Education Research

Education Librarian

Kasey Swords, MLIS 

As the Education Librarian, it is my job to assist the students, faculty, and staff of the College of Education with library navigation, research, children's and young adult literature, the Curriculum Lab, citations, class presentations and assignment support, AI, and much more! 

My office is in Thrift Library, but I can also be found in the Curriculum Lab in Johnston 215. The best way to get in touch with me is by email, phone, or by scheduling a meeting through my Bookings link.

kswords@andersonuniversity.edu

864.231.5705 (call or text)

Book time with Kasey Swords

Navigating the Shelves

To organize the physical resources on the shelves, Thrift Library uses The Library of Congress Classification (LCC) System which is used by many academic libraries to organize and categorize books and other materials. Developed in the early 20th century, it divides knowledge into 21 broad subject areas, each represented by a letter (e.g., "P" for Language and Literature, "Q" for Science). These main classes are further divided using a combination of letters and numbers to create a hierarchical and specific classification. Unlike the Dewey Decimal System, which is used primarily in public and school libraries, LCC is more complex and better suited for large research collections.

You find a book on the shelf by using the call number, shown in the catalog entry for the item. Here is an example of a book from Thrift's catalog:

Screenshot of book record from library catalog

The call number is listed on the last line: LA212 .R423 2005 and will be written vertically on the spine label of the book.

How to Read a Call Number

The LC system uses the beginning letters and first line of numbers to indicate the subject of the book.  In this example, "L" signifies Education.  "A" signifies the subject subdivision History of Education, and the "212" specifies the United States.

As you might expect, the letters are ordered alphabetically.  For example, the letter D comes before K, and so forth.  Similarly, the letter L comes before LA, which comes before LB.

The numbers immediately following the first letter(s) are read as whole numbers.  For example, 212 comes before 761 but after 115.  Sometimes there are decimals in the first number.  In these cases, the whole numbers are read as before, but the numbers following the decimal are read as decimals.  For example, LA 212.63 comes before LA 212.7

How do we read decimals?  How are they different from whole numbers?

For example, 212.16 comes before 212.5 because .16 is a smaller decimal number than .50.  Similarly, 212.257836 comes before 212.3 because .257836 is a smaller decimal number than .3000000.

Cutter Numbers

The next part of the call number (.R423 in our example) is referred to as the Cutter number, which is an expansion on subject classification. Cutter numbers contain letters, which are ordered alphabetically and decimal numbers.  So, for example, .R423 comes after .B76 and .R227, but before .R966 and .T381.

Date of Publication

The last number in the above example, 2004, is the date of publication.  This is to be shelved in chronological order for the same book.  For example, a 2004 second edition comes after the original 1978 publication but before the 2006 third edition.

Education Call Numbers

See the table below for a list of Education-specific LCC call numbers you can utilize as you browse the shelves in Thrift Library or other academic libraries:

Subclass Contents
L General (periodicals, official documents and reports, directories)
LA History of education
LB Theory and practice of education 
LC Special aspects of education (social issues, communities, types of education, inclusiveness, education of special persons)
LD Individual institutions-United States
LE Individual institutions-America (except the United States)
LF Individual institutions-Europe
LG Individual institutions-Asia, Africa, Indian Ocean islands, Australia, New Zealand, Pacific islands
LH College and school magazines and papers
LJ Student fraternities and societies, United States
LT Textbooks

For more details of each subclass, visit the Library of Congress's Classification Outline.

Map of Thrift's Upstairs Stacks

Black and white map of Thrift Library's second floor

Online Research tools

Scholarly articles are crucial in research because they provide credible, peer-reviewed, and evidence-based information that advances knowledge in a given field. They ensure academic integrity, support arguments with well-researched data, and help researchers stay updated with the latest developments and theories. Thrift Library provides digital resources students need to support their work with articles available through our collection, through online databases, or through PASCAL Delivers.

