An often overlooked (free) resource for material: academia.edu

[Broadsword56]

Recently I came across a research paper about the naval War of 1812 on a Google search, and it turned out to be downloadable from a site called academia.edu.

If you sign up there and list your areas of interest, the site will ping you when someone publishes a paper touching on that topic.
And it's fresh scholarship, which makes it refreshing to read instead of the same old books.

For example, just now I got an alert about this paper, published just two months ago:

Professionalism and the Fighting Spirit of the Royal Navy: Rules, Regulations, and Traditions that made the British Royal Navy an Effective Fighting Force during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, 1793-1815
by Nick Kaizer
During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1792-1815), the armies of the French Republic and Empire performed very well – for much of this period, France dominated Europe. However, the oceans were a different matter. The British Royal Navy enjoyed a long period of spectacular naval operational success, allowing Britain to maintain and expand its colonial empire, protect its extensive seaborne trade, and protect British territory from the French armies which had overrun much of Europe. There were many factors in the navy’s success, such as its administration or shortcomings of its...(read more)

[John Paul]

Thanks, Gina!! A very interesting find indeed!!