‛Accessing information’ has been developed by Vitae © 2009 Careers Research and Advisory Centre (CRAC) Limited. Please refer to for full conditions of use. Accessing information

‛Accessing information’ has been developed by Vitae © 2009 Careers Research and Advisory Centre (CRAC) Limited. Please refer to for full conditions of use. Introduction This session is divided into two sections Part A will enable you to: Understand your entitlement to support Know which university services are most likely to be provided Part B focuses on: How you can make best use of your library for research support

‛Accessing information’ has been developed by Vitae © 2009 Careers Research and Advisory Centre (CRAC) Limited. Please refer to for full conditions of use. Understand your entitlement to support Universities have centrally organised support services Make a list of the people and services at your university that might be approached for help by a postgraduate researcher Compare your list with others Sources of help

‛Accessing information’ has been developed by Vitae © 2009 Careers Research and Advisory Centre (CRAC) Limited. Please refer to for full conditions of use. Supervisory team – supervisor(s), head of department, director of research, faculty research co-ordinator Departmental office and admin team Graduate school/research office Research training and study skills support Looking at this list, what do you understand of their roles and when might you contact them? Typical sources of help (1)

‛Accessing information’ has been developed by Vitae © 2009 Careers Research and Advisory Centre (CRAC) Limited. Please refer to for full conditions of use. The university is also likely to provide: Understand your entitlement to support -Accommodation services -Careers centre -Computing services -Counselling service -Disabilities and mental health support -Employment exchange -Student welfare services -Harassment advice -Medical centre -Religious and spiritual matters Student union and welfare and support Typical sources of help (2)

‛Accessing information’ has been developed by Vitae © 2009 Careers Research and Advisory Centre (CRAC) Limited. Please refer to for full conditions of use. As a part-time researcher you are entitled to access these services TASK: Tomorrow, spend some time investigating your university’s website - What support services do they have? - If in need contact immediately! Accessing help

‛Accessing information’ has been developed by Vitae © 2009 Careers Research and Advisory Centre (CRAC) Limited. Please refer to for full conditions of use. In groups: Do any of you have experience of contacting any of the support services? What else could be done by them to help you as a part-time researcher? Activity

‛Accessing information’ has been developed by Vitae © 2009 Careers Research and Advisory Centre (CRAC) Limited. Please refer to for full conditions of use. Where you can get help: - Your subject librarian - Courses - One-to-one advice Don’t waste time – for specific help make advance appointments Order things that you need to view in advance, eg theses Library

‛Accessing information’ has been developed by Vitae © 2009 Careers Research and Advisory Centre (CRAC) Limited. Please refer to for full conditions of use. 1.Choosing where to search 2.Choosing and combining keywords and other search criteria, eg date 3.Selecting what to read 4.Locating information 5.Avoiding plagiarism Five key steps to finding information

‛Accessing information’ has been developed by Vitae © 2009 Careers Research and Advisory Centre (CRAC) Limited. Please refer to for full conditions of use. In pairs: Discuss how you currently find research information Note any differences and similarities Be prepared to give feedback to rest of group How do you find research information?

‛Accessing information’ has been developed by Vitae © 2009 Careers Research and Advisory Centre (CRAC) Limited. Please refer to for full conditions of use. Google - Advanced search - Google scholar Databases - Subject, eg EconLit format - Format, eg WOS conference proceedings Repositories - Institutional - Subject Search resources

‛Accessing information’ has been developed by Vitae © 2009 Careers Research and Advisory Centre (CRAC) Limited. Please refer to for full conditions of use. In groups of five: Brainstorm how to search Google for… - what key words would you use? - what search strategies would you use? Nominate one/two people to demonstrate to the whole class how to search Google Remainder of group: analyse other groups’ search strategies - what worked well/did not work well - why? - what would you do differently for a database? Activity

‛Accessing information’ has been developed by Vitae © 2009 Careers Research and Advisory Centre (CRAC) Limited. Please refer to for full conditions of use. Key words General Specific Truncation & boolean logic Abbreviations ?, * Spelling Misspelling Related terms ATM Alternative terms ‘AND’, ‘OR’ American

‛Accessing information’ has been developed by Vitae © 2009 Careers Research and Advisory Centre (CRAC) Limited. Please refer to for full conditions of use. Consider: –Content Bias Accuracy Who wrote it Where it was published Currency Search resources

‛Accessing information’ has been developed by Vitae © 2009 Careers Research and Advisory Centre (CRAC) Limited. Please refer to for full conditions of use. DO NOT just rely on electronic full text Library catalogue Inter library loan Electronic document delivery Visiting other libraries Catalogues on web SCONUL access scheme Locating the material

‛Accessing information’ has been developed by Vitae © 2009 Careers Research and Advisory Centre (CRAC) Limited. Please refer to for full conditions of use. Record complete references –mark records –import into a bibliographic software system eg: Refworks Endnote Acknowledge in text Create a bibliography Avoid being a plagiarist

‛Accessing information’ has been developed by Vitae © 2009 Careers Research and Advisory Centre (CRAC) Limited. Please refer to for full conditions of use. To keep up with the pace of change and prevent information overload (particularly important in science and technology, but also true of other subject areas) To identify new developments relevant to your research To identify new researchers working in your field of study To ensure nobody else has published on your chosen research title or proposed patent! Reasons to keep up to date

‛Accessing information’ has been developed by Vitae © 2009 Careers Research and Advisory Centre (CRAC) Limited. Please refer to for full conditions of use. Where to find alerting services? Databases Internet eg publishers pages E-journal collections eg Science Direct, Emerald New books Journal articles Journal contents pages Library catalogueForthcoming conferences Specialist information eg patents, government documents

‛Accessing information’ has been developed by Vitae © 2009 Careers Research and Advisory Centre (CRAC) Limited. Please refer to for full conditions of use. Rich Site Summary/Really Simple Syndication= automatic notification of latest changes News/latest journal issue/latest blog post Need a ‘feed reader’/‘news aggregator’ to read the updated information Using RSS

‛Accessing information’ has been developed by Vitae © 2009 Careers Research and Advisory Centre (CRAC) Limited. Please refer to for full conditions of use. Paste feed URL into your reader Examples: –TechXtra –Intute Internet gateway –Library RSS feeds –BBC News (Selection of feeds) Tracking feeds

‛Accessing information’ has been developed by Vitae © 2009 Careers Research and Advisory Centre (CRAC) Limited. Please refer to for full conditions of use. Be aware of the support which you are entitled to Ask for help if it is needed Make the best use of your library Follow the 5 Key Steps to finding information Keep research up-to-date Summary