Finding legal information workshop

Puzzled by legal terminology? Need to find an Act of Parliament for your coursework? Then this workshop is for you!  Aimed at students who are not studying law but who want a basic introduction to legal information and materials, the next workshop runs on Wednesday 9th March, 10.00-11.00 in the Library Skills Room on the 4th Floor of The Diamond.

You can book now and see our other workshops on our Information Skills web page.

Finding and searching databases

Databases index information about published journal articles, conference papers and other academic documents.  Find databases that are useful for your subject in our Subject Guides. 

If you know the database you want to use, search for the name of the database on the University Collections tab in StarPlus, click ‘View It’, ‘View full text’ and then ‘Connect to...’ under the Quick Links on the right-hand side.

It is worth spending time thinking about your search before you start - list relevant keywords and search terms and any alternatives. For example, if you are searching for global warming, you may also want to search for climate change and greenhouse effect. Consider different spellings such as colour/color, and any technical terms or abbreviations.

If you are searching for a phrase, use quotation marks to keep the words together, e.g. “global warming”, “European Union”.   An asterisk can be used to end a word in a variety of ways. For example, ethic* will find results that include ethic, ethics, ethically, ethical. This is also useful for words which can have alternative spellings, for example, behavio* will find results for behaviour(s), behavior(s), behavioural or behavioral.
 
Our Successful Database Searching tutorial will help you plan your search further. Or why not come to one of our Information Skills Workshops in the Diamond?

Information Skills Workshops

Our information skills workshops start up again in the Diamond this week! Book here
 
Whether it's finding & evaluating information for your assignment, referencing correctly & avoiding plagiarism, or finding what's in the news from our online newspapers databases  - we have a workshop for you.

What's in the news?

Information Skills Workshop at The Diamond – Wednesday 9^th December, 10am – 11am

Newspapers cover a wide range of issues, such as political and social affairs, the arts, company and financial information. In this workshop you will have the opportunity to explore a range of news and newspaper databases to research current issues and historical events.

Book your place on this workshop (and other information skills workshops) here

Commercial Awareness Workshop

“So you’ll have read about us in the news recently”…the start of a fairly standard question in a job interview, but this is the kind of question which many interviewees slip up on, according to Robert Shrimsley from the Financial Times.  

To help you avoid this nightmare situation, we have a brand new information skills workshop at 2pm on Wednesday 2 December in The Diamond.

The workshop introduces Commercial Awareness, shows how to prove you have it, then focuses on tools and resources you can use to improve your skills and knowledge to gain an edge in the job market.

Staff from University of Sheffield Enterprise, The Careers Service and The Library deliver the session and will be on-hand to help.

You can book your place here

Plagiarism and referencing

“Plagiarism (either intentional or unintentional) is the using of ideas or work of another person (including experts and fellow or former students) and submitting them as your own. It is considered dishonest and unprofessional. Plagiarism may take the form of cutting and pasting, taking or closely paraphrasing ideas, passages, sections, sentences, paragraphs, drawings, graphs and other graphical material from books, articles, internet sites or any other source and submitting them for assessment without appropriate acknowledgement.” University of Sheffield, 2013

Plagiarism is an important issue that all students are expected to take seriously; failure to do so can have huge implications and could even lead to expulsion. It is important to remember that plagiarism is still an offence whether it was intended or not, and that ignorance is no excuse.

Online tutorials and further information

·         To help you dodge the pitfalls, the library provides a Plagiarism tutorial

·         Additional advice is also provided by The Academic Skills Hub (TASH): Avoiding plagiarism

·         Student services offer information regarding plagiarism in assessments

·         Knowing how to reference correctly can help you to avoid plagiarism. Use our online Referencing tutorials to learn how to reference correctly in the style used by your department.

Information Skills Workshop on plagiarism & referencing

Information skills workshops are delivered in The Diamond. Workshops are open to taught course students from all departments. In the Plagiarism & Referencing workshop you will explore what plagiarism is and how to avoid it. You will consider the purpose of referencing and ways to ensure correct, consistent referencing.

For further information, and to book your place on a workshop, please see: Information Skills Workshops