This Library guide to Education Graduate-level Resources was last updated: 7/13/2023
** New ** NMU Olson Library is now using RapidILL, where most article requests are processed within 24 hours.
Mike @ Reference
Updated: March 13, 2024 for winter 2024 semester of library renovation
Professor Mike Strahan is generally available for assistance weekday afternoons 1pm - 4pm ET, & evenings 8pm - 11 pm ET via live chat, email, & zoom.
Assistance is available via Live Chat (see box on right side of this library guide & his other library guides), EduCat Messaging, email or phone (906-227-2463).
Professor Strahan is also available via Zoom by Appointment (including groups).
Students may schedule an appointment with Professor Strahan via live chat, clicking on the "Schedule Appointment" button, through EduCat Messaging, phone, or via email: Click here to email Professor Mike Strahan
For those students who attend classes on-campus or visit campus, Professor Strahan is available in person:
Mondays: 1 - 4 pm @ Reference in Jamrich Hall lobbies (look for green sign)
Tuesdays: 1 - 5pm in office (Library in Gries ground floor)
Wednesdays: 1 - 3pm @ Reference in Whitman Room 179 (Dept. of Education office--see arrow below). Look for green sign.
Wednesdays: 3 - 4pm Reference in The Science Building Room 1540A (go through Hearing Clinic across from SLH Office Room 1513), & 4 - 5pm (office hour) in Room 1540A. Look for green signs.
Thursdays: usually not available afternoons, but available Thursday evenings online.
Fridays: 2 - 4 pm in office (Library in Gries ground floor)
Please note: Library instruction & committee meetings may affect the above daytime schedule.
Professor Strahan looks forward to helping you with APA style, searching, and questions about Library services.
A to Z practical guide to emotional and behavioural difficulties (2012)
A-Z of school health (UK, 2003)
Concise encyclopedia of educational linguistics (1999) 1 person at a time
Concise encyclopedia of special education (2002; updated abridged version of 2000 ed.)
Encyclopedia of Education (2003, 8 vols.)
Encyclopedia of middle grades education (2016)
Encyclopedia of multicultural education (1999)
New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Volume 17: Education (2011)
Philosophy of Education: The Key Concepts (1999)
Important: You must use the links below to access the new OneSearch w/library catalog, Google Scholar, ERIC, etc. Otherwise, you will not be able to retrieve NMU Library's thousands of online journals through these databases.
When searching for articles, in order to limit results to peer-reviewed works, click on "Peer reviewed" box below search boxes (except for Google Scholar which does not have such a limiter).
Search Library Catalog through OneSearch (advanced search screen)
Use this link to access the advanced search screen, where users may indicate which fields to search (e.g., title, author, or subject) instead of everything. Also allows the searcher to set some limits (material type such as language, and publication years) before running the search.
OneSearch for finding articles (advanced search screen)
Use this link to access the advanced search screen, where users may indicate which fields to search (e.g., title, author, or subject) instead of everything. Also allows the searcher to set some limits before running the search.
Ulrich's Periodicals Directory - Use this resource to check whether a publication is peer-reviewed/scholarly/academic. Remember to search on journal title, not article title.
MLA International Bibliography - great for journals about English, reading, comprehension, and literacy. Journals, books, and other resources in the fields of literature, language, linguistics, and folklore. Also includes materials on film studies. 1926 to present.
Journal articles, books, and other resources across many subjects. Provides a "cited by" feature to indicate other papers containing a source paper as a reference.
Google Scholar - "Invalid Domain for Site Key" Error
In an effort to optimize user experience during peak activity, Google Scholar may prompt Northern Michigan University patrons to complete a reCAPTCHA widget to verify their non-robot status. Unfortunately, a security glitch in Google's widget may result in an "Invalid domain for site key" error for patrons accessing the Library's off-campus proxy server.
Workaround:
If you possess a Google Account, you can integrate it with the Library using the following steps:
- Visit the un-proxied version of Google Scholar at https://scholar.google.com.
- Click the "Sign In" button and log in with your NMU account (xxxx@nmu.edu).
- From the menu icon (three bars at the top left), select "Settings," then choose "Library Links."
- In the Library Links section of the Settings menu, confirm that "Northern Michigan University - Get it@NMU," is selected.
- If it is not already selected, search for Northern Michigan University in the search bar. Then, select the checkbox next to "Northern Michigan University - Get it@NMU," click the "Save" button in the lower right.
Once saved, you can return to the Google Scholar homepage. You should now be able to explore Google Scholar without utilizing NMU's off-campus proxy, while still having access to the "Get it@NMU" links directing you to our full-text databases.
