Purdie (1990) remains the most detailed and comprehensive study of the Civil Rights movement in Northern Ireland, whereas Arthur’s book on People’s Democracy (1974) is still the most important study of the student contribution to the movement. The extended debate between Hewitt and O’Hearn (with a contribution from Kovalcheck) in the British Journal of Sociology between 1981 and 1987 addressed some of the key debates around the character of the movement. Some of these issues are also addressed in a key article by Whyte (1983).

More recently, several scholars have begun to apply social movement theory to the movement and to the dynamics of conflict surrounding it, among them Bosi (2006), Ellison and Martin (2000), and Maney (2000). Mulholland’s (2000) analysis of the Unionist government response to the movement provides a useful account of official responses, while Ó Dochartaigh (1997) analyses the process by which the civil rights movement was superseded by increasing street violence and paramilitary violence.

The University of Ulster's Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN) hosts an extensive collection of publications, primary materials and background materials on the Civil Rights campaign (http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/crights/). The Political Collection of the Linenhall Library in Belfast also holds a large collection of primary materials relating to the movement, including the archives of NICRA. The full text of much of this collection is available on a series of Northern Ireland Political Literature microfiche collections.

• Arthur, Paul. The People's Democracy 1968–73. Belfast: Blackstaff, 1974.
• Bosi, Lorenzo. “The Dynamics of Social Movement Development: Northern Ireland's Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s,” Mobilization 11, no. 1 (2006): 81–100.
• Ellison, G. and G. Martin. “Policing, Collective Action and Social Movement Theory,” British Journal of Sociology 51, no. 4 (2000): 681–99.
• Hewitt, Christopher. “Catholic Grievances, Catholic Nationalism and Violence in Northern Ireland During the Civil Rights Period: A Reconsideration,” British Journal of Sociology 32, no. 3 (1981): 362–80.
• Hewitt, Christopher. “Discrimination in Northern Ireland: A Rejoinder,” British Journal of Sociology 34, no. 3 (1983): 446–51.
• Kovalcheck, Kassian A. “Catholic Grievances in Northern Ireland: Appraisal and Judgment,” British Journal of Sociology 38, no.1 (1987): 77–87.
• Maney, Gregory M. “Transnational Mobilization and Civil Rights in Northern Ireland,” Social Problems 47, no. 2 (2000):153–79.
• Mulholland, Marc. Northern Ireland at the Crossroads: Ulster Unionism in the O'Neill Years 1960–9. New York: St. Martin's, 2000.
• Ó Dochartaigh, Niall. From Civil Rights to Armalites: Derry and the Birth of the Irish Troubles. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
• O’Hearn, Denis. “Catholic Grievances, Catholic Nationalism: A Comment,” British Journal of Sociology, 34, no. 3 (1983): 438–45.
• Purdie, Bob. Politics in the Streets: The Origins of the Civil Rights Movement in Northern Ireland. Belfast: Blackstaff, 1990.
• Whyte, John. “How Much Discrimination Was There Under the Unionist Regime, 1921–68?” in Contemporary Irish Studies, edited by Tom Gallagher and James O’Carroll. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1983.