Finding your sources
Where do I look for the stuff I need for my assignments?
Where and how you look for information will affect the quality of the information you find.
This section explores:
Finding and using your reading lists
Finding an item using Library search
Identifying keywords to help you to perform more effective searches
Using search engines, including Google Scholar
Where do I start?
Reading Lists
Your reading lists are a great place to start, as they contain a list of the books, journals articles and other resources, such as web pages or videos, which have been selected by your lecturer. The items on your reading list are likely to be reliable sources of information, which are relevant to your topic.
Finding our Reading Lists
There are a number of ways to get to your reading lists online. You can access them through the Library web pages, or via links from your module in Blackboard.
Bookmark the reading list search page, so that you can quickly navigate to this page at anytime.
Using Your Reading Lists
The items on your reading list may be categorised in the following ways:
Core reading-these are the resources you need to read to participate in your course.
Further reading-these resources will help you to understand your subject more deeply.
Recommended for student purchase-the university includes the option for lecturers to suggest that students may wish to purchase particular items.
When writing your assignment, look at the items on your reading list and select the ones which will best help you to answer your question. For a journal article, you could try reading the abstract to help you decide whether you think the article will be useful.
Still got questions about your reading lists?
Check out the reading list FAQ page on the my.uea webapages.
Where can I find more information?
Using Library Search
Try using Library Search, to find the books, e-books and journal articles that are available to you from UEA Library.
Library search is really simple to use. Library search 'Search Everything' is a good place to begin.
LIBRARY SEARCH - SEARCH EVERYTHING
Find the books, ebooks, DVDs and more that UEA Library subscribes to.
LIBRARY SEARCH BOOKS+
Find books and ebooks, using our enhanced book search.
Keyword searching
You can use Library Search both to search for a specific item, for example you could search for a book using the book title, but you can also search using the keywords from your assignment question or title. See the 'using keywords' section for more information on keyword searching.
Watch this video to see how to search for a book using Library Search 'Search Everything'
Watch this video to see how to search for a journal article using Library Search 'Search Everything'
Watch the videos and then open Library Search and try looking for some resources, using keywords from an item title.
Using keywords and planning your search
If you want to find materials which are not listed on your reading list, you could try searching using the keywords from your assignment topic or question.
What are keywords?
Keywords are the words in your assignment question that tell you the key concepts you will be looking at.
Here's an example
'Discuss the impact of social media on young people's wellbeing.'
The keywords here are: social media, young people and wellbeing.
Your assignment question may also contain:
Instruction words. These tell you what you need to do and are normally verbs. Examples include 'assess', 'evaluate' and 'examine'.
Limiting words. These are the words that restrict your assignment using factors such as location or population, for example you may be asked to look at 'young adults'.
Searching using your keywords is an effective way to find research and information that relates to your topic. To further improve your search, you could try finding some synonyms for your keywords.
Using synonyms
Not all literature will use the same terms as the keywords used in your question. If you only search using your keywords, you might miss some useful research. You can improve your search by identifying alternative words (synonyms), related words and abbreviations for your keywords.
For the example above you could use:
Social media: Facebook, Twitter, social networking
Young people: teenagers, youths, adolescents, teens
Wellbeing: health, safety, wellness
Need more help finding your keywords and synonyms?
This keyword generator will guide you through the process of finding your keywords and thinking of synonyms.
Credit: Lindsay O’Neill at lindsay-oneill.com
Have a go at thinking of some keywords and synonyms for your assignment question. You could try using the keyword generator to guide you through the process.
Advanced searching
Once you have your keywords, try using the advanced search option in Library Search Search Everything to find relevant materials for your topic or question. Watch the video to see how.
Advanced searching in Library Search.
Using search engines
Using search engines
Search engines, such as Google, are a quick and familiar way of finding information, and can be a useful way to begin researching around a topic. You are likely to get a very large number of results, which will vary in quality.
When you start to look for information to use in your assignments you can save time, and find better quality material, by using Library Search.
What about Google Scholar?
Google Scholar works in a similar way to other search engines, but searches for scholarly literature. This does not mean that everything in Google Scholar is scholarly; you will need to evaluate everything you find carefully. The evaluating your sources page shows you how.
This downloadable graphic outlines some things to consider when you use Google Scholar to look for information.
