Library Guides: Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: Finding SoTL literature

Recommended databases

These recommendations include a mix of education-focused databases as well as multidisciplinary resources that cover a wide array of disciplines and sources.

A+ Education This link opens in a new window
An Australian Informit database of citations, article summaries, and full-text articles covering all aspects of education, particularly Australian education. The link here will take you to the Informit platform with A+ Education selected.
A+ Education is based on the Australian Education Index (AEI), which is an indexing and abstracting database produced by the Cunningham Library at the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER).

Of the 700+ journals indexed in AEI, there are 200+ comprehensively indexed journals and it is from these that the full-text articles in A+ Education are mainly sourced. There are more than 190,000 index records, including 48,000 full text articles available as PDFs or as links to material available on the Web.

Other source documents include monographs, research reports, theses, conference papers, legislation, parliamentary debates, newspaper articles, and Internet material. Articles and reports by Australian authors or about Australian education published in overseas sources are also included.

Subject coverage includes curriculum, educational research, information science, librarianship, management, policy administration, psychology, sociology, teaching, and training.

Coverage: Indexed 1978-; Full text 2000 - .

Your searching from this link will be within A+ Education only. You can change the database(s) you are searching using the Change Databases button. Unless you have changed databases, you will continue to search in A+ Education. When you have run a search, your results list will include, at the top, which database(s) you have searched in.

You can use Basic Search or Advanced Search. Advanced Search offers more options for searching, and more limiters. When you have run a search, there are further options for filtering your results. For searching help, there is a useful set of Search Tips at the bottom of the Advanced Search Screen.
Academic Search Complete (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window
A huge multi-disciplinary database in the EBSCOhost platform that covers just about all the disciplines and subjects taught and studied at Charles Sturt University.
It includes article records and summaries from more than 12,500 full-text periodicals, and of these, more than 8,500 have full-text as well. There are also records and summaries from more than 13,200 other publications, including books, reports, and conference proceedings.

Subjects covered include nearly all areas of academic study, including arts & literature, business, computer sciences, education, engineering, environmental science, ethnic studies, language & linguistics, medical sciences, science, social sciences, and theology.

Coverage varies with publication title but extends back to 1887.

The database is updated daily.

Academic Research Complete is one of many databases available in EBSCOhost. EBSCOhost also has a number of subject-specific databases, and the Library gives access to packages of subject-related databases in EBSCOhost.

Once on the EBSCOhost search screen, you can change databases by clicking on the Choose Databases link above the search boxes. All EBSCOhost databases can be searched individually or in any combination.
EBSCOhost (Education) This link opens in a new window
A package of five EBSCOhost databases, all of which include Education-related material and a considerable amount of full-text content. Includes the important education database, ERIC.
The databases are:

* Academic Search Complete;
* Education Research Complete;
* ERIC;
* Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection;
* SocINDEX with Full Text.

All EBSCOhost databases can be searched individually or in any combination.
ERIC - Education Resources Information Center (EBSCOhost version) This link opens in a new window
ERIC is the largest education database in the world, and is sponsored by the U.S. Dept of Education. It is available here as an EBSCOhost database, with much material available in full-text.
ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) is one of many databases available in the EBSCOhost platform, but is also available elsewhere as well (see below). Established in 1966, ERIC is an online digital library of education research and information. It is sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education. It provides extensive access to educational-related literature, and is said to be the largest education database in the world. It includes more than 1.3 million bibliographic records.

There are two types of ERIC content:
* Journal articles (EJ). Most are from peer-reviewed journals, and many are available in full-text, depending on the version of ERIC being used (see below).
* ERIC Documents (ED). These consist of materials from a range of sources, including scholarly organisations, professional associations, research centres, policy organisations, University Presses, the U.S. Department of Education and other U.S. federal agencies, and state and local agencies. They include conference papers, research papers, dissertations, theses, reports, audiovisual media, bibliographies, directories, and books. Many are available in full-text.

Subject coverage includes:
* Adult, career and vocational education
* Counselling
* Elementary and early childhood education
* Education management
* Higher education
* Junior colleges
* Second-language learning
* Special education
* Teacher education
* Tests, measurement, and evaluation

A thesaurus is available to assist with subject-searching.

Charles Sturt Library has access to ERIC via 2 different platforms/interfaces. In addition to this EBSCOhost version, ERIC is also available via the ERIC website. These versions differ in their interface, the frequency of updating, and the amount of full-text content.

