Education: MA Education

Key Databases for Education

If the book or journal article you want is not available at Middlesex University, you can obtain it via our Inter Library Loans Service, which is now free.

Click Here: Inter Library Loans Service

A literature search is a systematic and comprehensive search for information.

The information you search for will inform, underpin and /or shape your research. It will enable you to find out what has already been written in your subject area and enable you to identify the main trends. 

The information can be contained in books, journal articles, reports, case studies, policy documents, conference proceedings etc.

You will need to read and review what other people have written about your subject area for three of reasons:

 (1) You need to set the work you have done into context.

(2) You need to show why you are doing this particular project – why did this work need to be done? How does this work fit into the other work that has been done? Why is it interesting? Who would like to know the results?

(3) It can also be helpful to look around the problem for helpful ideas, and compare your work to prior research.

A literature search needs to be systematic and focussed. It must also be evaluative – you need to critically evaluate each reference you find to determine if it is worth pursuing.

Library Search enables you to search most library resources simultaneously. Find articles, books, reports, DVDs, CDs and more.

Why Reference

When writing assignments it is important to reference your work properly.
There are three main reasons for doing this:

• You need to acknowledge the work that is not yours, and so avoid committing plagiarism.
• It enables other people to read the documents that you have read.
• It shows the breadth of knowledge that you have consulted.

There are two parts to referencing:

1. The citation is included in the text. It shows that what you have written is not your own idea (or research). If you do not correctly cite other people’s work, you are plagiarising.
2. The reference is included in a list at the end. It gives the full details of what you have cited, so that someone else can read what you have read.

For Education we use Harvard Referencing.

Use Cite them right for examples of Harvard referencing.

Pears, R. and Shields, G. (2013) Cite them right: the essential referencing guide. 9th edn. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave MacMillan.

Available online; make sure you have logged into MyUniHub before accessing.

Sample text and reference list using the Harvard style

Referencing and Plagerism Guide

RefWorks - is an online research management tool, where you can gather your references in one place, as well as generate citations and bibliographies. 

Create an account to use RefWorks - https://refworks.proquest.com/ 

Refworks Libguide, https://libguides.mdx.ac.uk/plagiarismreferencing/NewRW

SCONUL Access is a scheme which allows many university library users to borrow or use books and journals at other libraries which belong to the scheme.