History - Useful websites

Useful resources, such as government information and the text of newspapers and original documents, are available on the web. Try some of these:

  • History online. Produced by the Institute of Historical Research, this website aims to provide a guide to high-quality information resources for the teaching and learning of history.
  • World Wide Web Virtual Library History Central Catalogue. Links to many sites, arranged by topic and by region.
  • History in Focus. History in Focus is a new occasional series taking a thematic approach to history. Each issue is designed to provide an introduction to the chosen topic and to help stimulate interest and debate. From the Institute of Historical Research.
  • EURODOCS. Primary historical documents from Western Europe.
  • Labyrinth. A WWW server for medieval studies.
  • Medieval sources online. Full text sources from Manchester University Press and access to their Medieval portal.
  • The Archives Hub
  • The National Archives
  • Directgov. Home pages of UK Government departments and official bodies, giving information, news and publications.
  • UK parliament. Includes access to Hansard.
  • Richard Kimber's Political Science resources from Keele University.
  • The Peace Process: Layers of Meaning.  Contains (1) Layers of Meaning Online Directory (Lomond): a select, authorative archive of all extant interviews of key figures in the Peace Process in Northern Ireland (2) the Peace Portal: a guide to other online resources realting to the history of conflict and peace-making in Northern Ireland. Peace Process: Layers of Meaning is a hybrid project incolving collaboration between Queen Mary, Trinity College Dublin and Dundalk Institute of Technology. It is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (Peace III)

Be careful, though, when using the internet for research, that the sites you find are reliable and up to date. Check when the page was last updated and think about who is providing the information and why. Sites such as Wikipedia are not suitable for academic work.
The Internet Detective tutorial looks at the critical thinking required when using the Internet for research, and offers practical advice on evaluating the quality of web sites.