The first step in finding resources should be Thrift Library's catalog. Here you will find digital holdings, articles through Open Access, full-text articles, and more. For videos and more information on navigating the catalog for online resources, review the Library DIY's Searching for Specific Information Sources. For most research, view the Articles tab or the Journals & Magazines tab for the best tutorials. 

Databases

The following databases provide you with scholarly, peer-reviewed articles and other resources needed for research specifically in education and related topics:

Academic Search Premier is a comprehensive database of academic journals.

Education Database includes full-text journals and dissertations supporting research on the theory and practice of education. 

Education Source Ultimate* includes access to journal articles, conference papers, and videos on topics in education. 

Educator's Reference Complete* includes periodicals covering education from preschool to college in every educational specialty.

ERIC (Education Resource Information Center) provides access to educational literature and resources.

PsycINFO (APA)* provides citations to millions of psychology articles, book chapters, books, and dissertations.

Psychology* helps you find authoritative content supporting research in all fields of psychology.

Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection* covers almost 500 scholarly full-text journals.

Professional Development Collection is a highly specialized database of full-text information especially for educators, professional librarians, and education researchers. 

SAGE Journals* provides access to more than 1,000 journals across a range of disciplines. 

Teacher Reference Center provides indexing and abstracts for 280 periodicals with topics including assessment, best practices, continuing education, pedagogical research, curriculum development, and more. 

Citing Your Work

Students need to cite sources whenever they reference someone else's ideas, research, or findings in their own work. This includes direct quotes, paraphrased ideas, statistics, or any material that isn't common knowledge. Whether you're building on previous research in a literature review, supporting your thesis with evidence, or discussing the work of others, citations show where your information comes from and give credit to the original authors. Proper citation is required in all types of academic writing, from essays to research papers and even presentations.

Citing sources is essential because it shows the foundation of your arguments, giving credit to the researchers whose work you've built upon. It also allows readers to trace your sources, check your claims, and verify your evidence. Proper citations help maintain academic integrity and avoid plagiarism, ensuring your work is both credible and reliable.

Your professor should tell you which citation style they require for your work. In education fields, the most common style is APA (American Psychological Association), but you may also be asked to use MLA (Modern Language Association) or Chicago. Check the boxes below for more information on each.

If you are citing resources found within Thrift Library's catalog, citations will be generated for you within each resources catalog listing. Simply click "Citation" under tools in the listing, choose which citation style you are using, and the citation can be pasted into your references page. Most databases will also generate citations for you as well. If you need to cite something yourself, see the information below on guides for each style. 

APA Citations

The APA Style is most often used in the social sciences, including education. This style features an abstract, in-text citations, and a reference page.  

For an overview on citations, including the resources listed below, visit LibraryDIY. 

  • APA Style (website) The APA Style website offers quick guides to paper formatting and citations.
    • Navigate to the Style and Grammar Guidelines tab.

If you prefer to learn in a visual format, click the link below for a short tutorial featuring videos:

  • Tutorial on APA 7th edition Anderson students have access to tutorials on information literacy topics, including an overview on citations using APA.

MLA Citations

MLA, or Modern Language Association, citation format is most often required in the humanities subjects like English, literature, foreign languages, comparative literature, and cultural studies. It features parenthetical in-text citations and a "Works Cited" page. 

For an overview on citations, including the resources listed below, visit LibraryDIY.

  • MLA Handbook A physical copy of the MLA handbook is available at Thrift Library.

If you prefer to learn in a visual format, click the link below for a short tutorial featuring videos:

  • MLA Tutorial Anderson students have access to tutorials on information literacy topics, including an overview on citations using

Chicago (Turabian) Style

Chicago Style (or Turabian) is most often used in the humanities, particularly in fields like history, art, and literature. While it offers two formats, footnotes/endnotes and parenthetical in-text citations, you will most often see footnotes and endnotes being used with a Bibliography. 

What is the difference between Chicago and Turabian? Virtually nothing. The Chicago Manual of Style is the name of the style guide for use by professionals while Turabian is a simplified guide for use by students. They use the same citational style and people often refer to them interchangeably. 

For an overview on citations, including the resources listed below, visit LibraryDIY.