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The following is a guide to research sources for your CHLD 353 project. Keep in mind that this list is not complete! However, it is a good place to start, especially if you are feeling unsure regarding what information resources will be considered to be of acceptable quality by your instructor.
Please remember that you can always ask for additional research help from the friendly librarians at the Meriam Library Reference Desk, or you can contact Liz Colson the liaison librarian to the Child Development Program at 898-6604, or ecolson@csuchico.edu. |
- Why? Reference books are generally written in easy to read language, and have articles that are either brief or moderate in length!
- Where? Here is a list of reference books to help get you started.
- All the resources listed are designed to help you find background information for your child development topics.
Tracing a Topic Through the Information Timeline
Using an Information Timeline approach, you can conduct research that traces a topic from its inception through time. Or, taking the approximate age of your topic into consideration, you can use the timeline to help you determine the best research resources to use for that topic, for example, news sources, scholarly articles, books, reference book, etc
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Days After an Event Occurs
- Use newspapers when you want the first accounts of an event (topic) or when you want to read brief articles written for a general audience.
The following sources will help you find newspaper articles:
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Weeks After an Event Occurs
- You can still use newspapers (above), but you will now be able to find general news magazine ( Time , Newsweek , etc.) articles about your topic, or, professional web sites that include news items. Still written for a general audience, these article will contain more detail than the newspaper articles.
The following sources will help you find articles from news magazines:
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Months / 1 - 2 Years After an Event Occurs
- You can still use news magazine articles (above), but you will now be able to find articles from trade and specialty publications as well as scholarly publications. The level of writing will be becoming more sophisticated and will be written by specialists in the field. More documentation of sources will be occurring and the discussions are more detailed and theoretical.
The following databases will help you find these types of articles:
- Academic Search: Articles going back to the early 1990's. Note: this database contains newspaper, general news magazine, and scholarly journal articles.
- ERIC: Educational Resources Information Center: Citations to the literature in the field of Education.
- PsycINFO: You can identify the literature of the psychology field going back to the late 1800's.
- PubMed/Medline: Citations to the literature of the medical field.
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Two or More Years After an Event Occurs
- Once an event (topic) has been around for awhile, you'll be able to find lots of books. You can also find summaries of the topic in reference works such as encyclopedias, yearbooks, dictionaries, etc.
The following resources will be useful:
- The Library Catalog: Use the Meriam Library Catalog to locate books on your topic.
- PHAROS: Use PHAROS to identify books on your topic that are available in other CSU libraries. Once you identify a book, you can order it via Interlibrary Loan by clicking on the "Request This Item" button.
- Reference Book: Use the reference books listed on this page for good overviews of established child development topics.
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Citing Your Sources
You will need to cite all your sources using APA Style. If you use a lot of online resources, the citations can get a little tricky.
Remember: When you cite an Internet web page, you must list much more than just the URL (web address). You also need to look for a title, author, the date the page was created, and the date you accessed the site. For help, try looking at the following:
Handouts Available from the Meriam Library
Other Guides Available on the WWW
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