Educational Psychology

Developing a search query can be a challenge. Here are some tips to help.

• Check out a database's Thesaurus to find appropriate keywords for the item for which you are looking. 

• A longer search query helps databases retrieve more specific resources

• Using "OR" between terms will retrieve more results, e.g. "educational psychology" OR "school psychology"

• Using "AND" between terms will retrieve less results
   
• Add Canad* or province name(s) to your search strategy as a separate concept to narrow the search results. (Canad* will search for Canadian or Canada.) For example: Canad* OR Alberta OR “British Columbia” OR “Prince Edward Island”...
   
• Use a * (star) truncation symbol, which acts as a wildcard to broaden a search by finding variations of a word's ending, e.g. psych*
   
• Use " " (quotation marks) to tell the database to treat the enclosed words as an exact phrase, e.g. "educational psychology"

Sample Database Search

The following search strategy will help limit results to resources that focus on teaching English as a second language. Also adding keywords describing the students' grade level (e.g. "high school") and/or a specific research focus will help create a more precise search.

• "second language instruction" OR "second language learning" OR "foreign language education" 
  AND
  english
  AND
  "high school"

The following search strategy will help limit results to resources that focus on special education. Also adding keywords describing the students' grade level (e.g. "high school") as well as terms describing the special disability will help create a more precise search.

• "Children with disabilities" OR "People with disabilities" OR "students with disabilities" OR "exceptional learner*" OR "gifted learner*" OR "special education" OR "inclusive education"
  AND
  "high school" OR "elementary school" OR "primary school" OR kindergarten* OR "grade 12"...
  AND
  Alberta

The following search strategy will help limit results to resources that focus on educational tests and measurements as well as program evaluation.

• Educational tests and measurements: 
  "Educational test* and measur*" OR "Psychological test*" OR "Psychological measur*" OR Psychodiagnos* OR Psychometric*
  AND
  "elementary school*" OR "primary school*" OR kindergarten*
   
• Program evaluation:
  "preservice teacher?" OR "student teacher*"
  AND
  "program evaluation" OR "educational evaluation" OR "program effectiveness" OR "evaluation research"

The following search strategy will help limit results to resources that focus on school counselling. Also adding keywords describing the students' grade level (e.g. "high school") will help create a more precise search.

• "educational counsel*" OR "school counsel*" OR "guidance counsel*" OR "school-based mental health" OR "student support service*" OR "student counsel*" OR "school-based intervention"
  AND
  "high school" OR "elementary school" OR "primary school" OR kindergarten* OR "grade 12"...
  AND
  Alberta