SPCE 290: Introduction to Autism Spectrum Disorders

You have several assignments in SPCE 290 which require you to do library research.

This guide is meant to provide you advice, tailored to each assignment.

• Research tips for "Newspaper Assignment"
• Research tips for "Discussion Board Assignment on Misperceptions"
• Research tips for "Discussion Board Assignment on Social Skills"
• Research tips for "Discussion Board Assignment on Relationships and Sexuality"
• Research tips for PowerPoint Presentation
• Research tips for Technology Assignment

For starters, please remember that doing library research can take a long time.  Allow yourself a big chunk of time, so that you can find the resources you need.  And remember that some documents may need to be requested from other libraries (through Interlibrary Loan), which takes several days.

Additionally, bear in mind that research is an iterative process, requiring you to continually search, evaluate and revise.  As you search and read what you've found, you're able to improve your searches using terms and ideas you've found in your results.

When you're doing academic research, start on the Ball State University Libraries' homepage.  Then look for the Databases link.  Use the options under the "Subjects" drop-down menu to explore the available resources.

There are two principle research databases in the field of applied behavior analysis: ERIC (under the Education category) and APA PsycINFO (under the Psychology category).  Try both of them, but depending on your topic, you may find that one is more helpful than the other.

While you can use the same general search techniques in both databases, be alert for differences in terms used.

The words you use as your search terms have a big effect on the relevance of the results that you get.  So choose carefully!

• Start with terms used in the topic description.
• Then think of other ways you can describe that topic such as: 
  • direct synonyms (ex. teenagers, adolescents)
  • related terms (ex. mainstreaming, inclusion)
  • broader or more specific terms (ex. autism, developmental disorders)

• It may be helpful to consult:
  • a thesaurus,
  • class readings,
  • titles or description of articles you find in a database that look promising.  Subject headings are super-helpful!

Unlike Google and OneSearch, library research databases like ERIC and PsycINFO assign subject headings to each record, indicating the focus of the article.

When you're trying to come up with good terms to search on, the Subjects field is the place to look!

When searching in a database, put quotes around phrases of two or more words where it's important to keep the words together.  Then your words will be searched as a unit; it prevents the database from searching for the words individually.

So, when searching on a topic this can be important.  Here are some examples:

• "zero tolerance"
• "experimental function"
• "applied behavior analysis"

It's also helpful when searching for a title -- of a governmental act, an organization, an article, as shown here:

• "education for all handicapped children"
• "national autism center"
• "evidence-based practice in autism educational research: can we bridge the research and practice gap"

What if I find a ton using these techniques?

• Narrow your list by using terms that show up in the Descriptor/Subject heading field, AND changing the drop-down menu to say “Descriptors” or “Subjects” (depending on the database you’re using).   That tells the database to only retrieve articles where my terms show up in the subject field, and (therefore) are the focus of the article.
• Remove some of the OR terms which are not your favorites.
• Consider removing an entire set of terms.

What if I need to find more articles?

• Look for more possibilities by mining the list of references at the end of an article that has been helpful (Just take an article title and plug it into OneSearch with quotes around the title to see if we have access to it.)
• See if anyone has cited an article you like by using Web of Science and searching on your article title (in quotes! Of course).  Then click on “Times Cited” to see records for articles which cited yours.
• Add some more synonyms or related terms with OR.