LibGuides: Education: E-resources

Search Summon discovery service

Search Summon to find online journal articles and book chapters.

Key databases for finding journal articles etc.

To search across ALL 6 EDUCATION DATABASES LISTED HERE at once, follow links to one database, select 'Choose Databases' (blue lettering above search boxes) and tick the 6 education databases.

Education Research Complete [partial full-text] This link opens in a new window
Education Research Complete is the definitive online resource for education research. Topics covered include all levels of education from early childhood to higher education, and all educational specialties, such as multilingual education, health education, and testing.
It provides indexing and abstracts for more than 2,100 journals, as well as full-text access to more than 1,200 journals and nearly 500 books and monographs.

Topics covered include all levels of education from early childhood to higher education, and all educational specialties, such as multilingual education, health education, and testing.

The dates available varies between journals – many are indexed and/or full-text back to 2000s, some back to 1990s.

Help and guidance
EBSCOhost Advanced Search Help
Viewing results in EBSCOhost
British Education Index This link opens in a new window
Broad selection of UK-compiled research-level education references. (You may need to request items not at Reading through the Library's Inter-Library Loans service.)
Covers 1975-

Help and guidance
EBSCOhost user guide
Child Development & Adolescent Studies This link opens in a new window
References to journal articles, books and theses related to growth and development of children to the age of 21.
Covers 1927 onwards.

Help and guidance
EBSCOhost user guide
Education Abstracts This link opens in a new window
References to journal articles, books and yearbooks in education, covering topics including adult education, comparative education, government funding, higher education, school administration, and teacher evaluation.
References to journal articles, books and yearbooks in education.

Subjects covered include:

adult education
comparative education
government funding
higher education
school administration
teacher evaluation

Help and guidance
EBSCOhost user guide
Educational Administration Abstracts This link opens in a new window
References to journal articles in educational administration, including leadership, management and research after 1965.
educational leadership
educational management
educational research

Covers 1966 onwards.

Help and guidance
EBSCOhost user guide
ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) This link opens in a new window
Broad selection of US-compiled research-level education references. (You may need to request items not at Reading through the Library's Inter-Library Loans service.)
Help and guidance
EBSCOhost user guide

Other useful resources

Academic Video Online on Alexander Street [video] This link opens in a new window
Video material including documentaries, interviews, performances, news programmes and newsreels covering a variety of events and themes.
We also have access to Academic Video Online on ProQuest

Academic Video Online is a comprehensive source of video material including 70,000 titles with curricular relevance: documentaries, interviews, performances, news programmes, newsreels and more. Use the Alexander Street link for the best browsing experience.

Academic Video Online comprises some of the following channels:

-60 Minutes: 1997-2014
-American History
-Black Studies
-LGBT Studies
-The March of Time
-World History
-World Newsreels Online 1929-1966

Some of subjects covered are:

-Art & Architecture
-Criminal Justice & Public Safety
-Drama
-Education
-Engineering
-Environmental Studies
-History
-Literature
-Politics & Current Affairs
-Psychology
-Science
-Theatre

Help and guidance
Alexander Street Press resources help

How you may use the content
Permitted

-lecture presentations
-Blackboard - embed the video in your module or link to it
-student work

Tip! You may make clips and playlists with the videos

Not permitted

-publicly available websites
-public display in University
-any alteration, adaption or modification the video
ArticleFirst This link opens in a new window
A multidisciplinary database containing references to journal articles covering all subject areas from 1990 onwards. Browse specific journal issues to keep up-to-date with articles published in journals of interest.
Box of Broadcasts [video & audio] This link opens in a new window
Box of Broadcasts (BoB) is a collection of TV and radio programmes from free-to-air channels. Set new recordings and playback programmes already recorded. Content back to 1990s.
Record and view TV and radio programmes from over 75 free-to-airchannels and access an archive of over 2 million programmes from the 1990s to the present day. Includes content from:
- BBC TV and radio
- ITV
- Channel 4
- Film4
- Sky Arts
-1 0 foreign language channels (Italian, French and German)
- BBC Shakespeare Archive content dating back to the 1950s

Use tools within BoB to create innovative and engaging learning materials to support teaching and learning;
- Create playlists, clips and clip compilations
- Embed content in BlackBoard and use in lectures
- Find programmes and clips on your topic by searching across programme transcripts and subtitles

How you may use the content

Permitted:
- lecture presentations
- Blackboard
- Create clips
- Embed in student coursework - provided it is within BlackBoard

Tip! Acknowledge the source and title of the programme and the ERA licensing scheme - see text under each video on BoB.

