Subject Resources for History
The collections provided below are electronic resources (eResources) and give you instant access to high-quality scholarly research through journal articles and databases. You can access these eResources 24/7 and each collection has its own to help pages to guide you through accessing and navigating the resources. If you need any additional support to develop your information literacy and research skills please visit the Further help and support tab.
Key journals and databases
- Cambridge Core is a collection of scholarly journals, useful for locating full-text journal articles for History.
- JSTOR is an extensive archive of journals. As it is an archive, the most recently published issues (past 3-5 years) are not available. It is extremely relevant for the study of English and History. The collections include JSTOR Arts and Sciences I,II,III and VII.
- Oxford Academic is a collection of journals published by Oxford University Press that can be used to find journal articles. History is one of the subject areas covered.
- Project Muse can be used to find full-text journal articles from the Humanities Collection.
Additional journals and databases
- Black Thought and Culture can help you explore twentieth century African American cultural trends. It contains 1,297 sources with 1,098 authors, covering the non- fiction published works of leading African Americans. The ideas of nearly 100 people present an evolving and complex view of what it is to be black in America. Also includes a full run of The Black Panther Newspaper.
- House of Commons Parliamentary Papers: Eighteenth, Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries provides access to House of Commons Parliamentary Papers. Useful for historical research as it a detailed primary source of information.
- Nineteenth Century UK Periodicals: Part I: Women’s, Children’s, Humour, and Leisure is a useful primary source for the study of nineteenth century History.
- Periodicals Archive Online is a collection of twentieth century periodical archives. Subject areas covered include language, literature and history. Specific interest for film history and Victorian poetry.
In addition to journals and databases, you can also access printed and electronic books (eBooks) within your subject area.
The table below is a great place to start browsing the physical Library shelves. It lists a range of useful topics related to your subject area and the associated call number for that subject. The call number is the numbers (and usually letters too e.g. 808.042/GIL) on the spine of the book, which allows them to be arranged in a logical order on the Library shelves.
The call numbers listed below are the general area you will find books on the related subject, but you can also complete a search on Discover More for more specific titles and to access any eBooks on your chosen topic.
Subject | Call Number |
Economic History | 330.9 |
World History | 909 |
European History | 940 |
Medieval History | 940.1 and 942.02 |
British History | 941 |
Local and Family History | 942.007 |
Fascism and Nazism | 943.086 and 945.091 |
Soviet Union History | 947 |
United States History | 973 |
Other useful eBook collections:
- JISC Historical Texts contains four collections of historical texts:
- British Library 19th Century Collection contains over 65,000 nineteenth century texts from the collection of the British Library.
- Early English Books Online (1473-1700) are printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America. From the first book published in English through the age of Spenser and Shakespeare. Useful for the study of English literature, linguistics and history.
- Eighteenth Century Collections Online contains works published in the UK during the eighteenth century plus thousands from elsewhere. Useful for History and Literature research.
- UK Medical Heritage Library has images and full text from over 66,000 nineteenth century European medical texts.
These resources are great for use across all disciplines and programmes of study.
- Academic Search Premier is a multi-disciplinary database with more than 4,600 magazines and journals, including full-text access to nearly 3,900 scholarly and peer-reviewed journals.
- Box of Broadcasts is an on-demand TV and radio service for educational research brought to you from Learning on Screen. The academically focused service enables you to watch and record programmes from over 75 free-to-air channels in the UK and search an extensive archive of over 2.2 million broadcasts. The service includes ten foreign language channels and allows you to create clips and playlists to share or embed into presentations.
- Browzine gives you access to top journals from your area of study in the Browzine Scholarly Journal Room. Browzine is a browsable newsstand of the University Library’s top journals, which lets you easily discover, read and monitor the key journals in your field. Learn more about Browzine in this short video.
- LinkedIn Learninggives you full, free, unlimited access to thousands of high quality online courses and video tutorials written by industry experts. The courses cover many topics including using a wide range of software, and personal development skills in education, public speaking, employability and much more. You can even claim and display certificates for courses you complete on your LinkedIn profile, to give your online CV a boost!
- SAGE Research Methods is a database which supports research at all levels by providing material to guide users through each step of the research process. From writing your research question and choosing a method, to analysing data, writing up and publishing the findings. Resources include a methods map, books, reference works, journal articles, podcasts and instructional videos from world-leading academics. With information on qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods, Sage Research Methods is the ideal tool to support you through your research.
