Subject Resources for History

Key journals and databases

• AM Explorer contains millions of primary source collections spanning the 15th to 21st centuries, this resource is particularly useful for those studying social sciences and humanities.
• Bibliography of British and Irish History Online provides bibliographic data on thousands of historical records dealing with the British Isles, the British Empire and Commonwealth, during all periods for which written documentation is available – from 55BC to the present.
• Black Thought and Culture is a collection of non-fiction writings by major American black leaders, including teachers, artists, politicians, religious leaders, athletes, war veterans, entertainers, and more, spanning 250 years of history – including a full run of The Black Panther newspaper. These resources present an evolving and complex view of what it is to be black in America.
• British Periodicals provides access to hundreds of searchable full-text periodicals from the late 17th to early 20th century, comprising millions of high-resolution images. Topics covered include literature, philosophy, history, science, the social sciences, music, art, drama, archaeology and architecture.
• Cambridge Core is a collection of multidisciplinary scholarly journals useful for locating full-text articles for English Language, Music and Performance studies on subjects such as dance, theatre and music technology.
• JISC Historical Texts provides access to thousands of late 15th to 19th century texts from four historically significant collections: Early English Books Online (EEBO), Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO),  the British Library 19th Century collection and the UK Medical Heritage Library (UKMHL).
• JISC Journal Archives provides access to thousands of journals from several major publishers: Brill, Institution of Civil Engineers, Institute of Physics, ProQuest, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, the Royal Society of Chemistry and Taylor and Francis.
• Journal Storage (JSTOR) is an extensive archive of journals, books, images and primary sources across a range of arts, humanities and education disciplines – as it is an archive, the most recently published issues (past 3-5 years) are not available.
• Newspapers please explore the Newspapers tab for more historical resources.
• Nineteenth Century UK Periodicals covers the events, lives, values, and themes that have shaped the world, providing an invaluable, fully searchable resource for the study of British life in the 19th century.
• Oxford Academic is a collection of journals published by Oxford University Press that can be used to find articles on a range of topics including history, media and music.
• Periodicals Archive Online is an archive collection of 20th century scholarly periodicals in the arts, humanities and social sciences.
• Project MUSE provides access to full-text scholarly journals from many of the world’s leading university presses and scholarly societies, with hundreds of publishers currently participating across the humanities and social sciences.
• ProQuest’s House of Commons Parliamentary Papers is the only online source for the complete file of 18th to 20th century papers, spanning from 1715 to the present, with supplementary material dating back to 1688.

These resources are great for use across all disciplines and programmes of study.

• Academic Search Premier is a multidisciplinary database with more than thousands of magazines and journals, including full-text access to a range of 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 broadcasts. The service also includes 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.
• CREDO Reference is a general knowledge database and a great place to begin exploring your research topic as it has thousands of introductory level reference titles, millions of articles, and lots of images, charts, maps and more covering a wide variety of subjects.
• Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) is a community-driven discovery service that indexes and provides access to scholarly, peer-reviewed open access books and helps users to find trusted open access book publishers.
• Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) is an online directory that indexes and provides access to high quality, open access, peer-reviewed journals.
• Gale Research Complete provides access to proprietary databases, eBooks, scholarly articles and rare primary sources that can enhance your research, learning and discovery, including thousands of journals and other authoritative sources in Academic OneFile.
• Libby (OverDrive) is a reading for pleasure collection of eBooks, audiobooks and magazines, providing you with a new digital library via the Libby app open 24/7 to all Edge Hill students and staff.
• LinkedIn Learning gives 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!
• Overton is the world’s largest searchable index of policy documents, guidelines, think tank publications and working papers. You can access this platform with your University email address to search the literature and find out who is influencing policies and policy makers.
• Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is widely accepted as the most complete record of the English language ever assembled.
• Oxford Reference is an online reference database, covering a wide range of subject areas, providing access to millions of digitised materials from across Oxford University Press’s Dictionaries, Companions and Encyclopedias.
• ProQuest Dissertations and Theses is the world’s most comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses from around the world, spanning from 1743 to the present day.
• Sage Datasets is a collection of US and international datasets sourced from governmental, commercial and private organisations, allowing you to search and browse billions of datasets, compare and contrast variables of interest, and create customised exportable charts and tables.
• 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.
• ScienceDirect is a leading full-text scientific database offering access to thousands of journal articles and book chapters for subjects including physical sciences and engineering, life sciences, health sciences, sports and physical activities, social sciences and humanities.
• Scopus is the world’s largest abstract and citation database, containing thousands of journals from a range of 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 access to millions of data sets. Find studies and reports, forecasts and surveys from thousands of 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.
• Taylor and Francis Online is a collection of multidisciplinary journals covering subjects from arts, humanities, business, computer sciences, social sciences, geography, sports, social work, education and many more.
• Wiley Online Library is a leading scholarly articles databases providing access to thousands of full-text multidisciplinary journals, covering life, health and physical sciences, nursing, psychology, social work, education, media, technology, business, social sciences and the humanities.

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.
• Financial Times contains news and analysis about the world of business and finance reaching back as far as 1999. Business and Economics students, or any researchers wishing to subscribe to daily updates, would benefit from accessing the Financial Times direct. Anyone wishing to research older content would benefit from visiting the Financial Times via Gale OneFile.
• 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.
• 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.
• Illustrated London News Historical Archive (1842-2003) was the world’s first fully illustrated weekly newspaper, marking a revolution in journalism and news reporting, presenting a vivid picture of British and world events, including news of war, disaster, ceremonies, the arts and science.
• Lexis+ Newspapers provides access to an archive of UK national and regional newspapers, with coverage from the 1990s to the present day.
• 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 (TES) is the UK’s foremost weekly publication covering primary, secondary and further education and can be accessed 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.