General Information

Building on What Others Have Done – Searching for Previous Research in the SoTL Field

A significant part of the process of scholarly work is to build on what others have done.  However, the literature of a field can often seem overwhelming and impenetrable when you are new to it, and it seems easier to “do your own thing”.  And it is all too common in teaching to teach by instinct and not make use of the rapidly expanding literature of good research learning. 

Where Will You Find Previous Research?

For scientists moving to educational research it is not always clear where to look for this information because it is usually not in the databases with which we are familiar, such as PubMed.  Most confusingly, much of the research being done in the SoTL field is represented most richly in a diversity of on-line sources.  Some of the key sites for finding educational research and SoTL research are:

• The articles and books and electronic resources we read in class.  Don’t forget to use research that you have already encountered to help you find new research.  Almost everything that you read was an excerpt from a larger source.  Read more of that text, look in the bibliography, … Use the ‘six degrees of separation’ principle to move in a productive trajectory through the literature.

• ERIC, Educational Resources Information Center.  (http://www.eric.ed.gov/)  This is a searchable bibliographic database where you will find many of the references important in educational research.  The database is run by the government and is free. There is a special talent to searching using ERIC, and it is described at the end of this document in more detail. 

• PubMed.  Despite what was said above, there are several education-oriented journals published by scientific societies and science education articles within mainstream science journals.  These can be found in PubMed.  You can also go directly to some of the top ones, such as: Life Science Education and ASM's Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education.

• Various psychology databases (such as PsycINFO).  There is a rich field of educational psychology – the origin of much of the work represented in the How People Learn series of books. 

• Mountain Rise.  This is one of an emerging set of journals devoted to SoTL research.  (http://mountainrise.wcu.edu/issue.html).

• Journal of Cognitive and Affective Learning.  A slightly more established journal that also features SoTL research.  (http://www.jcal.emory.edu/)

• Lesson Study.  This site focuses on the use of Lesson Study principles in teaching at the college level, but is has an emerging array of case studies available, too.  (http://www.uwlax.edu/sotl/lsp/)

• Carnegie Foundation.  There is a great richness of SoTL case studies on the Carnegie site.  Be sure to check out:
• the Higher Ed work in the CASTL program (http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/programs/sub.asp?key=21&subkey=63&topkey=21)
• the K-12 work in both the Quest and CASTL programs (http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/programs/index.asp?key=31)
• the galleries (http://gallery.carnegiefoundation.org/gallery_of_tl/keep_toolkit.html)
• and the publications section of their website (http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/publications/index.asp)

• The Peer Review Site.  (http://www.courseportfolio.org/peer/pages/index.jsp)  This site is a wonderfully rich resource of teaching portfolios submitted by professors and reviewed by their peers.

• The Visible Knowledge Project.  (http://crossroads.georgetown.edu/vkp/)  This site contains electronic portfolios from one of the first national SoTL projects involving over 70 professors from institutions across the country.

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