Sources for A121 -- Teaching and Learning: Links between Research and Practice

• Finding Books
• Finding Journal Articles
• Finding Newspaper Articles
• Using Google & Google Scholar
• Associations and Organizations
• Finding Full Text of a Specific Article
• Accessing Books and Articles not Available at Harvard
• Research Consultations
• Writing Consultations
• Ask Us

Finding Books

Use the HOLLIS Catalog to find books, journals, manuscripts, government documents, visual materials, data files, and more owned by the Harvard University Libraries. Note that while HOLLIS includes journal titles, it does not index the articles within them. Information on Finding Journal Articles.

To research a topic in HOLLIS, use the "Expanded Search" link and enter relevant keywords in the search boxes. Be sure to enclose phrases (e.g. "achievement gap") in quotation marks or click the "two-word phrase" radio button. Once you find a relevant book, click on its subject headings (located in the field labeled "Subject") to get a list of other works on this topic. Note that sometimes you may need to search a broader subject term (e.g. "asian americans") along with a more specialized subject term (e.g. "vietnamese americans") for comprehensive results, or return to "Expanded Search" to combine two headings (e.g. "academic achievement" and "educational equalization") if there is not a single subject heading appropriate for your topic.

Specialized topics may benefit from a look beyond Harvard's collections. WorldCat contains over 47 million records for books, journals, dissertations, and more owned by over 40,000 libraries (including Harvard). Information on Accessing Books and Articles not Available at Harvard.

Finding Journal Articles

Use the following indexes to find scholarly journal articles and more by topic or author:

• 3-in-1 Search -- ERIC, Education Abstracts, and Academic Search Premier
• Academic Search Premier -- multidisciplinary; covers over 8,000 journals and magazines
• Education Abstracts (1983+) -- covers over 680 English-language education journals and yearbooks
• ERIC (1966+) -- covers hundreds of education-related journals, as well as conference papers, research reports, state, federal, and local education documents, and selected books.
• JSTOR -- covers more than 500 core scholarly journals from their first issues, but generally excludes the most recent five years

Finding Newspaper Articles

• LexisNexis Academic -- access to thousands of news and information sources. Select the "general news" category and "major papers" news source for the New York Times, Washington Post, etc. For other U.S. papers, select the "U.S. news" category and then a state or regional source.
• Education Week Research Center -- includes searchable K-12 data, brief issue summaries and links to resources in "Issues A-Z," and facts and figures about education in specific states. Website requires free registration. Articles from 1995+ are also available in Academic Search Premier.

Using Google & Google Scholar

Use Google (and other search engines) to search the open web for current government publications, academic working papers, association newsletters, conference proceedings, curriculum materials, and more. Google Scholar will find citations to scholarly articles, papers, and books, but it offers only a small fraction of what is available through library resources. See A Scholarly Guide to Google for tips.

Associations and Organizations

See Gutman's links to Education Associations, Organizations, and Conferences for a selected list.

Finding Full Text of a Specific Article

Use Find It @ Harvard to locate online or print access for a specific article.

Accessing Books and Articles not Available at Harvard

Current HGSE students and staff may request books and photocopies of articles not owned by Harvard.

• Book Request Form
• Article Request Form

Research Consultations

Make a one-hour appointment with a librarian to:

• develop a research strategy
• identify and learn about relevant sources
• work on any research-related question, problem, or skill

To arrange a consultation, contact the Reference Desk (617-495-3421/617-495-3422) or a Research and Instruction Services staff member.

Writing Consultations

Make an appointment with a writing coach to:

• define a research question
• organize the content of your paper
• review and revise drafts
• cite sources appropriately

Sign up for a writing consultation.

For additional information or assistance, contact Gutman Library Research and Instruction Services (617-495-3421/3422 or reference@gse.harvard.edu) or stop by the Gutman Reference Desk.