If the provided workaround does not resolve your Google Scholar access issues, we recommend patience, as Google typically resets the faulty reCAPTCHA requirement after approximately 24 hours.
Journal articles covering biomedical research and the clinical sciences including nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, pharmacy, allied health, and pre-clinical sciences. Also good coverage of literature in cellular and molecular biology and biochemistry. Formerly known as MEDLINE. Mid 1960's to present.
Access note: Must use this special URL for 
links to appear in article abstracts
OneSearch Guide
OneSearch is the central index to the library's collections. There are 4 search options within OneSearch: Everything, Articles, Library Catalog, and Course Reserves. Each tab below details how to search in these options. Two separate tabs walk you through requesting something via Interlibrary Loan (ILL). The last tab, Using Advanced Search, describes ways to use that method across all 4 options.
Suggest a Topic: If you have a topic you would like to see represented in this guide, send us Feedback.
Everything, the default search, will search all of the collections at once. It can be overwhelming because of the sheer number of hits that result. You might consider limiting your search to the Library Catalog or Articles. It's up to you.
A search for climate change, from the search box on the library homepage, looks like this:
The search from here is immediately in Everything, which brings back, in this example, nearly 11 million results! That's too many. Searching from now on, once you're in OneSearch, allows you to tell the system where to search.
Let's alter our search by putting quotes around "climate change", because it's a phrase. We aren't interested in climate or change by themselves, but the phrase "climate change". We'll still search Everything, and get over 7 million this time, but then we'll narrow the results down even more.
Off to the right-hand side of your over 7 million hits is "Refine your results". Here is where you have the power to significantly narrow down your reults. The image below, adjusted for space, indicates what you can narrow your results to.
As you can see, there is a lot of sorting and narrowing down you can do. If you find something that is not available immediately, request it. The image below is what you'll see. The Interlibrary Loan tab on this guide walks you through this process.
Articles searches the full-text of peer-reviewed journals, magazines, newspapers and other periodicals. It also searches the full-text of ebooks, streaming video, dissertations/theses, conference papers, and government documents. It really is a lot more than what you might consider articles. Keeping with our "climate change" example, let's limit the results to articles:
To limit these results to Peer-Reviewed Journals, Click the Peer-reviewed journals link on the right-hand side to limit results to this type of material. If limiting to multiple availability options, click each checkbox then click Apply Filters.
This will further narrow down your results--can you see a pattern? The more you select, the narrower your results. Articles available online will indicate such 
and might require you to log in with your NMU username and password and 2-factor authentication to a database:
If you see an article that you want but OneSearch indicates that there is no online access, request it. The image below is what you'll see. The Interlibrary Loan tab on this guide walks you through this process.
Library Catalog searches the complete holdings of the library's print and electronic collection. This includes books, book chapter titles, video and sound recordings, maps and government documents, and the Pre-K thru 12 collection. You will not find articles in a Library Catalog search. Video: How to find a book (1:18). Video: How to find an ebook (1:45).
The default list is relevance--you may want to sort by date or title--it's up to you. You also can limit your results to what we have physically in the library or results that are electronic only (you can view these anywhere on your device) as well as the material type.
You are also able to limit your search to a particular author, date, language, etc, including location.
Clicking on the title of a book (or DVD or whatever NMU has in its physical collection) brings up more information. In this example, this publication is both here at the library and online:
Limit results to: Holocaust Collection. As part of your search include the phrase "NMU Holocaust"., and you can further limit your results to various Material Types (books, videos, etc.) in the "Refine your results" section.
Course Reserves, will look for those items (usually books or a video) set aside by your professor for a specific course. These often have a limit of 2 hours in-library use only. To search, simply type in your class number. For example, DFST 252. The material is available at the service desk.
In addition to requesting a book through OneSearch, you can also search for and request books through MelCat and WorldCat directly.
As much as you have access to electronically, even more is available elsewhere with just a short wait. Within OneSearch it is easy to request books or media or articles that are owned by another library. Here is a book we do not have:
There is no call number and no indication of online access. "Check for available services" really means "Pleases sign in to check if there are any request options". Click the Sign in text. You will be prompted to sign in with your NMU credentials and, if you've activated it, your 2-factor authentication:
Once you are signed in, you have a choice on which kind of ILL service you'd like. Request @ MelCat is a statewide system for Michigan libraries (the item might arrive faster), while the @ Interlibrary is nationwide.
And here I have to stop and say that we are working out some bugs. If you have gotten this far within OneSearch and have noticed "things aren't right", you are correct. Give us a call or Ask Us (right hand side) of screen, and we'll sort things out. We appreciate your patience.
