The Project
As you begin work on your Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) Project, you may find it useful to read research articles which discuss BIP.
Also, note that in your syllabus it states that the treatment you design "must be backed by evidence using at least 3 references to empirical studies."
This page will provide guidance on how to use two University Libraries' databases -- the education index called ERIC (EBSCOhost), and the psychology index called APA PsycInfo -- so that you have the information to succeed on this project.
Learning more about Behavior Intervention Plans
- ERIC (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window
ERIC EBSCOhost is a key database in the field of education, providing access to bibliographic records of journal and non-journal literature. About one third of the content is accessible in full text from within the database.
With its emphasis on teachers and the classroom, ERIC is a good database for exploring the topic of Behavior Intervention Plans (though APA PsycInfo is also a good resource).
Remember that it's best to use quotation marks to tell ERIC to search for these three words all together as a phrase.
Then you can explore the results by clicking on titles that look interesting.
The record for an article will include the abstract, which provides a summary of the article.
The "Subjects" indicate what the article's focus is, and can give you ideas for other search terms.
Also: Consider searching in APA PsycInfo on the topic of behavior intervention plans - you'll get a good number of hits there, too!
Limit to empirical, data-based articles
What if you need to find articles which are empirical studies, based on data? Here are some tips:
Signs an article you find is data-based:
- it says it uses participants
- it includes these headings within the article: Introduction, Literature Review, Methods, Results, and Discussion/Conclusion.
- Go to APA PsycInfo and type in the terms you want to search on.
- Under the search boxes, you'll see "Filters" as a choice, with many ways you can limit your results.
- There's a Methodology limiter toward the bottom, where you can choose either EMPIRICAL STUDY or QUANTITATIVE STUDY. Both of those methodology types include data in them.
Unfortunately, few other databases allow you to place this kind of "Methodology" limiter, so it's on you to look for the signs, mentioned above if you're using a different database. Often just reading the abstract will make it clear that the study design is based on data, though, so it's not too difficult.
Finding the full article
Find It @ Ball State: Helping you find the full text of the title you want
When you'
re using a database, and can't find a link to the full text of an article, look for a Find It @ Ball State button, sometimes under "Access Options."
Find It helps you to search the Libraries' other databases and subscriptions to see if the full text is available through another resource.
- If it is available, Find It provides a link to the text of the article.
- If it cannot find the full-text, Find It provides a link to Interlibrary Loan so that you can request that we get a copy of the article from another library.
To use Find It, click on the red Find It @ Ball State button. (Sometimes you must click on "Access Options" to see "Find it @ Ball State.")
If we DO have full text access to the article, a page will be displayed with options for access under "Full Text Format Options." The typical options are:
- PDF: the file format reflecting the formatting for a printed page
- Link: taking you to the webpage version of the article
If we do NOT have immediate full text access to the article, the OneSearch record for the article will be displayed.
- Look under "Links" for "Request this item with InterLibrary Loan / ILLiad."
- Click there, and log in with your Ball State username and password.
- More information about placing an Interlibrary Loan request.
