Skyline College Library

Researching Comparative Education: Asia & U.S.

Databases for Finding Magazine, Journal & Newspaper Articles
Catalog for Finding Books
Selected Web Sites


Magazine, Journal & Newspaper Databases (to access articles):

InfoTrac OneFile Database: excellent general periodical database.
Available from off-campus--as long as you have a library card (PLS library card bar code number is required). 

• To search only for articles that include the full text (the whole article) in the database, check the "articles with text" box under "Limit the current search" (below the text entry box)
• To narrow searches, combine concepts with AND.
• Try the following search statement: Japan AND education AND compar*
• Once you find one article specifically on your topic, click on "Links" on the left column to view subject headings; click on any relevant headings to find more articles on that topic. Examples of some relevant subject headings for Japanese education:
  • Education - Japan
  • Educational policy - Japan

Once you find one article specifically on your topic, click on any relevant subject headings (near the bottom of the article page) to find more articles on that topic.

InfoTrac Newspapers Database: newspaper database including articles from the N.Y. Times, S.F. Chronicle, L.A. Times, & 7 other national & international newspapers.
Available from off-campus--as long as you have a library card (library card bar code number is required). 

• To search only for articles that include the full text (the whole article) in the database, check the "articles with text" box under "Limit the current search" (below the text entry box)
• To narrow searches, combine concepts with AND.
  

Proquest Newpapers database: a database of full-text articles from many of the most important newspapers in the country--New York Times, S. F. Chronicle, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, L. A. Times & Christian Science Monitor.

• To access this database from off campus, current students only should enter the following information for our account: login: PXWST49P8B password: welcome
• To narrow searches, combine concepts with AND.
• Try the following search statement: Japan AND education AND compar?
• Initial searches go back to 1999. To search for older articles, change "Date range" to "Backfile" (1986-1997) or "Deep Backfile" (Prior to 1986).
  

E.R.I.C. database: freely available on the Web, no password required. This is the most comprehensive database available for education journal articles, but it only includes abstracts, no full text of articles.

Books:

The PLS Online Catalog is the online catalog to find books in Skyline Library and in all libraries in the Peninsula Library Sytem.

• Type in the name of your topic in the search box and click the Search button.
• In the box titled "ANY WORD(S)- TITLE, AUT, SUBJ",
  click the down arrow, scroll down and select "SUBJECT Headings (exact)".
• For researching education in Japan, try using the following subject headings:
  • Education -- Japan
  • Education -- Japan -- Evaluation
  • Education -- Japan -- Aims and objectives
  • For researching education in any other country, use other country name instead of Japan
• Limit your search to books at Skyline by clicking on the Limit button at the right side of the page and then scroll down to near the bottom and click on Skyline College Library and then click OK.
  

Recommended Web Sites:

Daily Life in Japanese High Schools. ERIC Digest.
An examination of the "typical" high school experience illuminates the function of the education system in Japanese society. Authors: Johnson, Marcia L. - Johnson, Jeffrey R. Source: ERIC Clearinghouse for Social Studies/Social Science Education Bloomington IN. Date: 1996.

International Comparisons in Education. National Center for Education Statistics
International comparative education data from major international studies and links to additional resources on international education comparisons and related topics. To find comparative data for Japanese education, select a specific research project (such as PISA-Program for International Student Assessment), access the pdf file, then use the Acrobat search function (binoculars icon) to search for "Japan" throughout the document.

Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture Sports, Science and Technology
Includes "The Education Reform Plan for the 21st Century"

 

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last revised: 2-21-03 by Eric Brenner, Skyline College, San Bruno, CA