Skip to Main Content
site header image

Early Childhood Education

This guide is a starting point for research and locating resources available to you as UW-Whitewater students in Early Childhood Education. Some resources are subscription-based and you may be prompted to log in using your Net-ID.

1. Approaches to Early Childhood Education: Primary Source

Begin your research by exploring as close to the primary source for various approaches as possible - the school or center where it was developed, a publication home, or an association whose primary goal is to promote the approach.

Consider: What will be the bias of these primary sources? What implications does that have for your literature research? Is the source...

  • a publisher?
  • a research organization?
  • an association?
  • a school or university?
  • Other?
How Do I Cite These Web Pages in APA Style?

When using multiple pages from a website, it is most often sufficient to create one citation to the main page. Follow the examples on:

How Do I Cite Videos Found on These Web Pages?

2. Departments of Education (and Other Government Agency) Sources

The purpose of the What Works Clearinghouse is "To help teachers, students, and schools meet high standards, educators need more evidence on what works in education. Currently, few resources help education decision makers separate high-quality research from weaker research and promotional claims. Through systematic reviews to identify rigorous research, the WWC provides educators with credible and reliable evidence they can use to make informed decisions." (https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/FAQ)

Tap the image at right to view a helpful infographic.

 What Works Clearinghouse infographic

Do your own search for information provided on state and federal education websites by starting with site:.gov 

search Google by beginning wth site:.gov

How Do I Cite a Government Report?

3. Articles, Books, & Other Media (Research@UWW)

Locate book chapters, articles, and more using Research@UWW. Start with this example:

Waldorf (preschool OR "early childhood" OR kindergarten)

Filter your search by date and resource type.

Reference Examples

Bredekamp S. (2019). Effective practices in early childhood education: Building a foundation (4th ed.). Pearson.

Bredekamp S., Masterson M. L., Willer B. A. , Wright B. L. (2022). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8 (4th ed.). National Association for the Education of Young Children.