full-text of selected publications, 1995+. Power Tables feature searches words appearing in statistical tables. For items with a SRI, ASI, or IIS record number, check the Statistical Reference Index (SRI), American Statistics Index (ASI), or Index to International Statistics (ISI) microfiche collection.
State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV)
http://www.schev.edu/Reportstats/Reportstats.asp?from=reportstats
Reports and statistics about higher education in Virginia.
Virginia Department of Education: Enrollment and assessment data
http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/Publications/
Enrollment and assessment data.
VaStat
http://www.coopercenter.org/econ/VASTAT/
Business, demographic and economic statistics for the state of Virginia and its localities.
Lesson Plans and Curriculum Material
The library has a Curriculum Material and Textbook Collection (K-12), housed with Media and Reserves Services (MRS). You can search for material from this collection in the library catalog. Select the advanced search option, enter your keywords, and select Curriculum materials from the Format drop-down menu.
You may also find the following web resources helpful. As with any resource, you should carefully evaluate the content for currency, objectivity and authority. For example, check the submission policies and review procedure.
Blue Web'n
http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/bluewebn/
Online library of 2007 outstanding Internet sites categorized by subject, grade level, and format (tools, references, lessons, hotlists, resources, tutorials, activities, projects).
Columbia Education Center (CEC)
http://www.col-ed.org/
Over 600 lesson plans and activities prepared by teachers involved in CEC projects.
Commonwealth of Knowledge
http://www.knowledge.state.va.us/main/lesson/les.cfm
Lesson plans tied to Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL). For more information about the Virginia SOLs, see Standards of Learning Currently in Effect for Virginia Public Schools and Standards of Learning Resources.
Curricular Resources
http://www.cis.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/
Curriculum units prepared by fellows from the Yale - New Haven Teachers Institute, 1978 to the present.
Discovery School Lesson plans library
http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/
Hundreds of original lesson plans written by teachers, organized by grade level and subject.
Education World
http://www.education-world.com/
Links to lesson planning resources.
The Educator’s Reference Desk
http://www.eduref.org/Virtual/Lessons/index.shtml
Over 2,000 unique lesson plans written and submitted by teachers from all over the U.S.
Lesson Plan Page
http://www.lessonplanspage.com/
Over 2,500 lessons for teachers to use in variety of subjects.
Gateway Educational Materials (GEM)
http://www.thegateway.org/
Contains resources found on federal, state, university, non-profit, and commercial Internet websites for educators.
MarcoPolo
http://www.marcopolo-education.org/
Searchable database of Web sites with lesson plans, student interactive content, downloadable worksheets, links to panel-reviewed Web sites and additional resources created by the nation's leading education organizations including ARTSEDGE (John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts), EconEdLink (National Council on Economic Education), EDSITEment (National Endowment for the Humanities), Illuminations (The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics), ReadWriteThink (International Reading Association and The National Council of Teachers of English), Science NetLinks (American Association for the Advancement of Science), and Xpeditions (National Geographic Society). To search for lesson plans, click on the Search MarcoPolo button in the upper right hand corner of the screen.
New York Times Learning Network
http://nytimes.com/learning
Lesson plans and activities related to news items found in the New York Times.
PBS Teachersource
http://www.pbs.org/teachersource
Lesson plans and classroom activities linked to PBS content and educational outreach efforts.
The following resources will help you with education-related research. Please note that the list is selective. For more Web resources, you can search some of the sources listed below. When using the Web for research, remember to evaluate your sources for currency, objectivity and authority.
Child Care & Early Education Research Connections
http://www.childcareresearch.org
A comprehensive and free online database of over 10,000 resources, including peer-reviewed journal articles, books, research reports, datasets, grey literature, government documents, and more.
Education-line
http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/
Database of full text conference papers, working papers and electronic literature supporting educational research, policy, and practice.
Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium (MERC)
http://www.soe.vcu.edu/merc/
Conducts and disseminates action research that will improve the educational system.
State Council for Higher Education in Virginia (SCHEV)
http://www.schev.edu/
Reports and statistics for higher education in Virginia, as well as resources for students, parents, educators, administrators, and policymakers.
U.S. Department of Education
http://www.ed.gov
Resources for students, teachers, parents, and administrators.
Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center
http://www.valrc.org/
Adult education and literacy resources.
Virginia Department of Education
http://www.pen.k12.va.us/