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

Get Organized

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

Review Evidence Based Practice Reports

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

Find Original "Classic" Studies

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.

Education Source
Offering full text of journals, books, videos, and education-related conference papers, as well as millions of citations. Coverage spans all levels of education from early childhood to higher education and includes specialties such as multilingual education, health education and testing.
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.
Research@UWW
A discovery tool for most of the Library's articles, books, multimedia, and digital repositories.

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.

Find more Current Studies

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

ERIC (via EBSCOHost)

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

Google Scholar

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

Cite Sources

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.

APA Citation Guide
For examples on how to cite in APA, check out UWW libraries APA citation guide.

Special Education Resources

Full Research@UWW Search Box

Research@UWW