When beginning a research project or when needing some background information on a new area of research, you might want to start with one of these general information sources. We often call this "Pre-search" because it comes before your main research. Different disciplines have specialized encyclopedias, dictionaries and other reference books to get you started. Often the entries in these will have brief bibliographies or suggestions for further readings. You can use these to begin your research, to narrow your topic and to find good keywords to use when searching for articles:
Key Concepts in Early Childhood Education and Care - Includes information on play, early literacy development, and gender just to name a few.
Springer International Handbooks of Education: International Handbook of School Effectiveness and Improvement - Gives information on school effectiveness movements all over the world, models for school improvement, and how to change schools through leadership.
Springer International Handbooks of Education: International Handbook of Educational Evaluation - Gives information on evaluating educational programs with information on evaluation theory, evaluation methodology, and evaluation utilization.
The Praeger Handbook of Latino Education in the U.S. - Provides educational information regarding the Latino population including issues such as dropout-rates, urban education, and relevant propositions passed.
Philosophy of Education: An Encyclopedia - Includes information about pioneers in education and other concepts in the education literature.
Key Concepts in Education - Gives information on key concepts in education such as ability, boredom, and equality.