Within OneSearch (and most databases), requesting an article that NMU does not have is the same as requesting a book we do not have. Video: Interlibrary loan of an article (some sign-in images have changed since) (2:36). Within databases, look for the Get it@NMU link; within OneSearch, "Check for available services" really means "Pleases sign in to check if there are any request options". Click the Sign in text. You will be prompted to sign in with your NMU credentials and, if you've activated it, your 2-factor authentication:
Once you have signed on, you will be prompted to pick a method: pick Request Article @ InterLibrary Loan. MelCat does not lend articles.
Clicking that link opens up another window. All that remains is for you to type in your phone number and select request. We'll take it from here. You will get an email immediately telling you that we have received it, and in a few days, an email with a link to the article. The video at the top of this tab explains it a bit more.
To the right of the search box, once you have made a search, is Advanced Search. Although most people continue to use the single search box, it is to your advantage to switch to the advanced search screen. It may look intimidating, but it gives you the means to make a better search. Each of the 4 search options can be searched this way.
You can change where you want to search. This is helpful in narrowing down resources to relevant ones. For example, in the search below, "great lakes" has been changed to subject, microplastics has also been added as a subject, and a third line has been added with fish. Your searches can be created the same way.
33 results is a manageble number to look through. Further narrowing down is possible (material type, date, availability, etc).
How to APA Style 7th edition cite the Michigan Revised School Code (1976)
Prepared by Prof. Mike Strahan; endorsed by Dr. Bethney Bergh
rev. 3/13/2020
Adapting the State Statute in State Code example which appears in the APA Manual, 7th ed., p. 363.
Information as it appears online from the State of Michigan Legislative Council:
380.1280a Specialized or alternative school or program.
Sec. 1280a.
The board of a school district or intermediate school district that operates or participates in a consortium
that operates an alternative educational program pursuant to section 1301, a vocational-technical skills
center or other separate vocational education program, or any other type of specialized or alternative
school or program shall ensure that the requirements of sections 1204a, 1277a, 1278, and 1280 are met
for each of those schools or programs.
History: Add. 1993, Act 335, Imd. Eff. Dec. 31, 1993
Popular Name: Act 451
APA Reference example:
Michigan Revised School Code Act, 451 M.C.L. §380.1280a (1976 & 1993).
APA In-text citation examples:
(Michigan Revised School Code Act, 1976 & 1993)
Michigan Revised School Code Act of 1976 and 1993
Michigan Revised School Code Act (1976 & 1993)
Notes:
- All of your references from the Revised School Code will begin with:
Michigan Revised School Code Act, 451 M.C.L. §380.
- Rest of reference is the specific section or section range,
followed by (1976 &
and latest year indicated from the source History line.
- When referencing/citing laws/statutes/codes, nothing is italicized in either the reference or in-text citation. However, APA rules are different when citing court cases.
Office of Head Start, Early Childhood Learning & Knowledge Center. (2020, May 12). Engaging community partners
to strengthen family services. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Administration for Children and
Families. https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/
How to cite this work in-text:
Parenthetical only time cited: (Office of Head Start, Early Childhood Learning & Knowledge Center, 2020)
Parenthetical first time cited: (Office of Head Start, Early Childhood Learning & Knowledge Center [ECLKC], 2020)
Parenthetical subsequent times cited: (ECLKC, 2020)
Narrative only time cited: Office of Head Start, Early Childhood Learning & Knowledge Center (2020)
Narrative first time cited: Office of Head Start, Early Childhood Learning & Knowledge Center (ECLKC, 2020)
Narrative subsequent times cited: ECLKC (2020)
Direct quote only time cited: (Office of Head Start, Early Childhood Learning & Knowledge Center, 2020, para. 1)
Direct quote first time cited: (Office of Head Start, Early Childhood Learning & Knowledge Center [ECLKC], 2020, para. 1)
Direct quote subsequent times: (ECLKC, 2020, para. 2)
Measurement & Evaluation
Sources for Reviewing or Obtaining Tests
(Note: Many tests must be purchased--they are not freely available.)
In addition to the following sources, you can search the various journal article databases to locate
information about testing instruments.
Mental Measurements Yearbook
Contains over 2,000 timely test reviews. Typically reviews include descriptive information, one or two professional reviews, and an extensive list of references to pertinent literature. To be reviewed in the MMY a test must be commercially available, be published in the English language, and be new, revised, or widely used.
Print editions 2nd (1940) through 17th (2007) available in the Olson Library Book Collection,
BF 431 .B932
The ETS Test Collection
The Educational Testing Service (ETS) Test Collection contains descriptions of over 25,000
tests and research instruments. There is a short description of each testing instrument along with
availability information.
Theses & Dissertations
Updated: 10/12/23
Notes:
- This subscription resource is THE database which holds online access to millions of dissertations & theses worldwide in PDF format. It is provided by NMU Olson Library. As such, the NMU community now has free access these works from all institutions which submit these works to ProQuest.
- When viewing results:
- Full text - PDF is the complete thesis/dissertation.
- Preview - PDF is only 24-page preview.
Open Access through digital institutional repositories at other universities *full text
By going through NMU's institutional repository The Commons, you may access dissertations, theses, and other scholarly products.
After clicking on this link, click on Advanced Search: 
then change the "Limit Search to" field to All Repositories:
and then enter your search terms. Click on the green + sign to add a line.
EBSCO Open Dissertations
Database offering access to more than 1.5 million free electronic theses and dissertations.
Theses Canada
Contain print and electronic Canadian theses and dissertations. Multiple search options are available.
Print and Electronic Theses *some full text
OneSearch contains print and electronic theses for NMU. You have two options for locating theses. One is to browse by subject area. The other is to perform a keyword search where you can combine the term thesis with an author's name, keyword term (e.g. nursing) and limit the search to the "Library catalog."
Electronic Theses Only [Fall 2006 - 2013] *full text
NMU electronic theses are also contained in Proquest's Dissertations & Theses @ Northern Michigan University database. This is NMU's subset of the larger Dissertations & Theses database, and allows searching & viewing of NMU theses. Although you cannot browse, you can search by: title words, advisor, subjects (author assigned), and keywords (author assigned). You may also search by department/program using the Field Code DEP
followed in parentheses by the department/program name. For example, in order to see a list of theses from the Exercise Science program: DEP(exercise science)
Alternatively, you can search using your own keywords.
NMU Theses [2014-present] *full text
NMU electronic theses are provided in The Commons, Northern's institutional repository. You may browse by department and may search by author & keywords.
Note that the School of Nursing Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Scholarly Projects are also located in The Commons.
DNP Projects are usually not provided through dissertation resources, so we offer Nursing-specific sources below:
NMU Digital Commons Nursing Commons (also includes articles) *free full text
This Nursing Commons contains journal articles, presentations, as well as student work. Most of it is full text but occasionally the member library only inputs abstracts... but still it is another resource for finding student works at all levels of education.
Sigma Theta Tau International Virginia Henderson Library (includes DNP Capstone Projects) *free full text
Repository of of nursing capstones, master theses, and some dissertations. It is an excellent, high quality free resource.
Zotero
(Revised 12/20/2020)
Zotero is a free research manager which helps you collect, organize, and manage your sources. This application works with Google Chrome, FireFox, Microsoft Edge, Opera, & Safari web browsers, and integrates with word processing programs such as MS Word & Google Docs. Zotero facilitates quick in-text citing, and one-click generation of references according to a multitude of styles including APA, MLA, Chicago, Turabian, & journal-specific.
Creating an account on Zotero's website allows you to sync your collections to a central point (300MB free) from multiple computers (such as work & home). It also allows you to create groups.
Minimum operating system requirements for Zotero version 5.x:
macOS 10.11 or later, including Big Sur and Monterey
Windows 7 or later
Linux
More detailed system requirements available here: https://www.zotero.org/support/system_requirements
The following steps will walk you through how to install Zotero on your browser.
Save documents & close all programs other than web browser before proceeding. This includes your word processor software.
Rationale: In order to finish the installation, Zotero may need to reboot your computer.
Rationale: The Zotero Connector which allows downloading information from the browser into
Zotero only works with these versions of the browser:
Chrome: Version 55 or higher
FireFox: Version 52 or higher
Safari 10–12 (see Safari Compatibility for Safari 13)
Firefox
Once you have opened Firefox, you need to check that it is version 52 or higher. To do this, go to
the menu heading "Help", and select "About Firefox" (see screen shot below). If it says you have a
lower-numbered version, Mozilla will automatically download & install the latest version of FireFox.
Google Chrome
Once you have opened Chrome, you need to check that it is version 55 or higher. To do this,
go to the upper-right corner and click on three dots (see screen shot below), highlight "Help", and select
"About Google Chrome". If it says you have a lower-numbered version, Google will automatically
download & install the latest version of Chrome.
Once you have the latest version of your browser, open it, download Zotero and install the program. The
download interface automatically recognizes your specific browser and operating system and provides
the appropriate choice.
If you receive a message preventing this site (www.zotero.org) from installing software on your computer,
click on the Allow button.
Proceed through the Setup Wizard. When asked about Setup Type (screen below), we recommend choosing Standard. You will be able to customize it later.
