Using library resources
Below is a list of search tools and resources available via the library.
You can find books and electronic books (ebooks) by searching the library catalogue.
You can also find journal titles and databases here - but you cannot search for individual journal articles on the library catalogue.
DISCOVER is your single search tool that allows you to search most of the electronic resources and the catalogue simultaneously and provides you with current availability information on library catalogue items.
Results from any electronic resource can be saved to your personal folder, and your saved preferences are available using DISCOVER.
Education Research Complete Includes citations and abstracts from more than 2,400 journals, as well as full text for more than 1,300 journals. It also includes full text for over 500 books and monographs, and 3,000 full text for numerous education-related conference papers. Included in DISCOVER.
British Education Index An education database indexing almost 300,000 articles from peer-reviewed journals, UK Theses and much more. Included in DISCOVER.
ERIC Is an important American database providing access to more than 1.6 million bibliographic records of journal articles and other education-related materials and, if available, includes links to full text. Included in DISCOVER.
SPORTDiscus with full text This database provides full text for periodical articles and book chapters covering all areas of sport and exercise. American bias. Included in DISCOVER.
Teacher Reference Center Provides indexing and abstracts for 230 peer-reviewed journals. Included in DISCOVER.
Academic Search Complete Covers most areas of academic study and provides full text for more than 8,500 full-text periodicals, including more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals. Includes a large number of education journals published in Britain and other parts of the world. Included in DISCOVER.
Annual Review of Physiology – access to full text articles in the biomedical, physical and social sciences from 1996-2016. Not included in DISCOVER.
JSTOR This database includes over 1,700 academic journals with full text available back to the first volume. The subject coverage is broad across the arts, humanities, social sciences, law, life sciences and health. Included in DISCOVER.
Library Hub Discover (formerly COPAC) An excellent source of information about books published in Britain and throughout the world, it gives access to the merged online catalogues of 110 major British research libraries, including the British Library. Not included in DISCOVER.
Medline - references to journal articles in biomedicine, physiology and fitness. Included in DISCOVER.
PsycINFO The database of the American Psychological Association (APA). Excellent starting point for psychology related material such as cognitive development, child behaviour and learning theories. Included in DISCOVER.
PsycARTICLES From the American Psychological Association (APA), is a definitive source of full text, peer-reviewed scholarly and scientific articles in psychology. It contains more than 200,000 articles from 100 journals. Included in DISCOVER.
Scopus This database indexes a high number of peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers across the arts, humanities, sciences and social sciences. Its content is included in DISCOVER but the individual database also encompasses tools to track citations so you can see how often and where a paper has been cited.
SocIndex with Full Text A wide-ranging social science database with links to some full text articles. Included in DISCOVER.
Repository (UoB) The University of Bedfordshire Repository is an open access repository giving you access to the continuing research activity undertaken at the university.
Web of Science A research database (citations only) covering a wide range of subjects. Useful User guide. Included in DISCOVER.
Credo Reference A searchable collection containing 100 reference sources including subject dictionaries, encyclopedias, biographical sources and quotations. Contains over 150,000 entries of facts, words, concepts, and people.
Oxford Reference Online brings together language and subject reference works from one of the world's biggest reference publishers (Oxford University Press) into a single cross-searchable resource.The Core Collection contains over 100 dictionary, language reference, and subject reference works published by Oxford University Press. The Premium Collection offers all of the above, plus information across a broad subject range from titles in the Oxford Companions Series. Video tutorial.
Newsbank contains the full text of many UK newspapers, both local and national.
UK Newspapers (Lexis Library) This is a collection of newspapers in the Lexis Library database. Lexis is primarily a law resource, but can also be used to search newspaper articles. Includes TES and Times Higher Education.
EThos A database of over a quarter of a million records of doctoral dissertations from UK Higher Education. Some Phd theses are available as full text. Individual registration is required to download the full text of a thesis, but is not necessary for searching the database and viewing bibliographic records.
Open Access Theses and Dissertations (OATD) This is an index of over 3.5 million electronic theses and dissertations, freely available online.
Free resources
Below is a list of free resources that may be of use.
Campbell Collaboration is an international, voluntary, non-profit research network that publishes systematic reviews. The Campbell Reviews summarise and evaluate the quality of evidence about programmes in social and behavioural sciences. Their aim is to help people make better choices and better policy decisions.
BBC Bitesize has a wealth of information related to TV programmes, radio, teaching resources and revision aids.
Google Scholar concentrates on academic-quality resources. The good stuff (recent and relevant) is often behind firewalls so you'll need to sign-in as a UoB student when prompted - because of this many people prefer to start from with DISCOVER.
There is a vast array of "official" and professional resources you can tap into to support your understanding of legislation, guidelines and new practices.
Department for Education Publications related to the work of the Department, which is concerned with all aspects of policy affecting children and young people.
DERA Digital Education Repository Archive from the Institute of Education. DERA is a digital archive of documents published electronically by government and other relevant bodies in the areas of education, training, children and families. It includes full text links to Government documents past and present.
Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED) Links to Inspection reports and to Publications and research concerned with standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills.
Education & Skills Funding Agency The ESFA brings together the former responsibilities of the Education Funding Agency (EFA) and Skills Funding Agency (SFA) to create a single agency accountable for funding education and skills for children, young people and adults.
Get into teaching Details on the different training routes into teaching.
Standards and Testing Agency (STA) Is the executive agency for the Department for Education and is responsible for the development and delivery of all statutory assessments from early years to the end of Key Stage 3.
Teaching Regulation Agency Responsible for the regulation of the teaching profession, including misconduct hearings and the maintenance of the database of qualified teachers.
Association for Physical Education (afPE) is the only PE subject Association in the UK.
British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES) is the professional body for sport and exercise sciences in the UK.
Office for National Statistics UK's exhaustive collection of statistics which includes downloadable charts and reports.
Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) brings together a wide range of statistics relating the HE sector.
Bedford Physical Education Archive holds a unique and excellent collection of materials charting the development of Bedford Physical Training College from its foundation by Margaret Stansfeld (1860-1951) in 1903 through to its absorption into the Bedford College of Higher Education in 1976.
The Levick Boyd Archive for Women's Lacrosse was established to enhance knowledge and understanding for the game of women's lacrosse through assembling and preserving a comprehensive record of its development.
Education in Video is available via Alexander Street Press. It includes excellent instructional videos showing classroom footage and covers all areas of teaching from bullying to primary science.
You may also find the British Library's archive of sound recordings useful. It includes everything from readings of traditional stories like Anansi to British birdsong.
Please follow the link to access details about Open Access resources.
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