Special Education: Getting Started

Library Hours

O'Shaughnessy-Frey Library
651-962-5494 (Circulation)
651-962-5001 (Reference)
651-962-5400 (Hours)
2115 Summit Ave, St. Paul, MN 55105
Directions & Parking

Charles J. Keffer Library
651-962-4642 (Circulation)
651-962-4664 (Reference)
651-962-4640 (Hours)
MOH 206, 1000 LaSalle Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55403
Directions & Parking

This guide includes a number of helpful resources for students in special education.  Use the tabs above to explore these resources:

• Getting started--where you are now
• Finding books--search for print or electronic books, located in a library or online
• Finding articles--start here if you are searching for journal articles
• Reference sources--Encyclopedias, research handbooks, and other sources; these are good for finding a summary of research on a topic
• Legal resources--start here when you are searching for a law, court case, or other legal topic related to special education
• Websites for research--use these sites to supplement your library research
• Websites by topic--with subpages for specific conditions, these may have helpful resources for the classroom
• Special education news--table of contents for a selection of special education journals, and news from Education Week
• Multimedia and Web 2.0--a sampling of video, social media, and other nonprint resources are here
• Citing sources--help for completing the bibliography of your paper/project

You may find that resources related to special education are in different locations at St. Thomas. Here's a rundown.

• Keffer stacks--books here are generally research-oriented and generally published after 1990.
• Curriculum collection at Keffer--books and materials here are generally classroom-oriented.  They are more about the application of research in the classroom.
• Children's Literature--fiction (maybe a character has a learning disability or other condition), and nonfiction for children and young adult readers.  These may be classroom resources.
• O'Shaughnessey Frey Library--may have some research materials, but these will be a bit older in age; these are sometimes helpful for historical or background information.

Basic contact information for each library is at the left.

Be sure to check out our guide for writing a literature review at the link below.