ERIC's own website includes fewer links to full-text but is updated more regularly and does have extra information about ERIC as a resource.
ProQuest This link opens in a new window
ProQuest is a provider of a huge range of databases covering all subject areas, and including a range of sources. Most of these databases include full-text material, but some, particularly in the environmental sciences area, are databases of abstracts only.
Subject strengths include biological science, earth & environmental sciences, general science, business, education, health & medicine, and social sciences.

Sources include mainly journals, but there are two specialised database of interest:
* ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global - an important database of dissertations and theses from America and Europe;
* ANZ Newsstream - a database of Australian and New Zealand newspaper articles.

The link here takes you to searching across ALL the ProQuest databases. Once in the ProQuest platform, you can pick and choose from the menu of databases by clicking on the Change Databases tab in the top menu.
ProQuest Education Database This link opens in a new window
A ProQuest database of around 900 journals, including more than 600 in full-text. This database can, and probably should, be used in conjunction with ERIC (ProQuest version).
ProQuest Education Database is one of many databases available in the ProQuest platform.

Subject coverage includes not only primary, secondary, and higher education, but also special needs education, home schooling, adult education, teacher education, and other related topics.

Once you are in the ProQuest platform, you can change to any other ProQuest database by clicking on the hamburger menu at the top left of screen, then on Change databases. Other education-related databases in ProQuest include the important education database, ERIC. You can, and probably should search ProQuest Education Journals and ERIC together, to exploit the advantages of each.
Scopus This link opens in a new window
A multi-subject abstract and citation database of research literature. Known for its citation-tracking and bibliometric features.
Scopus is an abstract and citation database of research literature which offers coverage of more than 22,000 journals, and more than 150,000 books, from more than 5,000 publishers. There are nearly 70 million records and 1.4 billion cited references. Most records date since 1996 but Scopus has recently added records dated from 1970 - 1995.

Scopus does not in itself include the full-text of articles, but many records in a results list will have a View at publisher link. If that link doesn't work, use the Find it link to search for the full article via Primo Search.

Subject coverage includes:
* Life Sciences
* Health Sciences
* Physical Sciences
* Social Sciences & Humanities.

Scopus has a number of specialised features relating to bibliometrics which are mainly used by higher degree researchers. But one feature that might have wider application is the ability to use the View Cited By function to find articles that cite your selected articles(s). You can also sort your results list by citation count.

A note on access for academic/research staff: If you are academic/research staff and require access to your Charles Sturt researcher profile, please use this link - https://www.scopus.com - and sign in using the "Access through your Institution" option. Type Charles Sturt University into the search box and follow the prompts.
Web of Science This link opens in a new window
A collection of 6 databases available in the Thomson Reuters interface, the most significant of which are: Web of Science Core Collection; Current Contents Connect; MEDLINE; and SciELO Citation Index. These databases can be searched together or individually.
Details of the 6 databases are:
* Web of Science Core Collection - a collection of 5 citation indexes and 2 chemical indexes, where you can, amongst other things, find citing articles (ie articles that have cited a specific reference);
* Current Contents Connect - a current awareness product which includes tables of contents and citations from journals from all disciplines;
* KCI-Korean Journal Database - features research emanating from South Korea, and covers about 2,000 scholarly journals;
* MEDLINE - the well-known international health and medicine database, produced by the (US) National Library of Medicine;
* Russian Science Citation Index - covers Russian research in fields such as engineering, materials science, and ecology, with more than 600 journals indexed;
* SciELO Citation Index (Scientific Electronic Library Online) - a program of the Sao Paulo Research Foundation for the cooperative publishing of open access journals, which includes regional journals from Latin America and the Caribbean as well as titles from Spain, Portugal and South Africa.

These databases can be searched together ("All Databases", which is the default) or individually. To change to a single database, click on the drop-down arrow beside All Databases in the main tab-bar of the Web of Science screen.

Most of the articles in this databases don't have the full-text attached, but you can use the Find it button, situated beneath each record, to locate the full-text in another online database or in a campus library print holding.

Please note: Web of Science does not work in Internet Explorer 6 or 7, or Internet Explorer 8 or 9 when running in Compatibility View. If you wish to use Web of Science with IE, you should update the version, and, in IE 8 or 9, hit F12 and check that your Browser Mode is not set to Compatibility View.

Search tips

Start broad
Begin by searching in general education or multidisciplinary databases, then narrow down to more specific topics or methods.
Use specific keywords and synonyms
Combine terms like “active learning” or “student engagement” with variations like “teaching research” to get a wider range of results.
Look beyond your discipline
Explore research from other areas to find new ideas that might apply to your teaching.
Check various formats
Don’t just stick to journal articles—try conference papers, reports, and book chapters for different perspectives
Review citations
Look at the citations in key papers to discover other useful sources you might have missed.

For further recommendations and search assistance please see: