Skip to Main Content

CLDDV 101 - Principles and Practices of Teaching Young Children

Use this guide for your research paper on Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) and Positive Discipline.

Why Do Background Reading?
 

Many students turn to Wikipedia for their initial exploration of a topic. This is fine, but be sure to augment your background research with sources you can actually include on an academic bibliography (a.k.a. your References list).


Conduct background research because:infographic explaining that preliminary reading helps you evaluate and refine topics
  • It is a great source of core knowledge on your topic
  • It can generate ideas on different ways to focus your topic
  • It can answer research questions you've already posed
  • It may help you clarify and/or expand research questions.
  • It often points you towards other sources of information on your topic 

All of these resources are free for MJC students, faculty, and staff. If you're working from off campus, you'll need to sign in just like you do for Canvas or your email.

 

 
 
 
 
 

Recommended Resources for Background Reading:


Credibility is Crucial!

As you begin to answer your research questions, you need to be sure that you are using the best possible sources of information. You will likely find a variety of sources during your research: books, articles, Web documents, interviews, DVDs, and more.  For each and every source you use you want to make sure it passed the CRAAP test: 
 

CRAAP Test criteria

Using the Web effectively - Background Reading

Use the Web for Background Reading

You can find valuable research on the Web. You just need to remember to evaluate every source you find on the Web carefully

One of the best ways to evaluate Web resources is to compare what you read on the Web to what you have already learned in class, lectures and other research.
 

Recommended Websites

Google Scholar Search

Use Google to find scholarly literature available on the web.

Did you know you can:

  • Find articles, books, and reports using Google Scholar,
  • Find court opinions,
  • Search by author or title,
  • Sort by date, and more.

Learn more about Google Scholar at Google Scholar Search Tips

Google Scholar Search