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ENGL 3000 Writing for Education/Social Sciences: Bibliography

Bibliography and Literature Review Assignments

You may want to use the Occupational Outlook Handbook. It's a handy document to know about, it's authoritative, is kept up-to-date, and is free and easy to find on the internet. I cleared it with Dr. Postell for this assignment, but it isn't a study!

You can use the Five Step format from the Research Study tab on this guide, and I have some Database Search Example formats that you may want to try, below. Play with your search words! For example, maybe you have a major that is called different things at different colleges and universities, or maybe you can use the name of the profession instead of the major. Play with your words and the database tools.

To Find Research Studies for you Bibliography and Literature Review: Choose a Subject Database related to your Major

1b/ Choose a GENERAL DATABASE if the subject databases aren't relevant to your topic

Research Tips for Bibliography and Literature Review

  1. Use Occupational Outlook Handbook for current statistics and employment information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
  2. As you scan articles, keep in mind the statistics and facts that Dr. Postell mentioned--sometimes that kind of info shows up in the Introduction portion of research studies.
  3. When you find a really good article, check its References to see if the author cited articles that will also fit your needs.
  4. When looking for an article's References, sometimes you're lucky and you'll see the "References" are easily available, like in this article:undefinedWhen you click on "References", you see that the database links you to the articles that the author used, or, at least shows a "Find It" option. "Cited by" are articles that are newer and cited the article you found. This article, above, "A comparative examination..." was cited in one article included in this database, but Ciampa and Gallagher cited 77 sources of information in their article. (It's a little complicated to think about until you get used to it--but VERY helpful). If the database doesn't provide the link to "References" like the snip above, you'll have to find the articles the old-fashioned way by looking at the end of the article, and searching for the titles in GALILEO.
  5.  

Database Search Example 1

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Database Search Example 2

This might be a good search for a Social Work major to use, in the Social Science Database or the Sociological Collection:

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The yellow highlights are database tips or tweaks that might make a huge difference--play with your search to get the best results! Ask me if you need help understanding.

The 3rd row of words is optional--I added the last row to narrow the search to employment, which is one of the elements that Dr. Postell suggested. Change the words, as needed.

Database Search Example 3

If you are an English major, you can try searching that, but, if you are planning to be an English teacher, that may be another option, or Language Arts teacher.

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Also, keep in mind some of the topics and statistics that Dr. Postell suggested, you can add a third row and look up "history" or "employment."

Is it a RESEARCH ARTICLE? And how do I Read these articles? And how do I Write a Review?

APA Citing Sources details

For further details, ask the Librarian for help--she has a copy of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, and is happy to help.

Database Example 4

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Be sure to select Peer Reviewed or Scholarly Journals to limit your search!

Q & A

Q1  Good afternoon Ms. Betsy

We are in the process of writing our bibliography and I'm debating my sources. We have to use scholarly/secondary sources and was hoping you could point me in the right direction. 

Some sources I have found are from the Council on Social Work Education, The National Association of Social Work, and The  U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Am I on the right track?
Perhaps the question I could myself is whether they are credible sources? Do I have the right idea?
A1   Hi,

You are on a very good track--but there are some complications, and I have some suggestions.

I like to start with a publication called the Occupational Outlook Handbook--it's published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics that you already found--you can Google the title. I believe it's one of the best documents the government ever published (especially for this assignment), and I cleared it with Dr. Postell. But it isn't a study!

I recommend you look for studies in databases using the list of databases on the left column. Articles from the Council on Social Work Education are not available for free on their website, but are available in the database Academic Search Complete (the link is in the second box down in the left column). This happens a lot—publishers want money for articles, so they aren’t free on the web.

I’ll put a suggested search for you in Database Search Example 2, in the center of the page, with some explanations.