Social sciences subject resources

These collections provide instant access to scholarly research, journal articles and book reviews. They may be accessed 24/7 and each collection has its own help and guidance on the home page.

Key journal collections

• Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology is a key reference book, containing over 1800 concise and clear definitions and explanations of key concepts, written by leading scholars in the field.
• International Bibliography of the Social Sciences contains bibliographic references from 2,600 selected social science journals.
• 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 in social sciences.
• 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.

Additional journal collections

• Academic Search Premier is a multi-disciplinary database which offers full text access to a vast range of scholarly journals.
• Box of Broadcasts is an on demand TV and radio service for education. The academically-focused system enables you to record programmes from over 65 free-to-air channels, and search an extensive archive. Box of Broadcasts is intuitive and easy to use, so you may find you can start straight away.
• Business Source Complete gives full-text access to more than 2,500 journals. It’s a useful source for the latest research across all disciplines of business, including marketing, management, MIS, accounting and finance.
• Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) an online directory that indexes and provides access to high quality, open access, peer-reviewed journals.
• Intered is a collection of practice based full text journals in education that contains a lot of information on early years.
• ScienceDirect is a leading full-text scientific database offering journal articles and book chapters from more than 2,500 journals and almost 30,000 books. View the top downloaded articles in your area of interest.
• Springer Link provides researchers with access to millions of scientific documents from journals, books, series, protocols and reference works.
• Taylor & Francis Online is a collection of multidisciplinary journals covering subjects such as business, computer sciences, arts and humanities.
• Wiley Online Library is a collection of full text journals that can be used to find journal articles for media.

Newspapers can be a useful way of keeping up to date with current affairs or recent events. Newspaper archives usually contain issues which are less recent and which are useful for finding articles of a more historical interest.

• Daily Mail Historical Archive 1896-2004 contains news stories and images that capture 20^th century culture and society. Offers full page and article images with searchable full text back to the first issue.
• Gale OneFile: News contains articles from over 2300 newspapers from around the world. These include major British newspapers, as well as US and Australian titles. It also has thousands of images, radio and TV broadcasts and transcripts.
• 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. Enter Lexis and click content and select Newspapers.
• 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 copy of the newspaper.

Newspaper educational supplements

• Times Educational Supplement is the UK’s foremost weekly publication covering primary, secondary and further education.
• Guardian Education contains news, features and opinion on all aspects and levels of education.

• British Sociological Association is the professional association for sociologists in the UK includes useful resources and regular news updates.
• Demos is a think tank focusing on power and politics.
• European Platform for Investing in Children provides evidence based information on policies aimed at children and families.
• Fabian Society is a left-leaning think tank aligned to the Labour Party.
• Institute of Race Relations Research and analysis charity that seeks to reflect the experiences of those who suffer racial oppression.
• Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) provides data and analysis on internal displacement.
• Joseph Rowntree Foundation is an organisation that works towards ending poverty in the UK.
• NatCen Social Research are an Independent social research organisation.
• National Children’s Bureau is an organisation that campaigns for the rights of children, so that they can fulfil their potential.
• NSPCC is an organisation that aims to protect children from abuse.
• Office for National Statistics is the national statistical institute of the UK.
• Social Policy Digest is an online supplement to the Journal of Social Policy and Social Policy and Society that was produced from 2003 to 2014. Useful coverage of grey literature
• Stonewall is a UK gay rights organisation.
• UK Data Service is the largest collection of social, economic and population data in the UK. You will need to register to use the service but you can do this with your university login details.

UniSkills

If you need any further help and support developing your research skills or getting the most out of your subject resources you can visit the UniSkills Finding Academic Information web page.

UniSkills offer a range of academic skills workshops, including support with finding academic information and conducting literature reviews. The great thing is you can book on as many UniSkills Workshops as you need throughout the year. View the current workshop timetable anytime on the UniSkills Workshop web page.

For more tailored support developing your research skills, or help finding resources, you can also book a one-to-one Information Skills appointment with an experienced Academic Skills Advisor.