The best introduction to this field is Mick Healey and Alan Jenkins’s book Developing Undergraduate Research and Inquiry (York: HEAcademy, 2009) which can be downloaded from the HEAcademy website.
all undergraduate students in all higher education institutions should experience learning through, and about, research and inquiry. In undergraduate research, students learn and are assessed in ways that come as close as possible to the experience of academic staff carrying out their disciplinary research.
Healey and Jenkins
Healey and Jenkins have been amongst the most energetic and visionary advocates of undergraduate research in the UK, but there are many people now working hard at a number of centres and universities across the country to bring the UK’s level of undergraduate research up to levels that match those in the U.S. and Australia. Also highly recommended is Angela Brew’s book Research and Teaching: Across the Divide (London: Palgrave, 2006). Brew brings together a number of studies (including her own pioneering work) to demonstrate the effectiveness of breaking down institutional barries between research and teaching.