Not permitted:
- using BoB from outside the UK
- downloading or copying the videos - they are for streaming only
- publicly available websites
- public display in University
- any alteration, adaption or modification of the video or audio (except creating clips)
- promotional materials

Help and guidance
BoB video tutorials - including videos on using embed codes and using BoB videos in PowerPoint

Have a look at the BoB Frequently Asked Questions

Recommended browsers for BoB are Internet Explorer 11, Edge 12, Mozilla Firefox 44, Safari 8, Google Chrome 48 - or later versions of any of these browsers.

How to embed BoB videos in BlackBoard [PDF]

Tip! Each clip has a citation which you can copy.
British Library Sounds [sound] This link opens in a new window
A database of over 50,000 sound recordings from the British Library Sound Archive.
You do not need to log in to listen to most recordings, but you will need to create an account with the British Library to download them or to access some restricted recordings.

You may use the sound recordings for teaching, learning and research - see below for more details of how you may use the content.

Access to over 50,000 sound recordings from the British Library Sound Archive. Covers:
- Accents and dialects
- Arts, literature, and performance
- Classical music
- Environment and nature
- Jazz and popular music
- Oral history
- Sound recording history
- World and traditional music

How you may use the content

Permitted:
- lecture presentations
- Blackboard
- student work
- segment recordings using audio editing tools

Not permitted:
- publicly available websites
- public display in University

Please note that some recordings are not available for download - for more information see the British Library Sounds - conditions of use.Help and guidance
British Library Sounds help page
BUFVC Search This link opens in a new window
Provides a simultaneous search across the BUFVC's 9 online databases relating to film, television and radio content dating from 1896 onwards.
The databases included are:
- TRILT
UK television and radio data
- News on Screen - A resource for the study of newsfilm
- Shakespeare - Shakespeare-related content on film, television and radio
- Find DVD - a guide to audio visual materials for educational use
- TVTiP: TVTimes Project 1955-1985
- programme listings from the London edition of the TVTimes
- This Week - programme information from This Week, ITV's first current affairs series
- ILR South - programmes from Independent Local Radio stations in the Central Southern area, including Berkshire
- London Broadcasting Company/Independent Radio audio archive - selected news and current affairs material from 1973 to the mid 1990s
- ILR Sharing - programmes from the Independent Local Radio Programme Sharing Scheme, 1983-1990
Historical Association This link opens in a new window
We have access to the Historical Association's Student Zone and Podcasts sections.

Historical Association username and password are required to access this resource. You will need to enter your University username and password to access this information.
The Student Zone gives access to A-level topic guides, GCSE topic guides, history articles and podcasts by theme/period, guidance on examinations, careers with history, studying history at university and more.
IBSS (International Bibliography of the Social Sciences) This link opens in a new window
Provides references to journal articles, books, book chapters and reviews in select subjects, including education.
Also covers related subjects, such as: agriculture, social policy, archaeology, business studies, criminology, education, environmental issues, history, law, and social work.

Gives references to journal articles, books, reviews and selected chapters. Good coverage of international material.

Help and guidance
ProQuest LibGuide: IBSS
JSTOR [full-text] This link opens in a new window
A full-text archive of journal articles covering a range of subjects, including education.
Full-text archive of journal articles covering most subjects. Covers 1880s up to a 'moving wall' usually of between 2 and 5 years. Each journal title has its own 'moving wall'.

We subscribe to the following JSTOR packages: Arts & Sciences I-XI, Biological Sciences, Health & General Sciences and Ireland Collection.

We also subscribe to the 19th Century British Pamphlets collection.

Help and guidance
JSTOR help page for searching
PsycINFO This link opens in a new window
References to journal articles, books and book chapters in psychology and psychological aspects of related disciplines including education.
Gives references to journal articles, books and book chapters.
Social Sciences Citation Index This link opens in a new window
Gives references to journal articles in the social sciences.

This database is part of the Web of Science Core Collection. To search just this part select 'Social Sciences Citation Index' from the 'Editions' drop down list.
Includes: Anthropology; History; Industrial relations; Law ; Linguistics; Philosophy; Political science ; Psychology and psychiatry; Public health; Social issues; Social work; Sociology; Urban studies; Women's studies.

Help and guidance
Web of Science Training Portal
Taylor & Francis Online [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Access to all journal articles published by Taylor & Francis published from 1997 onwards.
Coverage is usually from 1997 onwards, although we have purchased archival access in some subjects including business, management and economics.
WorldCat This link opens in a new window
Essentially a vast Library catalogue. Gives references to books, theses, and other published materials in all subjects.
Covers ca.1000 BC to the present.

Guide to free research resources
A guide to free and Open Access resources available to students, alumni and the public.

Videos: doing your literature search

This playlist of two videos shows you how to prepare for and perform a literature search. The first video introduces literature searches and their role. The second video covers using the search operators AND and OR to create a search statement, and explains the role of wildcards and truncation in constructing a comprehensive search. This information is also available in written guides - see the links below.

