AEE 578-- Scientific Inquiry in Agricultural and Extension Education

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Class 5:

°Locating and Reviewing Related Literature

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Introduction:

Have you ever heard anybody talk about the good old days? Well the good old days of conducting a literature review are very different than today. We are basically in the 3rd "generation" in the modern era of literature reviews. Generation 1 was to go to the library and use paper indices to research journals. Generation 2 was to go to the library and use special computers that had computer-based indices. Today, Generation 3, you can access nearly every research index from your home or work computer. After you identify the books, journal articles or dissertations you need, you may still have to go to the library to actually read the documents. The late Dr. Richard Wilson of Ohio State said "You go to the library to learn, you come to class to discuss what you have learned." There is a lot of truth in this statement; especially at the graduate level. In this lesson we will learn more about how to conduct reviews of literature.

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Learning Objectives:

Describe ERIC, DAI, and Agricola Use ERIC effectively Use Dissertation Abstracts International effectively Use Agricola effectively Identify the major journals in agricultural &extension that are useful in conducting a  literature review Describe how to write a review of literature. Start work on your annotated bibiliography

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Instructional Activities:

Dena Taylor and Margaret Proctor of the University of Toronto have written a nice piece on The Literature Review: A Few Tips On Conducting It. Creighton University provides some excellent advice in How to Conduct a Literature Review.  Please pay special attention to the middle section (Writing Your Own Literature Review) of Using the Literature from the Asian Institute of Technology. This section shows HOW NOT to write a review of literature. Later the authors give an example of how to properly write a review.  (Caution: Might be slow to load.) Read Chap 5 "Review of the Literature" in How to Design & Evaluate Research in Education (Fraenkel & Wallen). What Journals should professional in agricultural and extension education use in their reviews of literature? Some of the more useful ones are listed here. Spend a few minutes reviewing each site. The Journal of Extension. Browse the most current issue to see what is being featured. If you ever need to find a specific topic, the search engine works well. The Journal of Agricultural Education is not an online journal like the Journal of Extension. However, past issues are on-line.  While many people might assume the articles are related to formal teaching of agriculture, many of the articles are about extension, agricultural literacy and more. Browse the table of contents for the most recent year to get a feel for articles being published in this journal. The Agricultural Education Magazine is designed primarily for agriculture teachers in the field (even though the majority of the articles are written by university professors). This publication is not on-line but you can get a flavor of the articles it contains by visiting the National Council for Agricultural Education site. At $10 for six issues, this publication is a steal. Americans are not the only people involved in agricultural and extension education. The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension is an international journal that focuses on agricultural and extension education globally. Check it out. Would you believe there is another journal in the field with an international focus. The Journal of Extension Systems is published in India. Look it over. The National Agricultural Education Research Conference (NAERC) is held annually and is considered the premier research conference in the field. The majority of the papers present research completed in the previous year and focus on both formal education and extension. Only recently have the papers appeared online. Go to the American Association for Agricultural Education home page and click on the Conferences link to find the proceedings. The premier research journal in the world of vocational education is the Journal of Vocational Education Research. This journal spans the whole field of vocational education. It has rigourous standards and rejects more manuscripts than it accepts for publication. It has been accused of being too quantitative and ignoring qualitative research. Look at a recent issue. The Journal of Career and Technical Education is published twice a year and often features articles that are more historical or philosophical in nature than number crunching research. Look at the most recent issues to see what this journal features.  Probably the most powerful search tool for identifying research in agricultural and extension education is ERIC    (Educational Resources Information Center ). View an animated tutorial on how to use it.   You can search ERIC via the NCSU library. You can also access ERIC from a government web site. Other online searchable indices that may be of value to you include: Agricola (An agricultural index through NCSU) Agricola (An agricultural index through the National Ag Library) Dissertation Abstracts (A dissertation database at NCSU library. Warning: Only a limited number of people can access this at one time) These are accessible through the NCSU library.  If you are searching these from off-campus you will need your unity ID and password (contact me if you need help with these).  The PowerPoint Presentation on The Literature Review is available for viewing or downloading.

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Preparation:	Go to the text web site and complete the multiple choice review questions for this lesson.
Additional Resources:	IF you want to see more (NOT required):     View another PowerPoint for Chapter 5 or download it-     Chapter 5 - Additional Web Links-  Also the text's url is: http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0073525960/student_view0/.

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Homework:

Complete this worksheet (also avail. on VIsta) and submit it through Vista by the due date.

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