Resources for the Library Research Assignment
The tabs below will help you find resources for your library research assignment. They are labeled by the specific types of resources listed on your assignment.
OU Student Handbook
- OU Student HandbookThe student handbook lists the policies that apply to all OU students.
University Handbooks
To find sections from student handbooks that deal with your topic from universities other than OU, you can use Google's advanced search options.
- Type your research topic into the first search box.
- e.g. student handbook substance use
- In the Site or Domain box, type in .edu
- Click on "Advanced Search."
- When the search results pull up, scroll through the results for something that interests you.
- Use online citation helpers like CiteThisForMe for the citation of your online source.
OU Libraries Databases
It might be difficult to find scholarly articles specifically about the OU student handbook policy you chose because scholarly researchers typically like to include more than one school in their research sample. To write about any of OU’s policies, researchers would have to look at OU’s specific policies and devise original research ideas they think would add value or new knowledge to the field/scholarly community. Also, in order to avoid a sampling error, most researchers will not study OU’s policy by itself because studying one school’s policy will not be a good enough representative of the population as a whole and will most likely result in a sampling error. What I recommend is not limiting your search on the libraries’ databases to just OU, and instead, use terms like universities, colleges, higher education, etc. The following databases will find quality sources for most education topics.
- ERIC (EBSCO)An online library of education research, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education.
- Academic Search CompleteComprehensive, multidisciplinary database covering social sciences, humanities, education, physical and life sciences, and ethnic studies with access to more than 7,000 peer reviewed journals and over 75,000 videos from the Associated Press.
- CQ ResearcherProvides CQ Researcher reports that explore a single "hot" issue in the news each week, including political, social, medical, international, educational, environmental, technological and economical issues. Full text available.
ERIC Tutorial Video
- Using ERIC for Education Research Tutorial VideoLearn how to use the ERIC Database for education research.
OU Regent's Minutes Digital Collection
For most student handbook policies, understanding the decisions behind the policy can be helpful, so I also recommend searching OU Libraries’ Regent Minutes Digital Collection. The Regent Minutes are primary sources that are kept as a record of the decisions that have shaped our University’s past, present, and future.
- OU Regents' Minutes Digital CollectionsIn order to protect and archive this record and to provide better access to this rich source of University history, the Board of Regents' meeting minutes have been digitized in their entirety and made available online.
When you open a minutes document after you typed in your search terms, do a control (or command if you use a Mac) F search of the document for your student handbook policy.
Videos
To find YouTube videos about your student handbook policy, you can the main topic of your policy followed by congressional hearing or interview or TedTalk as your search terms. For example, if you are writing about OU's hazing policy, you can use hazing congressional hearing as your search term.
OU Libraries Video Databases
If you were not able to find a video about your student handbook policy on YouTube, you can try searching your policy on the libraries' video databases.
- AVON: Academic Video OnlineStreams academic video content, including acclaimed and award-winning interdisciplinary documentaries, independent non-fiction films, training and instructional videos, foreign films and shorts, and other educational titles.
- Counseling and Therapy in VideoStreams a collection of video available for the study of social work, psychotherapy, psychology, and psychiatric counseling. Includes video of counseling session demonstrations, consultations, lectures, presentations, and interviews.
- KanopyStreams videos supporting classes in the arts, business, health, media/communication, science, humanities and education.
Popular Magazines
The publications listed below are some of the popular magazines the libraries subscribes to that will help you find two short articles about your student handbook policy.
- The AtlanticTo access full text, use the EBSCOhost Academic Search Complete link in the View It section.
- Slate MagazineTo access full text, use the Nexis Uni link in the View It section of the page.
- The New YorkerTo access full text, use the EBSCOhost Academic Search Complete link in the View It section.
- Newspaper & Magazines Research GuideThis research guide provides information on accessing digital and print newspapers through OU Libraries.
- OU DailyThe student newspaper of the University of Oklahoma since 1916.