Research Guides: Education: Reference resources

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Using reference resources

Reference sources are a great starting point for starting research on a new topic because they provide general information on a topic. They often include the following types of information to help you get started:

An overview of a new or complex topic
Names of key players in a given area
Key terms to use in your research
Sub-topics
A bibliography of sources to help you start your research

Reference sources include encyclopedias, handbooks, dictionaries, and other comparable. Some reference sources for education-related topics are listed below.

Highlighted resource

Education: A Very Short Introduction by Gary Thomas
ISBN: 9780198859086

Publication Date: 2021

This book explores how and why education has evolved as it has, examining the ways in which it has responded over the centuries to various influences in politics, philosophy, and the social sciences. Focusing on education today, it reviews the controversies over progressive versus formal teaching, and also examines education worldwide, assessing the accelerating trend on both sides of the Atlantic of the move to charter, academy, and 'free' schools, and many other topics.

Resources

Oxford Bibliographies: Education
A reliable, selective, and authoritative guide to the best literature in the field.
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education
An extensive encyclopedia covering issues and topics in the realm of education.
Learning Theories
Summarizes numerous learning theories in psychology, education, business and design.
Glossary of Instructional Strategies
A glossary providing brief definitions for more than 1200 instructional strategies. It hasn't been updated since 2013, but can still be useful to browse.

Research methods

The SAGE Encyclopedia of Educational Research, Measurement, and Evaluation (2018)
Covers the basics of traditional theories and methods, as well as important sociopolitical issues and trends influencing the future of that research and practice.
Encyclopedia of Language and Education (3rd ed., 2017)
A 10 volume digital encyclopedia, with volumes covering language socialization; language, education and technology; language policy and political issues in education; literacies and language education; discourse and education; language awareness and multilingualism; research methods in language and education; language testing and assessment; second and foreign language education; and bilingual and multilingual education.

School rankings

U.S. News and World Report College Rankings
Provides a variety of rankings and other information. Best national universities, best liberal arts colleges, best value colleges, etc. Some data is behind a paywall.
America's Best Graduate Schools (U.S. News & World Report rankings)
The abbreviated online version of Best Graduate Schools. Provides rankings of graduate schools in business, education, engineering, law, medicine, and more.
Best College Rankings on The Princeton Review
Search rankings by school or category.
College and University Rankings
Links to many different sources of college rankings -- from the most wired colleges to the most disability-friendly. Compiled by the University of Illinois Library.

Multidisciplinary reference databases

Gale Ebooks
Provides access to numerous reference works, including multi-volume encyclopedias, specialized handbooks, dictionaries, encyclopedias on a wide range of subject areas, including the social sciences.
SAGE eReference
A social sciences platform for SAGE and CQ Press resources. Access eBooks, debates, dictionaries, handbooks, and encyclopedias with an easy search by subject discipline or collection options.
Social Theory
This database brings together a range of influential writings representing the most important trends of sociological thought from the eighteenth century to the present day.