Research Guides: Educational Studies: Getting Started With Research

Starting Your Research

If you are new to conducting research:
Consider reviewing the Starting Your Research tutorial to learn the phases and processes of doing research.

For general library information: New to Using the Library

Start your Education research with these key resources:

Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Good starting point when researching topics that intersect with multiple disciplines.
Content type: Scholarly articles, newspaper articles, magazine articles, trade journal articles
Coverage dates: 1887-present; varies by title
Language: English, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, Turkish, French, Chinese, Arabic etc.
Keywords: ASP
Education Database This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Good for scholarly articles and trade articles on the theory and practice of education from primary school through higher education.
Content type: Scholarly articles, trade journal articles, magazine articles, dissertations and theses
Coverage dates: 1988-present
Includes not only the literature on primary, secondary, and higher education but also special education, home schooling, adult education, and hundreds of related topics.
Language: English, Spanish, Portuguese, French
Education Full Text This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Main database for education research with relevant articles, books, and dissertations on all aspects of education.
Content type: Scholarly articles, books, magazine articles, dissertations and theses
Coverage dates: 1929- present
Full text coverage includes 1996-present.
Language: English, Spanish, Turkish, Chinese
Sage Research Methods This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Good for finding resources that explain research methods and help guide the development the development of your own research project.
Content type: Books, reference materials, cases, datasets, podcasts, videos
This resource also includes a Methods Map, a Project Planner, Statistical Methods selection tool, and further reading lists.
Language: English

What is Educational Research?

The breadth of education topics and research is vast, and can flood into fields outside of education, such as psychology, child development, social work, and more. Other suggested subject guides are available on the right hand side of this page.

To begin thinking about how to design educational research, a member of the Education and Learning Consortium in the UK describes an approach to beginning educational research: