MATH 219 - Brigance
Math Education Resources
" Getting Started With Your Research - Search Strategies
Before starting a search, think about exactly what you are looking for by developing a search strategy. Developing a search strategy works for several important reasons.
- Helps focus your search
- Gives you something to work with
- Saves you time
- Helps you find larger amount of relevant information
Building a Search Strategy
This works the same way using Google or using a database. Google just makes it a bit easier to start out!
Think about the focus of your question. Summarize your topic into a sentence or question and be specific!
Example: I want to find games about using numbers for early elementary students
Identify key concepts. From your sentence, underline the two or three main concepts.
Example: numbers; games; early elementary students
Select terms to describe your concepts. Remember to include other words that describe these concepts including synonyms, related words, plurals, and variant spellings.
Example: numbers; ordinals; numerals; numeric values; kindergarten; grade 1; grade 2
If you use phrases, put them in quotation marks
Example: "grade 1"; "numeric values"
Combine the terms into a search statement. Advanced Search in Google helps you do this.
- Connect the terms that are similar with the word OR and the word AND (Google assumes AND) for all the words you need.
- OR tells the database that any or all terms must be included.
- AND tells the database or search engine that you want only the results that include each of the items listed.
- Use parentheses if using a database to group similar terms together.
Connect these OR concepts with the word AND between the parentheses.
Example: games AND (numbers OR numerals OR ordinals or "numeric values" ) AND (kindergarten OR "grade 1" OR "grade 2")
If searching Google, try limiting to .edu websites in Advanced Search.
Example: Find the 'Search within a site or domain' box.
Don't give up! Keep trying! The research process is a trial and error process. You build on what you learn. What if you absolutely cannot think of other search terms to describe your topic? Contact a librarian!
This power point has more information on developing a search strategy: Getting Started With Research
For more information on the research process, check out this fun tutorial: The Research Process
Research Guide: Education
Our Research Guide for Education is available to help you research. I pulled several of the websites below from this resource.
On the Web
There are several good sites on the Internet for resources about math education topics:
Highly RecommendedALA Great Websites for Kids (American Library Association) - Mathematics
A treasurehouse of websites covering all different math concepts with games, lesson plans, and information at all levels. Check out the National Library of Virtual Data to start.
MORE: Michigan Online Resources for EducatorsThousands of education websites aligned to Michigan Content Standards. You'll need to register for a free account.
NCTM: National Council of Teachers of MathmaticsThis month's Teaching Tip: Learn Ways to Evaluate Math Games
PBS TeachersOnline lesson plans and other free educational resources grouped by subject and school levels. Public Broadcasting System stations provide this resource with funding help from the U.S. Department of Education and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Another PossibilityEduHound.com: Everything for Education K-12!
Some useful free information, especially the Awesome Clip Art for Educators. But, beware! Some websites will require a subscription purchase.
In-Depth Research - Using the Library Catalog
Remember that most in-depth research and historical information is published in books and scholarly journals, not on the Web. When doing a report (such as work on the history of mathematics), you will be much more efficient if you use resources that contain "Deep Web" information. You'll be helping your students if you can teach them how to do this as well!
FLITE owns more than 40,000 ebooks, so access on-campus and off-campus is easier than it ever was in the past. Access the classic FLITE Library Catalog or use the Catalog tab on the library homepage to search.
You may want to explore both Keyword and Subject searching. Once you've found results, use the Subject search to find more books on the same topic.
MeL
As a researcher or as an educator, the Michigan E-Library is a resource not to be missed. You need to know about MeL if you are teaching in Michigan. Several
of the major FLITE databases are available as free online resources to the citizens of Michigan, provided by the Library of Michigan without charge.
MeL - the Michigan eLibrary
Click on MeL Databases - See Databases From Home for a list of available resources, including Academic OneFile, ERIC, and Educator's Reference Complete.
When you are not in a library, you will need to use either your Michigan library card barcode number or your Michigan
Driver's License/ID number to access the databases.
Citations
Check out our Citations web page for help with your references and bibliographies! Avoid plagiarism by properly citing your sources.
The following links provide information on how to use APA:
Citation Style Guide: APA (PDF)
An APA Citation Style guide with examples created by FLITE.
OWL - Online Writing Lab at Purdue - APA Style
A terrific website for helping you write and cite any paper for any subject.
Citation Style Guide for Images and Media: APA (PDF)
A FLITE-produced guide detailing how to use and cite images, video, podcasts and other media in presentations and papers.
Copies of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Sixth Edition, are located in the Ready Reference section near the FLITE Oval Information Desk at FLITE itself, or you can contact any academic library near you to take a look at a copy of the manual.
Online Help with Citation Generators
KnightCite, a tool prepared by the Hekman Library at Calvin College, will help you format your citations properly if you are having trouble figuring out the proper form.
Son of Citation Machine is a tool which you can use to create bibliographies. Please be aware that you will have to review your bibliography to ensure it is correct.
KnightCite
(www.knightcite.com)
Son of Citation Machine
(http://citationmachine.net)
Contact: Kristen Motz / Email / Phone: 231-591-3625 / Office: FLITE 140H
Don't forget, you are welcome to come to the Oval Information Desk and ask for help any time. You can also call us 231-591-3602 or chat with us.
Make an appointment for a research consultation with a librarian - one-on-one personal library help.
Last update: January 20, 2011