Every subject has unique and specialist types of information that add rigour and interest to research. Usually, you’ll need to look beyond Library Search for these information types; some are accessed via specialist databases, while others are available online via websites, social media or streaming platforms.
We’ve picked out some key resources for your subject here but you might like to explore our Resource Guides for more resources on different information types.
- Accents and Dialects This link opens in a new window
Searchable database of English accent recordings from the British Library Sound Archive.
- Box of Broadcasts This link opens in a new window
Box of Broadcasts provides access to over 2.2 million TV and radio broadcasts from over 75 channels, including most of the UK’s freeview network, all BBC TV and radio content from 2007, and several foreign language channels. This resource is not available outside the UK.
- The Diachronic Electronic Corpus of Tyneside English (DECTE)Research resource providing a corpus of dialect speech from the Tyneside area of North East England spanning five decades.
- Dialects and accentsOverview of UK archival collections relating to dialects and accents.
- Dictionary of Old English Web CorpusThe Dictionary of Old English defines the vocabulary of the first six centuries (C.E. 600-1150) of the English language. The associated web corpus consists of at least one copy of every surviving Old English text, including records written on parchment, carved in stone and inscribed in jewellery. Texts include prose, poetry, glosses to Latin texts and inscriptions. Both resources are freely available, with each user able to access 20 free logins every year. To access the database you will need to create a free account via the store login page.
- Eighteenth Century English Phonology DatabaseDesigned for the study of eighteenth-century English phonology, allowing users to investigate the social, regional and lexical distribution of phonological variants in eighteenth-century English.
- Gersum ProjectThis project aims to understand Scandinavian influence on English vocabulary by examining the origins of up to 1,600 words in a corpus of Middle English poems from the North of England
- Library of Latin Texts (series A and B) This link opens in a new window
Database of Latin texts of all genres, covering the period from the beginning of Latin literature (Livius Andronicus, 240 BC) through to the texts of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). It includes all works from the classical period, important patristic works, and a corpus of Medieval Latin literature.
- Linguistic DNA of Modern Western ThoughtThe aim of Linguistic DNA is to understand the evolution of early modern thought by modelling the semantic and conceptual changes which occurred in English discourse (c.1500-c.1800). The project used information extraction techniques, Big Data computing infrastructure, and data visualisation to identify billions of lexical patterns in 250,000 texts
- Literary Print Culture: The Stationers' Company Archive
A key resource for understanding the workings of the early book trade, the printing and publishing community, the establishment of legal requirements for copyright provisions, and the history of bookbinding. The archive includes a wide range of documents dating from 1554 to the 21st century, such as legal papers, correspondence, ephemera, and audio visual resources.
- Mass Observation Online 1937-1967 This link opens in a new window
A major resource for British social history from 1937-1967, it contains material generated by the Mass Observation social research organisation, including day surveys, diaries and subject directives from 1937-1967, a wide range of themed topic collections, together with other material such as images and essays.
- Mass Observation Project 1981-2009 This link opens in a new window
A major resource for British social history from 1981 - 2009, it contains responses to the Mass Observation project's directives (questionnaires) sent out to volunteers who were asked to report on their lives and opinions. Topics covered are wide-ranging and include political and social themes of the period, plus insights into everyday life.
- Open Language Archives Community (OLAC)International partnership of institutions and language experts which hosts language archives and advises on best practice.
- Oxford Text Archive This link opens in a new window
This digital repository offers access to thousands of literary and linguistic texts in over 25 languages for research and teaching, allowing users to search, download, and cite resources.
- Newcastle University Special Collections and ArchivesUnique and rare resources held by Newcastle University's Philip Robinson Library.
- The Rosetta ProjectA global collaboration of language specialists and native speakers building a publicly accessible online archive of ALL documented human languages. Find audio, video and text files in this wiki.
- Speech Accent ArchiveThis presents a large set of speech samples from a variety of language backgrounds. Native and non-native speakers of English read the same paragraph and are carefully transcribed. The archive is used by people who wish to compare and analyse the accents of different English speakers.
- Cambridge History of the English LanguageAll six volumes of this major work online
- Encyclopedia of Applied LinguisticsOnline edition which covers 31 key areas of the field, including Language Learning and Teaching, Bilingual and Multilingual Education, Assessment and Testing, Corpus Linguistics, Conversation Analysis, Discourse and Technology and Language.
- Oxford English Dictionary This link opens in a new window
The online version of the Oxford English Dictionary; a reference guide to the meaning, history, and usage of words and phrases past and present, from across the English-speaking world.
- Oxford Language Dictionaries Online This link opens in a new window
Fully searchable bilingual dictionaries. We have access to French, German, Spanish, Chinese and Italian.
- Oxford Bibliographies Online: Linguistics
A collection of authoritative research guides, this database works like an annotated bibliography combined with encyclopaedia, providing direction to available scholarship in the field of Linguistics.
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