About This Guide

This guide presents the resources the education librarian considers to be the most important academic databases to search, the leading journals to follow, and so forth. You’ll also find some tips to help you evaluate sources, organize your work, and accomplish your literature review.

If you are new to this topic, you may want to begin by finding background information through an encyclopedia such as Wikipedia or Britannica Online, though in most cases it is not appropriate to cite these in a college-level paper. Anyone can contribute content in Wikipedia – so watch out for biased viewpoints, incomplete or simply incorrect material.

Databases

Use these databases to discover articles, books, and other literature on your topic. Note that if you come across a citation without full text attached, do not assume the library has no access. Learn this nearly foolproof way to Get the Full Text of an Article.

Two largest:

BU Libraries Search
Our Search represents by far the most comprehensive grouping of resources we’ve ever been able to provide. You can find extensive search tips on our site, build an eShelf, and export citations to RefWorks.

Google Scholar
Off-campus users need to set two “Scholar Preferences” to take advantage of library subscriptions: type “Boston University” in Library Links and also choose RefWorks next to Bibliography Manager.

Other important databases:

Journals

The best way to discover articles is to search databases (try Search) – you will be searching millions of records at once. But following journal literature periodically is still a very important aspect of scholarship. Depending on the provider, you may be able to set up Table of Contents alerts, save personalized searches, or even contribute to the editorial process.

Find each title below through our Search. The following journals are leading in this field.

Australasian Journal of Educational Technology
British Journal of Educational Technology
Digital Age Literacy for Teachers
Digital Citizenship in Schools
Education Technology News
Educational Technology and Society
Educational Technology Research and Development
Electronic Journal for the Integration of Technology in Education
Journal of Literacy and Technology
Journal of Research on Technology in Education
National Educational Technology Standards for Administrators
Research in Science and Technological Education
THE Journal Technological Horizons in Education
TOJET the Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology

Books

Discovering our print books and eBooks can be done through Search. Additionally, for more comprehensive literature reviews I suggest going beyond what BU already owns by using WorldCat. Current members of the BU community can borrow books that we don’t own through our interlibrary borrowing services. Other important book tools include the Internet Archive, Google Books, and of course Amazon.com.

Subject Headings

• Computer-assisted Instruction
• Educational Technology
• Educational Technology — United States
• Internet in Education

Selected List of Titles

The Anti-Education Era: Creating Smarter Students through Digital Learning

Mugar LB1028.3 .G44 2013

Connected Minds : Technology and Today’s Learners

Education LB1028.3 .P47 2012

Digital Schools : How Technology Can Transform Education

Mugar LB1028.3 .W426 2012

Documenting Learning with Eportfolios : A Guide for College Instructors

Mugar LB1029.P67 L54 2012

Future of Thinking: Learning Institutions in a Digital Age

Mugar LB1028.3 .D275 2010

Getting Smart : How Digital Learning is Changing the World

Mugar LB1028.5 .V26 2012

Harnessing America’s Wasted Talent: A New Ecology of Learning

Mugar LB1028.3 .S59 2010

Leading Technology-Rich Schools : Award-Winning Models for Success

Mugar LB2805 .L392 2012

Leading the Technology-Powered School

Mugar LB1028.3 .G723 2011

Social Media for Educators : Strategies and Best Practices

Mugar LB1044.87 .J667 2012

Teaching Naked : How Moving Technology Out of  Your College Classroom Will Improve Student Learning

Mugar LB1028.3 .B69 2012

Transformative Approaches to New Technologies and Student Diversity in Futures Oriented Classrooms : Future Proofing Education

Mugar LB1028.3 .T73 2012

Instructional Technology

• Apple Learning Interchange K-12
• E-rate and the Digital Divide: A Preliminary Analysis from the Integrated Studies of Educational Technology
• E-School News
• Encouraging Critical Thinking Online (Recommended by Scout Report)
• From Now On
• Information and Communication Technology in Education
• Krasker Film/Video Services Catalog
• Media Awareness Network
• PBS-TeacherSource
• Power of the Internet for Learning: Final Report of Web-Based Education Commission
• Technology Education Lab
• Uwired

Professional Organizations

• Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education
• Association for Educational Communications and Technology
• Center for Media Literacy
• EduCause
• International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)
• Milliken Family Foundation
• National Educational Technology Standards
• U.S. Office of Educational Technology

Dan Benedetti (benededa@bu.edu)