Once installed you will be prompted to Reboot your computer (see below).
After you click on Finish, your computer will reboot.
Open your browser & go to the Download page to install the Connector. The download interface
automatically recognizes your specific browser and operating system, and provides the
appropriate choice.
This plugin allows you to create a bibliography, in-text citations, and footnotes or endnotes from within word processing software.
Note that Zotero version 5.x automatically installs the plugin for Microsoft Word.
Open Microsoft Word, and click on the Zotero tab to display tools:
Using Google Docs? No plugin required. Click here for Zotero support documentation.
Using LibreOffice? Click here for plugin.
You do not need to register your Zotero account but you may want to do this at a later date as there are a
number of advantages including the ability to sync your citations to the Zotero site, allowing you to
access them from any computer at any time.
Modified 2/25/2021
Zotero is a free Web application developed for Firefox, Chrome, & Safari web browsers that allows you to quickly cite in-text and format references in a multitude of styles (APA, MLA, Chicago, Turabian, etc.). Zotero allows you to collect, manage, cite, and share references you've collected for your research.
This guide will walk you through modifying the Preferences tabs screens to configure Zotero.
Important: This guide is intended for users who have just installed Zotero for the first time.
If you already have entries loaded into a past Zotero installation, we recommend you backup your Zotero folder before proceeding, and then after completing customizing, copy your old Zotero folder to a new location on either the Desktop or in Documents.
Please connect to the Internet while configuring Zotero.
If you have not yet downloaded and installed Zotero, please see the Library's Installing Zotero guide for directions with screen shots.
Please Skip this step if your Zotero already contains entries!
You need to decide where to save your Zotero files & retrieved articles. We highly recommend saving to either Documents, or to the Desktop (makes it much easier when migrating to a new computer or quickly backing up), so the first step is to create a New folder in that place & name it: Zotero To access the Preferences settings, open Zotero, then click on the Edit menu choice, and select Preferences:
Advanced tab -- Files and Folders sub-tab
Under Data Directory Location, click on the Choose button and select the newly-created Zotero folder which appears on your Desktop.
Zotero will add the information to the screen similar to above, but with your username.
You will be prompted that it must re-start Zotero.
Modify OpenURL Custom Resolver:
Replace: http://worldcatlibraries.org/registry/gateway
With: https://nmu.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?vid=01NOMICH_INST:NMU&lang=en&mode=advanced
[either copy & paste, or right-click & Copy link address & paste]
On the General tab you may adjust the User Interface Layout, Font size, & Note font size (recommendations below).
A new feature in Version 5.0 is selecting the Layout (red outline below):
Standard Layout displays a selected entry on the right side of the list of items.
Stacked Layout displays a selected entry underneath the list of items.
All boxes are checked by default.
New to version 5.0.36 are changes to indexing PDFs, which is now automatic--no separate installer needed.
Only use if you plan on creating an account & using storage on Zotero server for yourself or group work.
Sync is also beneficial if you are using multiple computers (e.g., work & home) to manage sources.
Enter the username & password used when you created account on Zotero web site.
Note that Sync does not replace making regular backups of your local Zotero files, and cannot be used to restore your Zotero files if your hard drive is damaged or requires re-imaging
PDF Indexing is a feature which allows you to drag-and-drop previously downloaded pdf files into Zotero, and then have it search for metadata on that file & create an entry for you.
As Zotero facilitates creating your own "library" of sources, enabling PDF Indexing will include those sources when searching within Zotero.
Beginning with Zotero version 5.0.36, this screen shows indexing statistics.
This is another area where you should set the Default style you will use. Note that you may always change the default. Under the Default Output Format, click on the drop arrow to change style.
There are over 9,000 citation styles available for Zotero including many styles based on individual journal titles. Zotero only comes configured with the more popular styles but you may add any of the other styles while inside of Zotero.
After clicking on the Cite tab, click on the Styles sub-tab.
Next, locate the style from the list & click on it to select.If you do not see your specific style, click on the Get additional styles... link (see screen shot below) which will open the Zotero Style Repository, and search for your style. Left-click on the style name to select, which will then load that template into Zotero.
Citation Options - Real important especially for APA, MLA, & Chicago styles
Check the box next to the label: Include URLs of paper articles in references.
It is highly recommended using the classic insert citation interface. So on the Word Processors sub-tab,
check the box next to the label: Use classic Add Citation dialog
Important: You MUST click the OK button to save all changes.
You are now ready to use Zotero.
As with most things, Zotero is not perfect. Always check your citations for accuracy. Zotero will not correct data or capitalized titles for instance. Be sure to check the data for each citation. You can always edit the citations in Zotero.