Starting your Research

  • How to find books and journals?

    Search the SOAS Library catalogue . This will find print and electronic books and print journals. Widen your search to include other research libraries in the UK and Ireland by using COPAC .

  • How to find journal articles?

    If you know the article you are looking for search the Library catalogue and/or eJournal and eBook Finder for the title of the journal if you want to find what articles have been written on a certain subject then start with EBSCO Discovery Service searching tool and then move on to more subject-specific databases.

  • How do I find multimedia resources?

    In the Library catalogue you can browse by classmark for DVDs and CDs . Use the Limit button to search the results by keyword

  • How do I find newspapers?
    • World-wide newspapers 1996 to present [including UK] on Access World News. This includes retrospective access to the Financial Times, up until the previous month.
    • UK Newspapers on Lexis Library
    • For other news resources, please consult our list of News Sources .
  • SOAS Research online

    SOAS Research Online: Open access e-print repository of academic publications [articles, book chapters, theses etc.] by SOAS staff and students. Content dates mainly from the 1990s, though the earliest items are from 1959.

  • What if SOAS Library does not hold what I need?

    Try our e-book collections:


    Try other libraries nearby. For information on accessing other libraries click Access to other libraries .

    • British Library
      The national library and manuscript collection of the U.K. They have comprehensive collections of Language and Linguistics materials and collect many of languages studied at SOAS.
      Visit the Help for Researchers pages, which contains collection descriptions for many subject and languages based collections.
    • UCL Language & Speech Science Library (LaSS)
      The LaSS Library's books and journals cover all subjects relating to human communication and its disorders, including: language and languages (written, spoken and signed); linguistics; phonetics; psychology; special education; speech science; stuttering; and voice.
      Visit UCL web pages for a list of subjects. Some older Phonetics and Linguistics collections are held in the South Junction section of the UCL Main Library
  • How do I cite and reference sources?

    Citing and referencing is the way in which you provide details of quotations, arguments and ideas of others that you included in your own work. To avoid plagiarism, always keep notes as you go along of what you have been reading. Using a reference organising software [e.g. Zotero and Endnote Web ] would be recommended.
    There are a number of different citing and referencing systems. Check with your Department or tutor which referencing system they prefer being used. The key is to be consistent Referencing guide (pdf; 452kb) are available from the Skills for Success site from MOODLE.

    A comprehensive guide to the Harvard System has been created by Anglia Ruskin University.

  • I'd like further training. Who do I ask?