Related guides

Literature searching
A guide to finding articles, books and other materials on your subject
Guide to searching databases

Accessing online Library resources

If you are on campus you will be able to access most e-journals and e-books, and some databases, without entering a username and password because your IP address identifies you as being at the University of Reading.

For any that require a login, see the Off-campus tab.

Terms of Use

When you use our e-resources you are agreeing to our Terms of Use. Please take a moment to look at these by following the link below:

Terms and conditions of use for Library e-resources

When you are off-campus you will need to login to identify yourself as a member of the University of Reading to gain access to our protected databases, e-books and e-journals.

Your login details

You login in the same way as for Blackboard - via Microsoft. Just enter your University username followed by @student.reading.ac.uk (e.g. ab123456@student.reading.ac.uk) and your password. If this is the first time you have logged in via this method when off-campus you will be asked to complete a Multi-Factor Authentication. For more information see:

Find out more about multi-factor authentication

Getting to the login page...

For most resources, if you follow a link from our website or catalogues your login will be picked up automatically or you will be prompted to login straightaway.
If you access resources via another route you will need to look for a login option once you reach the resource you are trying to access. Look for an institutional or shibboleth login option and pick 'University of Reading' from a list of institutions. This will then pick up your login or prompt you to login. For more information about institutional login, please see the link below:

Find out more about the Institutional login

Logging in to Library resources

Watch this short video on how you login to use Library resources.

E-resources for PGCert Healthcare Education

British Pharmacopoeia [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Access to the latest edition of The British Pharmacopoeia (BP), the leading collection of standards for UK medicinal products and pharmaceutical substances.
Help and guidance
How to use the BP
Cochrane Library [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Systematic reviews, protocols and trials on the effects of interventions in health care.

Free to UK residents
Includes:

-The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (Cochrane Reviews)
-The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL)
-The Cochrane Database of Methodology Reviews (Methodology Reviews)

Help and guidance
You can find training materials and videos by registering with the Cochrane Library Training Hub (requires an e-mail address).
MedicinesComplete [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Provides access to the British National Formulary, British National Formulary for Children and Stockley’s Drug Interactions.
It is also possible to access the BNF and BNFC free via the NICE website and download an app for Android and Apple devices. Note that Pharmacy students still need to use the print version of the BNF for workshops and assessments.

You can find a print copy of Martindale: the complete drug reference on the 3rd Floor of the main Library at LARGE --F 615.11-MAR.
MEDLINE on PubMed This link opens in a new window
References to journal articles in the biomedical sciences. Covers 1950 to the present day. Includes 'In press' articles.
We also have access to PubMed on Web of Science from 1950 to the present day.

It gives references to journal articles in the biomedical sciences including: biotechnology and bioengineering; clinical medicine; drugs and toxicology; forensic medicine; health affairs; non-clinical aspects of health care; psychiatry. Covers 1950 to the present day.

Help and guidance
Help using PubMed
To save searches and set up alerts, you will need to use a third-party sign-in option, such as Facebook or Google. It is not possible to use your University login credentials for this purpose.
MEDLINE on the Web of Science This link opens in a new window
References to journal articles in the biomedical sciences. Covers 1950 to the present day. Not as up-to-date as PubMed.

Select Medline from the drop down menu when you reach the homepage.
We also have access to Medline on PubMed.

It gives references to journal articles in the biomedical sciences including: biotechnology and bioengineering; clinical medicine; drugs and toxicology; forensic medicine; health affairs; non-clinical aspects of health care; psychiatry. Covers 1950 to the present day.

To search across all databases, or a specific one, you may need to select this from the 'Search in:' drop-down list.

Help and guidance
Web of Science Training Portal
ScienceDirect [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Access to articles in journals published by Elsevier from 1995 to the present, plus access to older articles in some subject areas. Also gives access to Elsevier e-books we have purchased.
Covering sciences, economic and social science, and some arts and humanities titles.

We also have access to older articles from 1896 onwards in the following subjects:

-agricultural and biological sciences
-economics, econometrics and finance
-environmental science
-social sciences

Help and guidance
ScienceDirect help
Scopus This link opens in a new window
Gives references to journal articles, books, conference proceedings and patents in all subjects. Also offers extensive tools to analyse results, and measure impact for articles, journals and authors.
Scopus gives references to peer-reviewed literature in all subject areas. It includes journal articles (including 'in press' items), books, conference proceedings and patents.

It is possible to search for topics, authors (including by ORCID ID), author affiliation and funders.

Extensive analytical tools also allow you to:

-analyse your search results by year, source, author, affiliation, country or territory, document type and subject area
-compare journal impact to help you decide where to publish
-see the citation impact and scholarly community engagement for an article
-analyse the citation trend for any given article, set of results or for a list of author documents
-view an author profile to analyse and track an individual's citation history

Help and guidance
Scopus Quick Reference Guide (PDF)
Tutorial of creating alerts
Scopus learn & support site