Use the resources listed on this page to find relevant information on topics in History. They will predominantly give you access to secondary sources of information, which describe, summarise, analyse or discuss information or details originally presented in another (primary and/or secondary) source. For example books and journal articles.
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.
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:
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:
Getting to the login page...
Watch this short video on how you login to use Library resources.
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.
Reading University theses and dissertations
The Library receives a copy of all theses accepted for the degrees of PhD and MPhil by the University. All theses held by the Library can be found on the Enterprise catalogue. Recently submitted theses might also be available to download from the University's Institutional Repository, CentAUR.
Masters theses can usually be consulted in the relevant school or department.
Finding theses from other institutions
There are a number of specialist sources for finding theses produced at other institutions around the world. Many more are becoming available online making it much easier to get the full-text. For more information see our guide to finding theses.
See our guide to finding theses for more information:
Conference papers are published in a variety of ways - they may be published as a book, or as a special issue or supplement to a journal. Some may not be published at all!
If published promptly they can you give you the latest information on research in your field.
See our guide to finding conference papers for details of specialist sources for finding this type of information.
Newspapers can be a good source for the latest developments in a field and for current opinion on controversial topics.
We have online access to a number of current and archive newspaper issues. For further information and links go to our Finding newspapers guide.
The UK Parliament and other national and regional assemblies and parliaments around the world typically publish official papers on their activities, providing a potentially rich resource for research into political and legislative processes.
The Library holds an extensive historical collection of UK parliamentary papers, much of the content of which is now also accessible electronically; current and recent parliamentary publications are ordinarily available online. For more information, read:
Maps can be used in nearly all disciplines to either research or display spatial information. The University Library contains about 70,000 maps and atlases, covering the whole world. They include original and facsimile maps from medieval to modern times, and access to online resources is also available.
To find out how maps can help you, see our presentation on Using maps for your research:
For more information see the following guide:
For digital maps of Great Britain, the best place to start is Digimap. This includes nine datasets, including contemporary Ordnance Survey maps; historical Ordnance Survey maps; geology maps; environmental land cover maps; marine charts and thematic data; aerial imagery; census and socio-economic data; detailed building and land cover data and world maps. Maps can be printed out or data downloaded for use in a geographical information system.
Our Inter-Library Loans service can get articles, books and other publications not held at Reading from other libraries (usually from the British Library).
For more information see our webpages:
