It can be pretty intimidating to look at a search box and try to think of a research topic! This Course Guide is designed to help you discover topics, background information, and resources for your assignments. Browsing through education journals and reference sources is an excellent way to explore ideas for topics.

Following are some research topic ideas I got from browsing through journals:

• Consequences of school suspensions (American Journal of Education, 2018, Vol. 124, issue 4)
• Parental involvement in child's education (Childhood, 2009, Vol. 16, issue 1)
• Buddy reading (Early Childhood Education Journal, 2010, Vo. 38, Issue 4)

BIBLIOGRAPHY ASSIGNMENT

Once you have chosen your topic, you'll begin to search for the 15-20 references you need for this assignment. Finding a good, recent article as your starting point makes this an easier process. By following up on references from this article, you'll find others on the same, or similar, topic.

To find a recent article on your topic, try putting your topic in the search box above. From the list of results, refine your search (on the left-hand side) to "Scholarly & Peer-Review." You can also narrow your results by publication date to find something published within the past one, three, or five years.

ARTICLE CRITIQUE

Try some of the strategies on the Articles page of this guide for finding an article for this assignment. Make sure to choose a research article (with method, results, and discussion sections).

Not sure if a journal is refereed (also referred to as peer-reviewed)? Check the Ulrich's Web database. Keep in mind, not all articles in a refereed journal are subject to peer review though. For example, editorials and commentaries are not peer reviewed.

LITERATURE REVIEW ASSIGNMENT

Synthesis Matrix

Some of you might find a synthesis matrix to be a helpful tool to organize a literature review. Take a look at the example in the link below.