History of Science

Scholarly Research

This is a brief guide to historical research in science and medicine with entry points to both scholarly and primary source collections.

What's on the Page by Source Type

Reference Shelf

Oxford Reference Online
This is a quick go-to for high-quality, short, dictionary style descriptions, definitions, facts, and figures. Great for date and name checking.

Dictionary of the History of Science by William F. Bynum; E. Janet Browne; Roy Porter (eds.)
Call Number: JSTOR
Publication Date: 2014
For readers interested in the development of major scientific concepts and the role of science in the western world, here is the first conceptually organized historical dictionary of scientific thought.

Oxford Bibliographies: History of Science
An Oxford Bibliographies entry (by Susan Scott Parrish) on the history of science with recommendations for further reading.

For more background information, visit the History of Science Reference Shelf.

Books: Find & Request from BC & Beyond

Your local libraries have excellent monographs and anthologies located in O'Neill library as well as through the BC libraries portal. Try searching for books (only books) through the WorldCat library system to see if we have what you need. If we don't, you can order material through Interlibrary Loan (ILL).

WorldCat Catalog

Journals and eBook Database Recommendations

Historical Abstracts
Index of journal articles, book chapters, book reviews, and dissertations pertaining to the study of World History (Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa, Latin America), from 1450 to the present. Coverage is 1955-present. Some full text coverage.
JSTOR
JSTOR is a collection of scholarly journals and ebooks across multiple disciplines. Content includes back issues and some current issues.
Project MUSE
Full-text access to a large number of scholarly journals and eBooks in the humanities and social sciences published by over 120 of the world's leading university presses and scholarly societies.

Cambridge Studies in the History of Science
A collection of books on the history of science including The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages, The Evolution of Technology, Science and the Enlightenment, and Energy, Force and Matter.

GeoRef This link opens in a new window
Geology of North America from 1693 to the present and the geology of the rest of the world from 1933 to the present. Extensive coverage of the journal literature, as well as survey data from many governmental organizations, including all publications of the U.S. Geological Survey. Masters' theses and doctoral dissertations from US and Canadian universities are also referenced. Note: Searches Georef and Georef in Process (for most recent citations) together
PsycINFO 1840-current This link opens in a new window
The database provides abstracts and citations to the scholarly literature in the behavioral sciences and mental health. The online resource includes material of relevance to psychologists and professionals in related fields such as psychiatry, management, business, education, social science, neuroscience, law, medicine, and social work.
PubMed This link opens in a new window
PubMed is the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) search tool biomedical literature. It includes bibliographic information from the MEDLINE database, as well as from additional life science journals. PubMed also provides access and links to NCBI's integrated suite of molecular biology databases.
ScienceDirect This link opens in a new window
Full text access to the large number of journals in many disciplines published by Elsevier.
Web of Science This link opens in a new window
Web of Science is a large database, indexing high quality journals and conference proceedings in the sciences, social sciences and humanities and providing detailed citation analysis and citation searching, It covers from 1900 to the present, and is global in scope.
Zoological Record This link opens in a new window
The world's oldest continuing database of animal biology and taxonomy with coverage back to 1864.

Journal Recommendations

Scientific American
Call Number: JSTOR Life Sciences Collection
Publication Date: 1845-2014
Scientific American is the essential guide to the most awe-inspiring advances in science and technology, explaining how they change our understanding of the universe.
For contemporary issues, see EBSCOhost Business Source Complete.

History Liaison

Erin Kate Scheopner

she/her/hers

Email Me

Contact:

O'Neill 314

617-552-3457

Subjects: African & African Diaspora Studies, History, Irish Studies, Latin American Studies

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History of Science

Scholarly Research

What's on the Page by Source Type

Reference Shelf

Books: Find & Request from BC & Beyond

Journals and eBook Database Recommendations

Journal Recommendations

History Liaison