OneSearch is the search engine for all the things that Lancaster University Library has to offer, it covers books, articles and so much more.
IMPORTANT - If you are not a member of the university, once you have done your keyword search you must filter on the right hand side of the screen by clicking OPEN ACCESS - this will then only show you items that you have online access to.
Google Scholar is a free academic search engine that can be thought of as the academic version of Google. Rather than searching all of the indexed information on the web, it searches repositories of publishers, universities or scholarly websites.
Within Google Scholar you may conduct searches by keyword, author and article title. There is also an advanced search with more options.
The National Archives is the official archive and publisher for the UK government and for England and Wales. It is the guardian of some of our most iconic national documents, dating back over 1,000 years. Not all archives are available online but there is an ever growing collection.
There is also an Index of International Archives by country. (scroll down the page )
Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more.
Also contains the Wayback Machine which allows you to search over 680 million web pages saved over time.
The Office for National Statistics
The Office for National Statistics is the UK’s largest independent producer of official statistics and the recognised national statistical institute of the UK. It is responsible for collecting and publishing statistics related to the economy, population and society at national, regional and local levels.
This is the UK’s largest repository for quantitative and qualitative digital social science and humanities research data.
You will have to register as a personal user to get access.
Eurostat is the statistical office of the European Union. Bringing you statistics on all things from Population to Business, the economy to the environment and much more. This is the best free resource to find data from European Union member states.
USAGov is the official statistics site of the US Government.
Find data about the U.S., such as demographic and economic data, population, and maps. Get information about the 2020 U.S. Census.
The Open Access Directory is a huge directory of freely available academic sources....think journals, papers, research, data...that sort of thing.
They have produced an index of specialist repositories ( online storage shelves ) for every academic subject from agriculture to technology. It's basically a huge list of links.
Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching and learning materials that you may freely use and reuse at no cost, and without needing to ask permission. Unlike copyrighted resources, OER have been authored or created by an individual or organization that chooses to retain few, if any, ownership rights.
In some cases, that means you can download a resource and share it with colleagues and students. In other cases, you may be able to download a resource, edit it in some way, and then re-post it as a remixed work. How do you know your options? OER often have a Creative Commons license or other permission to let you know how the material may be used, reused, adapted, and shared.
There are many academic quality websites and resources available for you to use in your School and College research.
Lancaster University Library has brought quite a few of them together in the guide available here (click the image above.)
If you live in Lancashire and haven't already done so you should consider joining your local library.
How to join a Library in Lancashire.
Now obviously this would allow you to borrow books that could help you with your research but it will also give you access to thousands of ebooks and articles.
You will get access to databases such as Credo Reference, Newsbank and many more. You can find out all about this by clicking the following link: Lancashire Libraries Digital Services
If you visit one of the libraries you will be able to book a "walk-in" pc and get access to even more academic journal articles.
Find out more here: Access to Research
Do you live in Cumbria? Have you joined your local library yet?
If you answered "yes" then that's fantastic, if you haven't already you should consider joining the Westmorland & Furness Library Service to get access to a huge range of physical books to help you with your research.
How to join Westmorland and Furness Libraries.
If you set up your digital membership you will have access to thousands of newspapers, ebooks, journal articles and databases such as Oxford Reference, Britannica etc...
If you visit one of the libraries you will be able to book a "walk-in" pc and get access to even more academic journal articles.
Find out more here: Access to Research
If you live in North Yorkshire and haven't already done so you should consider joining your local library.
You can join online without ever needing to visit a physical library.
Once you join you will get access to lots of fantastic resources that can help you with your EPQ via their Access to Research membership.
I'm sure that you all know what a podcast is? If not it's a digital online recording on pretty much any subject that you can listen to on your computer, smart speaker or phone.
There are millions of the things out there on all subjects but there are also some excellent quality academic and educational ones available directly or via the likes of Apple , Google , Spotify. (you may need a subscription to access some of these ). You can find information on the these and more in
The BuzzSprout Blog on The Definitive Podcast Directory List
This is not an exhaustive list but it will give you an idea of where to start. Click the side arrows to find out more.
You Can use podcasts in your academic research.
The National Archives
The Internet Archive
USA.gov
OAD disciplinary repositories