- Scopus is the world’s largest abstract and citation database, containing 24,600 journals from 5,000 publishers. It is excellent for literature reviews or for finding out what has been published in your area as it can locate high quality journal articles, book chapters and more, for any subject.
- Springer Link provides researchers with access to millions of scientific documents from journals, books, series, protocols and reference works.
- Statista is a comprehensive statistics platform offering over 1.5 million data sets. Find studies and reports, forecasts and surveys from over 400 industries that you can download in a range of formats. There are also video tutorials and a quick user guide to help you make the most of Statista.
Newspapers
Newspapers can be a useful way of keeping up to date with current affairs or recent events and newspaper archives usually contain issues with less recent information, which is useful for finding articles of a more historical interest.
- British Library Newspapers (1800-1900) contains a large range of national, regional and local newspapers from the period. These include the Illustrated Police News, the Chartist Northern Star and the Morning Chronicle.
- Daily Mail Historical Archive (1896-2004) contains news stories and images that capture twentieth century culture and society. Offering full page and article images, with searchable full-text back to the first issue, this is a useful resource for historical research.
- The Financial Times contains news and analysis about the world of business and finance. The electronic collection goes back to 1999, the latest articles cannot be accessed for 30 days but are listed in search results.
- Gale OneFile: News contains articles from over 2,300 newspapers from around the world. These include major British newspapers, as well as United States and Australian titles. It also has thousands of images, radio and TV broadcasts and transcripts.
- The Guardian and The Observer Historical Newspapers (1791-2003) provides genealogists, researchers and scholars with online, easily searchable first-hand accounts and unparalleled coverage of the politics, society and events of the time.
- Lexis+ contains over 650 regional and national UK newspapers from 1982 to the present. It is possible to limit your search to either national or regional titles, or you can search the whole of the newspaper database.
- Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Burney Newspapers Collection is Reverend Charles Burney’s collection of early English news media. A comprehensive primary source for this period, which helps track the development of news.
- Times Digital Archive contains every issue of The Times from 1785 to 2019. You can search by keyword or for a particular issue and each story appears as it looks in the original print copy of the newspaper.
- Times Educational Supplement is the UK’s foremost weekly publication covering primary, secondary and further education and can be access by creating a personal account with your Edge Hill University email address.
Referencing
Referencing is the acknowledgment of all the sources that have been cited in your assignment, whether you have quoted them directly or paraphrased. This can include sources such as books and journal articles. There are various referencing styles available and your tutor will let you know which one they want you to use in your work.
Visit the UniSkills Referencing web page to learn more about academic integrity; the what, why and when you should be referencing; information, guides and interactive toolkits to support your referencing skills development; and how to access further referencing support.
Modern Humanities Research Association (MHRA)
History uses the MHRA referencing style. The full style guide can be downloaded from MHRA, Modern Humanities Research Association.
Accessibility
There are lots of accessibility features available across all eResources and we’ve pulled together a useful highlight of these in our UniSkills Focus On: eResources Accessibility blog.
Reading Lists
Your Online Reading Lists are a great starting point when beginning your research. Your reading lists contain materials your tutor has identified as essential and/or recommended reading.
UniSkills
UniSkills support all undergraduate (UG) and taught postgraduate (PGT) students with their academic skills.
If you need any further help and support developing your research skills you can access lot of useful information on the UniSkills Finding Academic Information web page.
UniSkills also offer a range of academic skills workshops, including support with finding academic information and conducting literature reviews and you can book on as many UniSkills Workshops as you need throughout the year.
For more tailored support developing your research skills, or getting the most out of your subject resources, you can book a one-to-one Information Skills appointment with an experienced Academic Skills Advisor.
Research Support
If you are staff engaged in research or a research student (including PGCert in Research, MRes, MPhil and PhD) you can access additional support from the University Library Research Support team. Visit the Research Support web pages for more information.
TechSkills
TechSkills is a package of face to face support, online resources and activities to help you develop and enhance your technology skills. You can find out more about specialist workstations and software available by visiting the TechSkills web page.
Ask Us
You can always access our online knowledge base and help tool Ask Us to search our frequently asked questions (FAQs) and even send us an email, if you can’t find the information you need – accessible 24/7.