History
On this page you'll find key resources, as well as guides to help you develop your academic, study, and digital skills.
This subject guide is designed to assist History students in finding the best information, whether you’re a new student starting your first assignment or delving into a research project.
Popular pages on the Library website
Three key actions for getting started
Finding information for your assessments
Developing strong information searching skills saves time and brings results. Finding Information Skills covers everything you need for academic searching. Take the Finding Information Skills assessment for a personalised action plan.
- Reading Lists
These are set up by your tutors to guide you to good quality, relevant and useful materials to help you with your studies. They are a great starting point before doing your own research - find out more about your Reading Lists.
- Library Search
Library Search can make your academic life easier by helping you find a range of reliable and trustworthy sources for your work. It contains a wealth of information to help you make the most of your studies, including books/eBooks, journals/eJournals, articles, databases, and more.
Using Library Search may feel daunting at first, but don't worry, we have a range of guides on how to find relevant resources.
Databases
Databases are searchable collections of good quality, academic material, particularly journal articles. They can be small subject specific or large collections covering a wide range of subject areas. Most databases provide access to full-text items.
| A collection of more than 60 reference books, covering history across the world. | |
| Features hundreds of magazines and journal on all aspects of art and humanities. | |
| A great place to start a search on most subjects, providing access to both books and journal articles. | |
| The published works of Winston Churchill. These include diaries, accounts of war campaigns and the text of speeches. | |
| Contains a wealth of facts, figures, definitions, and translations found in dictionary, language reference, and subject reference works published by Oxford University Press. | |
| Contains thousands of full-text journals, magazines and newspapers to create an interdisciplinary database. | |
| Provides access to millions of quality, peer-reviewed articles covering a wide range of topics in the sciences and humanities. | |
| Gives you access to a broad collection of information covering the life and physical sciences, technology, healthcare, social science, and the arts and humanities. |
Digital Archives
Digital Archives predominantly contain digitised primary sources. These are original documents and objects that give first-hand accounts of a topic or event and are created by people who had a direct connection with the topic or event. These can be government, company or personal papers, newspapers, books or magazines, or films or works of art.
| Access to more than 250 archive collections, providing digital copies of original documents and other materials. | |
| A selection of primary sources designed for teaching and learning about the struggles and triumphs of Black Americans. | |
| Great for anyone undertaking research on 20th century history. It provides materials relating to the two world wars, the Cold War, and topics as diverse as missionaries in Asia and the British Labour Party. | |
| Primary sources relating to all aspects of the Cold War. It provides access to original documents and many other contemporary materials. | |
| A collection of maps, personnel correspondence, and military files relating to the first world war | |
| A broad assortment of both far-right and radical left political groups. It offers a diverse mixture of materials, including periodicals, campaign propaganda, and government records. | |
| Offers a range of primary sources covering the social, political, and cultural shifts during the period of 1950 to 1975. | |
| Provides access to British government secret intelligence and foreign policy files from 1873 to 1953, sourced from The National Archives. | |
| A rich source of original material on many aspects of society, culture and politics from the 17th to the 20th Century. | |
| Contains digitised copies of nearly half a million books published from the late 15th century through to the 19th century. |
Video
Videos offer a dynamic way to absorb information. They often present complex ideas in an easily digestible format.
| A substantial collection of videos for a wide range of subject areas including, business, counselling, film, health, history, music, and more. | |
| An archive of over 2.2 million radio and TV programmes that have been broadcast in the UK. You can search for, and watch, anything already in the archive, as well as making use of the TV scheduling service. This allows you to record TV and radio programmes that are scheduled to be broadcast over the next seven days. | |
| Provides access to a large, curated catalogue of over 30,000 educational documentaries and classic films from leading producers. |
Newspapers
Newspapers are a valuable source of information. They provide insight into what interests and concerns people both now and in the past.
The Library gives students and researchers access to wide-range of Newspapers.
| Provides access to the full-text of more than 2,300 major world newspapers. | |
| A database of local, regional, UK national and highly prominent international newspapers, with archives back to the 1980s. |
LinkedIn Learning
LinkedIn Learning offers more than 9,000 professionally produced online courses covering a wide range of technical, creative and professional skills.
Always use our institutional link to log in – you will need your University email address and password. The first time that you log in, you will be taken through a setup process to discover courses tailored to your interests.
Discover more in our video: Using LinkedIn Learning at Salford.
Print Books
You can borrow print books from the Library. The location details below are a guide, it is best to search Library Search for exact location of items:
| Classmark | Subject Area |
| 350 | Military science |
| 930 | Military history |
Study better
- University Assessments
Whilst studying at Salford you will need to complete a range of assessments. We provide a range of guidance on how to approach the different assessment types you may come across.
- Referencing
We provide eLearning, written guides, and an extensive list of referencing examples.
- Skills A-Z
We have developed eLearning over a wide range of subjects for you to develop your academic skills at home and in your own time.
Workshops
We offer online and face-to-face workshops to help you develop your academic skills. These engaging, interactive sessions cover a wide range of topics which take place throughout the year, so check up on the list regularly.
Click on a workshop title to book onto the session via Advantage. If a session has no remaining spaces, sign up to the waiting list in case a space becomes free!
One to one appointments
You can book a one to one appointment with your Academic Support Team to discuss finding information, academic and writing skills, or digital support.
Follow the link below, choose your school and what you'd like support with, then select your chosen time slot and book on through Advantage.
Can't find what you need?
Contact the Academic Support Team using this form. You can also see who's who in the Team.
Key resources for history students
Books and Journals
The first place you should look is your Reading List. You will find a link to this in your Blackboard modules. It lists all the core texts for your subject as recommended by your lecturers. All our other books and journals can be found in Library Search.
Almost all articles published in the journals we subscribe can be found via Library Search, but there are a couple it may be worth checking individually
Databases
Whilst Library Search is your starting point when researching a topic, sometimes it’s helpful to restrict your search to one of our specialist sources.
- Box of Broadcasts - thousands of TV and radio programmes, including lots of current (and older) programmes on cultural topics. Also a great source for films that have been broadcast on TV.
- Kanopy - another good source for Films, especially international cinema.
- Arts & Humanities Database - lots of articles on all kinds of cultural topics.
- JSTOR - a great range of books and articles on all kind of topics including Film Studies.
- Performing Arts Periodicals Database - articles from journals covering all aspects of the art and entertainment industry, including film.
- Google Scholar – always worth checking for academic books and journals. To get the most from it, make sure you’ve added Library Access to your browser.
Newspapers
These are a great source for reviews and comment on films, filmmakers and actors.
Sources to try include Gale OneFile News and Newsstream. Check our Newspapers web page to see which papers we have access to.
LinkedIn Learning
LinkedIn Learning offers thousands of professionally produced online courses covering technical, creative and professional skills and including lots on film making.
Always use our institutional login to log in – you will need your University email address and password.
The first time you log in, you will be taken through a setup process to discover courses tailored to your interests.
Find out more in our video: Using LinkedIn Learning at Salford.