Lehigh Valley Writing Project
Summer Institute

LIBRARY GUIDE

Contact: Judy Sandt, Reference Librarian
Location: PSLV Library
Email: jsandt@psu.edu

quick links:
The CAT / Worldcat /ERIC /Databases A-Z / Databases by Subject /
ILLIAD / Google Books / Google Scholar / Gale Virtual Reference Library

finding books

The CAT is Penn State's online catalog of over 5 million items including books, videos, audio cds, maps, musical scores, dissertations, newspapers, journals, and more.

Students may borrow books from any Penn State campus. To search all Penn State libraries, choose ALL from the In Library menu. To order books from other campuses, use the I Want It button at the top of every detail page.

To locate information on a subject, try the Topic: Title + Subject search.

Go to the CAT

Libraries Borrowing Policies:
Loan periods are usually four weeks, and can be renewed online using the My Library Account link at the top of the screen in The CAT. Books can be recalled for another user. Respond promptly to library notices to avoid fines. For more information see the University Libraries Lending Code.

Books Elsewhere:

If you need a book not owned by Penn State Libraries, it may be available from another library. Check WorldCat, with 38 million items in libraries around the world. To order a book while in WorldCat, users registered with ILLIAD can use the ILL icon at the top of the page.

Note: Books requested from other institutions may take longer to arrive and have shorter loan periods.

Lehigh Valley Writing Project Collection
LVWP maintains a collection of over 600 books for use by Fellows and students enrolled in LVWP classes. A full listing of these books, housed in the Resource Room of the Penn State Lehigh Valley Corporate Learning Center, is available at LibraryThing.com.

finding articles

Penn State students have access to over 400 online databases, or e-resources, many of which include full text journal articles. A complete listing of the e-resources can be found on the Databases by Title A-Z list. Databases By Subject makes it easier to identify the appropriate e-resources on a given topic. MultiSearch searches multiple databases at one time.

For a customized search strategy, email a reference librarian and include your topic, course title, and any other relevant information.

Suggested E-Resources

Education Databases

  • ERIC Database (Educational Resources Information Center) is the world's largest source of education information, containing over one million abstracts on education research and practice.
  • Kraus Curriculum Development Library(KCDL)Online is a searchable database of collections of curriculum guides, lesson plans, frameworks, standards, and teaching practices for PreK-12, and Adult Basic Education. Information in the database covers all disciplines, subjects, and grade levels found in PreK through 12th grade education and Adult Basic Education.
    Using KCDL Online PowerPoint Tutorial
  • Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts covers all aspects of the study of language, including phonetics, phonology, morpohology, syntax and semantics, hearing and speech pathology, philosophy of language, and applied linguistics. It indexes journals in the field from 1973-present, and is updated monthly. 1246 journals are currently monitored for inclusion in the database.
  •  Professional Development Collection (Education) is designed for professional educators and librarians, provides a highly specialized collection of over 515 full text journals, including nearly 350 peer-reviewed titles, with full text dating as far back as 1965. It also provides full text for 167 education pamphlets, a searchable images database, and will soon contain full text for scholarly monographs. A title list can be seen at http://www.epnet.com/titlelists/pdf/tf.pdf.

Get the full text of articles

Many of the resources listed above include the full-text of the article. If a Get It! button appears with the title of the article, click it. If any of the Penn State online resources offer the entire article, you will be able to link from the Get It! screen

If full-text is not available, click ILLiad on the Get It screen. The ILLiad request form will be automatically generated with the citation information. Just click submit. Generally articles ordered via ILLiad are available online within 24-48 hours.

If you have the citation of an article and want to obtain the full text, or if you want to check whether full text for a specific journal is available, use Citation Linker.

For a summary and more information, visit www.libraries.psu.edu/articles.html.

Other Education Related E-resources

finding reference sources

Reference books are usually referred to for aid and information rather than read cover to cover and generally do not leave the library. Types of reference books include dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks, directories, and atlases.

Many reference sources are now available online. On the E-Resource List, Gale Virtual Reference Library offers full-text of many encyclopedias and other reference works.

To identify a reference work on the shelves of the library, consult The CAT. Do a Keyword Search and select Reference Book from the Material Type menu. Limit the search to the Penn State Lehigh Valley Library.

finding style guides

Social Sciences: Documenting Sources (APA Style)
Humanities: Documenting Sources (MLA Style)
Automatic Citation Generators - Choose a style and document type, enter the information, and DocsCite will automatically produce an APA or MLA citation

finding help

Classroom Action Research provides a step-by-step guide to the research process.

Educational Research and Top 10 Education Research Tips handouts offer assistance with Penn State resources.

For additional library research assistance, stop by the library reference desk or email Judy Sandt, jsandt@psu.edu.

last updated July 2007