The article is devoted to the independent work of students of a pedagogical university. It addresses the actual problem of organizing students’ independent work with printed sources, including regulatory documents: The Constitution of the Russian Federation, the Federal Law “On Education in the Russian Federation”, the “Family Code of the Russian Federation”, the “Convention on the Rights of the Child”. Attention is also paid to the “Exemplary work program of education for general education organizations” in terms of targets in the results of education at the level of primary general education and at the level of basic general education.