Catholic education has two journals that regularly review Catholic school research: Catholic Education: A Journal of Inquiry and Practice.² This scholarly journal, jointly founded by four Catholic universities--Fordham University, University of Dayton, University of Saint Louis, and University of San Francisco, and currently maintained by the University of Notre Dame, addresses research concerns as well features reviews of books which seriously treat of Catholic educational topics. The journal tends to use a broad definition in its treatment of research, featuring historical and philosophical research as often, if not more than it does quantitative research.

The other source is Momentum,³ an organ from the National Catholic Educational Association. A more popular periodical, Momentum has recently added a refereed research section typically featuring a scholarly article selected by a guest editor well-known in the subject of the research. Included in each issue are book reviews, sometimes of books that focus on Catholic school research.

Because such a high percentage of Catholic school research is found in doctoral dissertations, the reader may wish to consult Dissertation Abstracts International.⁴ This is a monthly compilation of abstracts submitted by all the cooperating universities and colleges in the United States, Canada, and a few other countries. There are two sections. Section A, the first section, contains education with all its subtopics. Catholic school studies are mixed in with the others; all the studies are listed under the appropriate subtopic such as elementary, secondary, higher. The dissertations themselves are available in either photocopy form, sightly reduced, or microfiche or microfilm from University Microfilms International for a fee.

For those who regularly attend the annual NCEA convention, there is another way of becoming aware of recent doctoral studies. At the annual convention every year CACE sponsors three sessions on six pieces of the latest doctoral research. Each session focuses on two dissertations. The researchers make a presentation of the findings and respond to questions from the audience.

Another source for locating Catholic school research is on the World Wide Web. Unfortunately, there are few references to Catholic School Research when using the descriptor research on the Internet,⁸ and the few that exist are not organized. One encounters them by happenstance.

Father Ron Nuzzi alerted us to The Catholic Internet by Tim DeRyan, a "comprehensive guide to all things Catholic that are available on the Internet. With over 3,000 website addresses and over 4,000 e-mail addresses, this directory supplies more information than most of us could ever use." The book is available.⁹ The on-line version of this directory is available at http://www.catholic-church.org/cid. Particularly useful at this website are the 10 most popular Catholic sites which include the archives of American University with its collection of Catholic documents, and the University of Notre Dame theology archives. Be warned that this site can become addictive.

Some non-Catholic organizations have websites which often run articles about Catholic or private schools. There are too many to mention individually, but an example is http://PRO.harvard.edu/search.htm¹⁰

The Institute for Catholic Educational Leadership at the University of San Francisco features the McDermott Research Forum on its web site¹¹ in which research articles originally printed in The Private School Monitor, (a section of the America Educational Research Association)¹² are summarized as are articles from the research section of Momentum,¹³ the Catholic Education: A Journal of Inquiry and Practice,¹⁴ and copies of NCEA NOTES.¹⁵ In addition there is a complete listing of doctoral dissertations researched about Catholic schools listed by category from 1969--present.

University Microfilm International's Dissertation Abstracts Database, with more than 1.5 million entries, is the one central, authoritative source for information about doctoral dissertations and master's theses.

The database includes citations for materials ranging from the first U.S. dissertation, accepted in 1861, to those accepted as recently as last semester; those published from 1980 forward also include 350-word abstracts, written by the authors. Citations for master's theses from 1988 forward include 150-word abstracts. Of the 1.5 million titles listed, UMI offers over a million in full text. For these titles, the database citation includes UMI's order number.¹⁶

Citations to research are more easily found in doctoral dissertations because the focus of chapter two of the dissertation is a review of the literature on which the investigation is based as well as literature that disagrees with the researcher's premise. Because of the relatively quick turn-around time of the dissertation, the references are up-to-date.

ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) dates back only to 1966 but houses important non journal materials. Each clearinghouse has its own address; researchers should start with www.searcheric.org. There is no-cost, public access to search the ERIC databases.