Education

When undertaking educational research, it is helpful to find out what research has already been done in your chosen field. This will not only prevent you from duplicating work that has already been carried out but will also provide you with other sources of information for your literature review and possible points of contact.

Finding information about research

The following is a list of guides to research:

British Education Theses Index (BETI) 1950 - Microfiche at QR 370.7 BRI

Available in two sections, covering 1950-1983 and 1984-1989. Very useful for doing retrospective searches on educational research. Covers British theses on all aspects of theory, history and practice of education. Alphabetical indexes by author and subject but contains no abstracts. (See also International Eric)

Current research in Britain - Quick Reference area at QR 016.3 BRI

Annual register of research being carried out in UK HE institutions. Most education references appear in the Social Sciences volume, with a few in the Humanities volume. The detailed subject index allows you to pinpoint names and addresses of other workers in your field. Exmouth Library holds both volumes.

Register of educational research in the United Kingdom

Quick Reference at QR 016.37 NAT

Register of educational research in progress in the UK. Arranged by institution, with name and subject indexes. This is the printed form of a continuously updated database held at the library of the NFER. You can request an online search of the database direct from the NFER for a fee of £5.00. Alternatively search the internet site at http://www.nfer.ac.uk  and click on ‘Research at the NFER’ for details of completed and ongoing research.

Index of conference proceedings - 1964 - Quick Reference at QR 016.06 BRI

Annual publication listing all conference proceedings received by the British Library. Alphabetical arrangement using key terms derived from the name or subject of the conference. Conference proceedings can provide valuable information that has not been published elsewhere, e.g., transcript of a debate that took place. These can be ordered on Inter Library Loan; ask at the Enquiry Desk for more details.

BERA (British Educational Research Association)

[Online at http://www.bera.ac.uk ]

This website gives information about ongoing educational research. Click on the ‘Publications’ button to find out details about BERA’s latest publications. There is also an opportunity to participate in discussions about the latest educational research by using the ‘Debate’ option.

Research into Higher Education Abstracts 1968 -

Published 3 times a year with broad topic arrangement and author and subject indexes. Short summaries of new projects are given in each issue. Coverage mainly British with selected overseas work. The endlist of periodicals abstracted could be useful to researchers. Exmouth Library holds 1966-1989.