Librarian
Searching for SoTL Literature
Visit the MacPherson Institute Research Resource Hub and Teaching and Learning Scholarship Support for assistance when starting your SoTL research.
To perform a effective search for SoTL literature, it's important to use a variety of different tools – all of which will lead you to a unique set of results. Try using a selection of search platforms, such as:
- Education databases​, like ERIC
- Other disciplinary databases​, selected based on your field of study
- Try using the "Subject" filter on our Databases homepage to find databases for your discipline!
- Interdisciplinary search tools​, such as Google Scholar, Scopus, or Web of Science
- McMaster's discovery layer, Omni
Since they all vary in their scope and coverage, one search platform may produce too many or too few results – or results that are irrelevant to your research question. That's all part of the process! Use what you can find and then try another one.
For more inspiration, see a list of suggested databases below.
Suggested Databases
- ERICERIC comprehensively indexes the educational research literature, containing content all the way from preschool education to post-secondary and adult learners.
- APA PsycInfoAPA PsycInfo covers the international literature in psychology, including applied psychology, developmental psychology, and educational psychology.
- Google ScholarGoogle Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites.
- SAGE Research MethodsSAGE Research Methods is a web-based research methods tool that covers quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods. Researchers can explore methods and concepts to help design research projects, understand a particular method or identify a new method, and write up research.
- JSTORJSTOR contains fulltext academic journals in the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Sciences.
- Project MUSEProject Muse provides full text access to journals in literary theory, classics, history and cultural studies, philosophy, film, theatre and performing arts, political science, and mathematics.
- Dissertations & Theses @ McMaster UniversityProvides previews of dissertations and theses published after 1996 by McMaster University students.