This guide will help you with wriiting and public speaking assignments on education-related topics. You will find lists and descriptions of our resources. You will find guides and tutorials on finding print books in our library; on finding electronic books in our databases; on finding articles, documentaries and other resources available in our databases. You will also find useful, reliable resources available on the open web.
Please do not hesitate to contact us and ask us for help with topics or finding resources. You will see on this page all the different ways you can contact us if you are not on campus. If you are on campus we would welcome you and any questions or requests for help.
Email: ECTCLibrary@kctcs.edu
Text: (502) 791-7995
Call: (270) 706-8812
Research Consultations
If you are a student or faculty member who would like one-on-one help with a reference librarian, contact Katie Meyer (270) 706-8443 or Laurie MacKellar (270) 706-8439 to set up a research appointment.
CQ Researcher. Click on Browse Topics. Click on Education. Click on any of the subcategories to view background information.
NewsBank: America's News. Scroll down the home page until you see Suggested Topics. Click on Education. Click on any of the links to see suggested searches and articles
Research Topic Ideas. Education Topics. Thompson Library. University of Michigan - Flint. Used with permission.
Britannica Academic. Made available through the Kentucky Virtual Library. Contains articles and videos on a wide range of topics. Includes the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Be aware that you may find your topic within an article on anoter topic. For example, if you type in "school bullying" you will pull up an overview of the topic.
Credo Reference. Contains 3.5 million articles from over a thousand titles. You can type in a search or browse topics. If you type in "classroom management" you will pull up a rather lengthy article on the topic with lots of background information.
You can also browse topics in Credo. Follow the screen captures.
Click on the three bars in the upper left corner. This takes you to a menu that includes TOPICS. Click on TOPICS.
When you click on the triple bars the menu pops up. You will see Topics. Click on Topics. Then click on the drop-down next to All Subjects
Click on the drop down arrow next to All Subjects
Click on Education
You may get some ideas from your textbook, lectures or class discussion. Maybe your instructor will assign or suggest topics. Check out the Resources for Finding Topics box on this page.
Never skip this step. You may do background reading more than once during your research process.
Where do you go for background reading? Print encyclopedias, online encyclopedias. Your textbook. General overview web resources. Look at the Resources for Background Reading on the left of this screen.
Perhaps you wish to focus on bullying in the classroom. This is a broad and multifaceted topic. How do you you narrow down this topic so that you can write a paper?
The sources listed at the left of this page will help you learn more about the topic. You might also dive into the databases and simply type in Bullying. You will pull up far more articles than you can possibly read but skimming the titles and subject headings can give you ideas.
Phrase your topic as a question. An example would be "How can I prevent bullying in the classroom?"
Keywords/Phrases
Begin thinking about keywords. You will be using keywords to search the various catalogs and databases. Bullying is an obvious term. Bully and bullies may be used. School, classroom. Do you want to focus on elementary school classrooms or high school? The school types are keywords. And prevention is an important word as well.
Once you have some search terms you can begin searching. You may want to start with books. Try to locate books on your topic. We have print books and electronic books. The rest of this guide will explain how to search book catalogs and databases.
You may also find reliable research reports on selected, open access websites. Tread very carefully when using the open web! Read the information below, in the box called Evaluating Resources. Above all else, ask us questions!
Make sure that the resources you choose are credible. Not sure? Look at the Evaluating Resources guide prepared by ECTC's Library Director
