Q. I need to write a paper on the history of curriculum research, as well as a critical theorist in the field of education. Where do I start?

First, here is a great scholarly overview of the topic in the online Encyclopedia of the Social and Cultural Foundations of Education: http://0-www.sage-ereference.com.patris.apu.edu/foundations/Article_n108.html. The article describes the history of curriculum theory and lists a number of important theorists.

If you scroll down to the bottom of the article, you’ll see a link that says, "Further readings." That list includes several important books in the field; you can use the library catalog to find and request the books. If APU doesn’t have a book from the list, you can request it through LINK+.

Here are some additional articles from the Encyclopedia of the Social and Cultural Foundations of Education that may be helpful:

• "Philosophy of Education"
• "Reconceptualist Models of Education"
• "Hidden and Null Curriculum"
• "Ideology and Schooling"

Second, you may also find it helpful to do a keyword search in the library catalog for books that include the phrases "curriculum theory" or "curriculum research" in their titles or tables of contents.

Third, here’s a list of articles from ERIC on the subject "Curriculum Research." 

Once you’ve identified which educational theorists you’re interested in researching, try the following steps:

1. Do an author search in the APU library catalog to see which of the theorist’s books we have in our collection. Here’s a sample search for books BY Paulo Freire (i.e., primary sources).
2. Do a subject search for the theorist’s last name in the APU library catalog to see what kind of critical/secondary sources we have about that person. Here’s a sample search for books ABOUT Paulo Freire (i.e., secondary sources).
3. Do a keyword search for the theorist’s name in the ERIC database (put quotation marks around it, like this: “Paulo Freire”). Here’s a sample search for articles that mention Paulo Freire.