SEARCH FOR YOUR TOPIC

H107 Education Neuroscience

What is the assignment

October 12, 2010- Three seminal articles Your submission should include: A title and one sentence about your topic. Please add more (1

paragraph) if there have been any changes to your topic choice (e.g., if you have narrowed your topic)

Include 3 most cited sources about your topic in APA format (There will be at least 1 section about how to do this using Web of Science.)*

Include 3 most relevant sources about your topic in APA format (There will be at least 1 section about how to do this using Web of Science). *

Choose 3 relevant sources for YOU these may or may not be one the six you have cited (in b & c) Write one brief paragraph about each source describing how

they relate to your topic.

ISI Web of Knowledge: science citation index expanded Harvard has many great resources Harvard Library– lib.harvard.edu

Research tools: Harvard LibX plug in to add to your page, bypass all the

restrictions that make you retype your password

also gives you a toolbar

To get to e-resources

From the Harvard library site… E-resources On bottom is list of all journals you have

access to (ie: Google Scholar, Citations Index Web of Science, etc…)

General start…

On Science Citation Web Expanded

ie: ADHD search gives 10,000+ topics On left, can check/search for Neuroscience

--- now you get about 2,000 articles

But you want to get ‘important’ papers

To see most cited---

To see major authors: look on left side of screen, it shows the top 5 authors cited (they may not be the best, but it gives you some frequently cited names)

Get the papers

You can click on the author to get all the articles If Harvard has it, it will tell you

Also notice how many times it has been cited (you can sort by this on the top/right of screen)– this gives you major theories/the ‘big’ ideas that are used/cited be aware of the date an article was written

Major papers, major players--- after about one hour of searching/reading using different sorting methods on Science Citation Index Expanded, you can become familiar with ‘big’ names/ideas in subject

Analyze - how do you know if you have a ‘good’ article? From main page of Science Citation

Index Expanded Find the first listing (or listing of interest)

that comes up Hit the ‘times cited’ (it’s blue, under the

listing)– this can be helpful Are the articles still being cited today…can

see how many articles have cited this author, how recently

When you like that paper

Can check paper (in small box on left) At bottom: can print, email, send to End

Note, RefMan (to get to Ref Works, save it to your desktop and then you can get it to your Ref Works)

New search…

Ie: ADHD and inhibitory control search Can see results Can see number of times cited (sort by is

on the top, right) Can see main authors of papers, etc…

Comparing…

Wikipedia– see the connections and some of the names that come up… it may give you ideas for search terms you may not have considered

ie:ADHD on Wikipedia: A main author, Barkley, who is important in

neuroscience field (as you can find with Science Citation Index Expanded) is hardly shown on Wikipedia– so it is very limited

Google scholar

Shows Barkley author … Google scholar can get an article by him, can see some cited information

Does not give you other versatile ways to narrow down a topic and to become generally knowledgeable with main authors, etc.

Finding appropriate search terms Can be tricky--- You will start to see the terms commonly

used in papers– important to read the most recent and cited

articles– this helps you get familiar with current terminology

To find neuroscience terms (if your topic is not strongly neuroscience) Consider where your topic can be

grounded in neuroscience

Ie: if the topic is: ‘group work’ or ‘cooperative learning’ – How can this get grounded in neuroscience

ie: is there affect? Stress?

Specific questions:

What if the neuroscience argument is difficult to make?

What you can do: State: ‘here’s what we know’, maybe most of the

best research is cognitive or educational State: ‘here is what we DON’T know’ and other

areas answer this question better **Show diligence that you’ve considered what is

out there and you know the ‘big’ arguments

Questions from the class:

What if my topic is too big? Filter with Science Citation Index Expanded! Identify core terms from main articles to see if

that helps find other search terms Narrow the aspects (ie: music what aspect?)

What can you narrow empirically?

How do I narrow two (or more broad topics)… Find intersections between topics

What do you know about each concept What arguments have been made Find core articles– notice what they’re referencing

MYIY article as an example

Broad terms given: ‘emotion, social functioning, decision making, morality, creativity, culture’

Narrow: Case study: brain damaged patients Relate to education

Evidence /paints picture of the need for emotion for skills important in real world and that are supported in education

Use neuroscience evidence/case study to inspire innovations for designing learning environments that use ‘emotional thought’

Neuroscience she begins to narrow: Homeostatic balance: sleep, state of

body, eatten, sick… need to manage physiology to optimize our survival/flourish makes the argument that emotions and thoughts are intertwined

Also need to manage social interactions/relationships (ie: in school) to survive and flourish

Important ‘case’ example

Is ‘brain based’ Damage to ventromedial prefrontal cortex

social behavior compromised

Can lead to a very specific search!

Her ultimate goal in the paper Need to develop context that considers

role of emotion in education… not just to master knowledge/logical reasoning skills

Metaphors

Emotion as a ‘child in a china chop’