Course resource help for Education and Early Years/Early Childhood Studies

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Reading lists

If you’re not sure where to start reading for any assignment, remember your module will have a reading list.

Your lecturer will have recommended books, journal articles and maybe web sites, and may have marked which ones are Essential or Recommended. Sometimes they will have set specific reading for each week of the module. Your reading lists should be linked from the module’s Moodle course.

You can also find them on our Reading Lists search (look up the module code, module title or lecturer’s name)

Find out more from our video How to find your reading list

Books and e-books

You can find all our print books and e-books by using the “Books and e-books” tab on LibrarySearch, or doing a general search first and then filtering your results to Books and e-books.

We have hundreds of core textbooks for Education available as e-books.

In some cases you can download the whole e-book to a laptop or tablet for a limited number of days; in others, you can print or download very limited numbers of pages. Our e-book packages also let you add your own online notes to a book or make lists of your favourite e-books.

Follow these instructions to search for and access e-books.

Find out what’s new on our New Books in Education and Early Childhood Studies reading list.

Journals and journal articles

If you already know the details of a specific journal article you want to read, you can often find it by pasting the title into LibrarySearch (on the default general search tab).

If you want to look up the title of a whole journal (eg British Educational Research Journal), either just to browse or to look up a specific article you know is in it, use the Journal Titles tab on LibrarySearch. Use the 'Using LibrarySearch to find a journal title' guide to help you.

If you need to find out what journal articles have been written on a topic, you can start with LibrarySearch. Put in keywords for your topic, then when you get the results refine them to Format - Article. You can also refine to Year - eg Last 10 years - and Peer Reviewed (under Content Type). Use the 'Using LibrarySearch to find journal articles on a topic' guide to help you.

If your LibrarySearch results aren’t relevant enough or you don’t find enough, you can use our specialist Education databases, below, to search for journal articles. All these databases will require you to use your Oxford Brookes login to access them.

You'll need to plan your database search carefully - use our 'finding journal articles' worksheet to help you. You can also check our slides on finding journal articles and research for Education, "Where's the Evidence?"

Databases for Education

One-stop search: Search all the Education databases at once. (Bear in mind this includes ERIC, so will get you a lot of US literature as well as British and European: but it is a quick and easy way to start.)
British Education Index: Covers mostly British and European Education journals, as well as some research reports and conference papers. Lots of the articles (not all) have the full text available.
Child Development and Adolescent Studies: Key database for Early Years/Early Childhood Studies including development, behaviour, psychiatry and psychology.
Education Abstracts: Content on a wide array of subject areas including adult education, comparative education, government funding, higher education, school administration and teacher evaluation. Despite the name it does have full text available for many articles.
Educational Administration Abstracts: Covers areas related to educational administration, including educational leadership, educational management, and educational research. Despite its name, many articles are available full-text.
ERIC: American based education database sponsored by the US Department of Education. ERIC includes coverage of journal articles, conferences, and books, mostly but not exclusively about American education. The current US administration is reducing the total number of journals indexed in ERIC by up to 45% from April 2025.

Extra databases for specialist Education pathways

Academic Search Complete: useful for students interested in English as a second language, particularly for Applied Linguistics.
A-n The Artists’ Information Company: Valuable resource for Artist Teachers: provides access to research, critical writings, artists' profiles, debates and opportunities in the visual arts as well as a series of open interactive websites.
Art Full Text: Useful for Artist Teachers: a key source for the visual arts; other subjects covered include design, architecture, fashion, film and video.
Bibliography of the History of Art: Useful for Artist Teachers; more art historical in focus, but does cover modern and contemporary art. Indexes articles published between 1975 and 2008.
Communication & Mass Media Complete: Useful for students interested in English as a second language; covers language and linguistics, as well as other subjects such as advertising, broadcasting, communication, cultural studies, film, journalism & mass media
MLA International Bibliography: Useful for students interested in English as a second language; covers literature, language and linguistics, folklore, literary theory and literary criticism
Emerald: Useful for Leadership & Management; academic and theoretical articles on management and business.
MEDLINE: Biomedical coverage including psychology. Useful for Special Educational Needs.
PsycINFO: Useful for Childhood & Youth Studies, Literacy Difficulties and Special Educational Needs; all aspects of psychology, including child development and educational psychology.

