Research, Citation, & Class Guides: Special Education Resources: SPECED 205: Evidence-based Practice

Find the Evidence

Step 1: Use an organizer such as this Literature Review Matrix to guide your reading, to organize and to synthesize research articles.

Literature Review Matrix
You will be prompted to create a copy of the organizer.
Use this to guide your reading, organize, and synthesize research articles.
Literature Review Matrix; Example

Step 2: Find your EBP (evidence-based practice) in the What Works Clearinghouse or National Professional Development Center on Autism, below.

Step 3: Find the evidence document(s). This will provide the titles (bibliographies) of research studies that support the practice. HINT: The practice tip pages will also provide excellent background information about the EBP!

Step 4: Select one research study that focuses on your area of interest, for example, grade level.

WWW: What Works Clearinghouse
The What Works Clearinghouse is an investment of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) within the U.S. Department of Education. [...]The WWC has been a central and trusted source of scientific evidence on education programs, products, practices, and policies. WWC reviews the research, determines which studies meet rigorous standards, and summarizes the findings. It focuses on high-quality research to answer the question “what works in education?”
AFIRM: Autism Focused Intervention Modules & Resources
1. REGISTER for a FREE account, then
2. Return to this page and tap this link again to see a list of EBP's.
From NPDC: National Professional Development Center on Autism Spectrum Disorder

STEP 5: Find the full text using one of the databases below.

Paste the title of the article into the search.
Once you have located the full text, enter the article title, DOI and permalink into your review matrix.

ERIC (via EBSCOhost)
The world's largest source of education information. More than 950,000 abstracts of documents and journal articles on education research and practice, some linking out to full text.
Access provided by Wisconsin DPI via Badgerlink.
Research@UWW - Articles
A discovery tool for most of the Library's article databases; searches peer-reviewed, newspaper, and magazine articles.

STEP 6: Review the Subject Terms or Descriptors for the article you selected. Add useful search terms to your Literature Review Matrix document, Continue to do this as you scan search results and other related articles.

EBSCO descriptors

ERIC (via EBSCOhost)
Right click --> Open in a NEW TAB
Access provided by Wisconsin DPI via Badgerlink.
Google Scholar
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Right click --> Open in a NEW TAB
Use these directions to connect from Scholar to what UWW already subscribes to: https://libguides.uww.edu/googlescholar

STEP 7: Use your new terms to search for a more recent article. Search ERIC or Google Scholar:

ERIC (via EBSCOHost)

Google Scholar

Tip: When browsing your results list, look in the Descriptors/Subjects for terms that describe research studies

Tip: Add terms that describe research studies:

"randomized control trial"
meta-analysis
"systematic review"
control groups, etc.

STEP 8: Select a date that is more recent than your first article.

ERIC (via EBSCOHost)	Google Scholar

See below for examples of citations for some of the resources featured in the LibGuide.

Always visit the complete UWW APA 7th Edition style guide for more examples.

UWW APA 7th Ed. Citation Guide

Citation Example: What Works Clearinghouse Report

Report (see p. 329-330 in Manual): What Works Clearinghouse

After the report title, include any report number if available and the Source, which can be thought of like the Publisher of a book.

Group Author or Government Report (see p. 329-330 in Manual)

In-text Citation

Parenthetical Citation: Research based on five studies provides strong evidence that Pre-K Mathematics improved student mathematics achievement (Institute of Education Sciences [IES], 2023).

State the complete name of the agency the first time followed by the abbreviation in brackets. Any following mentions of the same resource may simply use the abbreviation (IES, 2023)

Narrative Citation: The Institute of Education Sciences (2023) reported strong evidence that the Pre-K Mathematics program ...

Citation Example: Journal Article: Online with DOI

Online or Print, with DOI (p. 316+ in Manual)

On all article citations, whether you read online or print, include the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) if available. The DOI is like a digital thumbprint: its unique and permanent numbers and letters help identify it. It is typically on the first or last page of the article. It may also be listed in the CrossRef Database. If you are having trouble finding the DOI, ask a librarian. If there is no DOI, see this example.

Note that as of March 2017, CrossRef and APA both recommend that DOIs be formatted as such: https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxxx with no period at the end.

In-text Citation

Parenthetical Citation: The Coast Guard narrative provides meaning to the practice of modern day piracy (Bueger, 2013).

Narrative Citation: According to Bueger (2013) the coast guard narrative can be treated as a "meaningful fiction which gives coherence to the practice of piracy" (p. 1824).

Citation Example: AFIRM Module

AFIRM: Autism Focused Intervention Module & Resources

Find the authors of individual resources/pages on an evidence-based practice (EBP) by going to the complete Module, where you will find a suggested citation: https://afirm.fpg.unc.edu/node/2972 You may also find the authors listed at the bottom of individual documents.

In-text Citation

Parenthetical Citation: Social Skills Training (SST) targets a number of goals related to social skills, such as knowing others’ names to understanding and regulating emotions (Griffin, W., Sam, A. & AFIRM Team, 2016).