How to find information for
your assignment in Education
OBE is Dead, Long Live Content
Journal articles
Using
search techniques
Use databases to find journal articles on a
topic
Where do I find databases?
Database: EBSCOhost
SABINET: SA ePublications
USING SEARCH
TECHNIQUES
What is your topic?
What are the main ideas (keywords)
of your topic?
 Think of:
Synonyms
Alternative spellings
Abbreviations / Acronyms
Broader or narrower meanings of
your original keywords
Synonym - a word that means the same
as another word in the same language
 Student
= pupil
 Tear = rip
 Sick = ill
Alternative name – a word or
expression that is used as another name
for something
 Primary or elementary (school)
 Teacher / educator / tutor / instructor
Alternative spelling
Colour, flavour, honour, neighbour, rumour,
labour, humour (British English)
Color, flavor, honor, neighbor, rumor, labor,
humor (American English)
Abbreviation
OBE – Outcomes based education
NCS – National Curriculum Statement
AD – attention disorder
Boolean operators
AND
OR
NOT
Articles will contain
Education and Reform
Articles will contain either
Elementary or Primary
Articles will contain
Virus but not computer
Example
Topic
Is Ritalin an effective treatment for
boys with ADHD ?
Ritalin
AND
Boys
OR
AND
ADHD
Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
Methylphenidate
hydrochloride
Males
ADD
Hyperactivity
Hyperkinesia in children
OR
Children
Behavior disorders in children
Young men
Behaviour disorders in children
Phrase searching
Search for particular words in a particular
order
“South Africa”
“classroom management”
“curriculum integration”
Phrases are often enclosed in quotation marks
“
“
Most databases will use the
following search techniques for
phrase searching
 “project management”
“curriculum implementation”
“South Africa”
Truncation
 The addition of a symbol at the end of a word
so the computer will look for all variations of
that word
 Broadens your search
Teach*
Teachable
Teacher
Teachers
Teaching
 Different databases, different symbols
*?#+
ONLINE DATABASES
A database - searchable,
electronic collection of either
full text documents (including
journal articles) or citations
and abstracts
Citation

A reference to a published or unpublished
source for the purpose of acknowledging
the relevance of the work of others to
the topic of discussion
Abstract

A statement summarising the important
points of a text
Multidisciplinary databases
 Academic
Search Complete
 E-Journals
 MasterFILE
Premier
Subject specific databases
(Education)
 ERIC
 Teacher
Reference Center
If your research involves:
Psychology (behavioural science and
mental health) use PsycINFO
Languages- Communication & Mass
Media Complete
You can search across several
databases simultaneously!
Databases for searching in Education
Keywords:
OBE
Or
“Outcomes based education”
And
“South Africa”
•Click Full text to access only full text journal
articles
•Click Scholarly Journals
•Limit the dates to the last 10 years
•Press Search
382 Results: used OR to broaden our search
Keywords:
OBE
And
“Outcomes based education”
And
“South Africa”
17 Results: used AND to narrow our search
Click on
the
article
title to
see a full
citation
Abstract (or
synopsis)
provides an easyto-understand
summary of the
entire article
points
PDF link: full text
Subjects of an
article
Citation page: link to PDF, Print, Email, Save and Cite
To go back – use Result List button
Introduction
 The South African Situation
 The Vision of OBE

Move slider to change dates and click on
“Update”
to narrow your search by date – 13 results
Working with folders
SABINET ONLINE/
SA E-PUBLICATIONS
Search techniques for SABINET
 Phrase
searching
project w management (not “ “)
 Truncation
Teach? (not *)
Home page of SA ePublications
Click on the title of the
article to read an abstract
Back to the Results list