If you are researching a topic which goes beyond Education, also check out the Course Resource Help pages in that subject area, eg Psychology, Fine Art, Social Sciences or Management.

Children’s books and classroom resources

All our children’s books and classroom resources from the Primary Teaching Collection are on LibrarySearch.
To focus on these resources, run your search and then use the options on the left to filter the results to Primary Teaching Collection (under Library). Click 'Retain filters' to keep this setting for your next search.
You can search for children’s books just like any other books, for example dahl charlie chocolate factory
To find non-fiction children’s books or resources on a topic, such as weather, search for weather and use the options on the left to filter the results to Primary Teaching Collection.
To find dual language children’s books (which have the same story in two languages, eg English and Spanish), search for dual language
To find Big Books (large-format picture books for showing to a whole class at once) search for “children’s big book” (with the quotation marks)
To find resource packs on a topic, such as Islam, search for "resource pack" islam (with the quotation marks)
To find non-book resources on a topic, such as money, search for money, filter your results to Primary Teaching Collection and then use te Format option to narrow your search further, eg to Image (for posters), Object, Kit etc
You can also search for a specific item, eg tambourine or gruffalo puppet.
We have recommended reading guides for children of all ages - on our Reading Lists Search look for reading guide

Find out what’s new on our New Resources in the Primary Teaching Collection reading list

Key Education organisations and statistics

Check our Key Education organisations and Web sites reading list for links.

The list includes a Statistics section with links to UK, international and historical Education statistics

AI tools for research

Check our page AI tools for research. Here you'll find:

Advice on using AI tools responsibly
Suggested tools like Research Rabbit and Keenious which are designed to help you build on the sources you've found.

Need help? Contact your librarian

Please get in touch if you have any queries about:

finding information and resources for assignments
finding online resources
referencing your sources

Library Help

library@brookes.ac.uk

If you can’t find what you need on this page, or if you have any questions, just get in touch.

Find out how to contact us

Book an appointment with a member of the Library team

Referencing

Citing your sources (also called referencing) is an essential part of your academic work. Find out more from our page How to reference and avoid plagiarism

To check how to reference your sources in the Harvard style required by the School of Education at Oxford Brookes, use Cite Them Right or the Library guide to Harvard.

Cite Them Right shows you how to reference a wide range of sources (books, journal articles, web sites and many more) in exactly the same Harvard style used at Oxford Brookes. It also gives advice on using your sources in your written work and avoiding plagiarism.

The Library has also produced a quick guide to Harvard referencing that you can download and a playlist of short videos.

Endnote is a tool for storing and organising your references, and it will also work with Word or Pages to create a fully formatted bibliography from your reference library.

EndNote Online - step-by-step setup instructions

This guide walks Early Childhood and Education students through how to set up and configure an EndNote Online account step-by-step.

How to...

Use the Library - the basics

How to find things in the Library and borrow what you need

Find your reading lists online

Check the information further up this page on reading lists

Plan a search for your assignment

Think about what you already know about the topic, what sort of additional information you still need, and where you will find that:

Definitions of words, or brief explanations of concepts - you need an encyclopedia or dictionary. (Find these on LibrarySearch, eg search for encyclopedia early childhood)
Background knowledge on a topic - this is likely to be in textbooks. Check the reading list for your module first! Then you can also use LibrarySearch to search for books (use the Books and E-books tab, or search first then limit to Books).
In-depth research findings - these will probably be in journal articles and research reports. Research reports may also be on the Web sites of the organisations that did the research.
Statistics - check out the Statistics section of our Key Education organisations and Web sites reading list.
For help with choosing the best sources, have a look at the Making good reading choices section of our Academic Integrity Moodle course.
For more in-depth help with choosing the right sources, check out the Context Hexagon from York University Library.
It’s important to keep track of everything you read, so check out our Referencing information as well.

Find journal articles

For a quick general search for journal articles on a topic, you can use LibrarySearch.

For a more specialist search, use our databases - you’ll need our Finding journal articles worksheet to help you plan your database search

Check our slides on finding journal articles and research for Education, "Where's the Evidence?"

Get help for your dissertation

Past undergraduate dissertations are not in the Library - ask your module leader or course administrator how you can access them; some may be available online eg in Moodle
Postgraduate dissertations are held online as e-dissertations and e-Theses. You can find them on LibrarySearch - do a broad keyword search (such as MA education) and then use the menu on the left to limit Format to “Thesis/dissertation”.
Literature searching - you will need to make good use of our help on planning a search for your assignment and finding journal articles (see above). You may also need education statistics and key Education organisations and documents. Also check out York University Library’s Context Hexagon for help choosing the right sources. Once you have used all those, if you still need further help, you can contact the Library for advice or an appointment.
For your dissertation you will almost certainly need resources we don’t have in Brookes Library. You may need to use interlibrary loan, apply for a Bodleian reader’s card, or use the SCONUL Access scheme to access other University libraries.
Don’t forget to look at the reading list for your dissertation module, if there is one, for recommendations of research methods books and other useful resources. We also have a general Dissertations and independent research reading list.

Use the Library when you’re off-campus or if you’re a partner college student

New Books for Education and Early Childhood

Check out our reading list of the latest new books and e-books for Education and Early Childhood Studies

Explore the Primary Teaching Collection

The Primary Teaching Collection is located on Level 2, Zone E of the Headington Library. It comprises a wide range of children’s picture books, fiction and non-fiction, 'big books' (for reading aloud to class), storysacks, lesson resource packs, musical instruments, maths equipment, games, posters and more. Education students can borrow these resources (mostly six-week loan).

The room housing the Collection is designated a Group Study Space, so you can work collaboratively and discuss.

Download our guide to the Primary Teaching Collection (Word & PDF) which tells you more about using the collection and where to browse for children's literature, maths resources and other subjects.

If you are an Education student and have an idea of a resource you think we should obtain for the collection, use our Suggest a resource for the Primary Teaching Collection Google form

Search the Primary Teaching Collection

Use LibrarySearch to look for items in the Primary Teaching Collection.

Run your search and then use the options on the left to filter the results to Primary Teaching Collection (under Library). Click 'Retain filters' to keep this setting for your next search.
You can search for children’s books just like any other books, for example dahl charlie chocolate factory
To find non-fiction children’s books or resources on a topic, such as weather, search for weather and use the options on the left to filter the results to Primary Teaching Collection.
To find dual language children’s books (which have the same story in two languages, eg English and Spanish), search for dual language
To find Big Books (large-format picture books for showing to a whole class at once) search for “children’s big book” (with the quotation marks)
To find resource packs on a topic, such as Islam, search for "resource pack" islam (with the quotation marks)
To find non-book resources on a topic, such as money, search for money, filter your results to Primary Teaching Collection and then use te Format option to narrow your search further, eg to Image (for posters), Object, Kit etc
You can also search for a specific item, eg tambourine or gruffalo puppet.

Browse the Primary Teaching Collection

If you want to browse the resources, it helps to understand how they are arranged. The system for arranging stock in the Primary Teaching Collection is called the Dewey Decimal Classification system (DDC) and is the same system you'll find in the rest of the Library.

Every item has a ‘call number’ – this is a number to denote its subject and letters to help you find a specific book. Note that non-book resources like money, numbers, puppets and musical instruments will also have a call number!

The Dewey system organises all knowledge into 10 main categories:

New Primary Teaching Collection resources

Check out our reading list of everything that’s new in the Primary Teaching Collection