Information literacy - research skills

Find out how information literacy can help you with conducting research. This research skills page includes links to useful tutorials on writing a literature review, searching databases and organising references.

Referencing

Correct referencing is not only an essential component of academic writing, but will also help you to avoid plagiarism. Learn how to reference correctly in the style used by your department. Use our referencing tutorials available from the Information Skills Resource.

StarPlus for all: basics and more

StarPlus, the Library catalogue, can be accessed from your MUSE account (under My services) or from the Library webpages at: http://www.shef.ac.uk/library.

Remember to click on the University members link at the top of StarPlus if you are accessing it from the Library webpages (when you access StarPlus from MUSE, you will be automatically signed on to the catalogue). Signing on to StarPlus will give you full access to resources and features including the e-Shelf and your online Library account.

Search under the University Collections tab to find: books, ebooks, journals, databases, theses and multimedia.  Enter keywords into the search box then refine your results later.

Use the Articles and More tab to search for journal articles from databases.  All results shown will be available for you to access. However, you can also choose to include results without full text online access.

 

Top tips

 

• Use quotation marks when searching for a phrase, e.g. “global warming”.
• Use an asterisk at the end of a word to represent alternative endings. For example, educat* will search for: education, educating, educational etc.
• Use the e-Shelf to organise, print, email and push your search results into reference management software. Add search results to your e-Shelf by clicking on the star icon (located on the left of each search result).
• To request a book that is out on loan, click on the Get It tab and then the Request link (requested items are now being issued until after the Easter Vacation: Easter Vacation Loan Periods).
• Look at the Subject Guides to identify the key databases and online resources for your subject area. Link to the Subject Guides from the home page of StarPlus.
• Search for and connect to databases from the University Collections tab.

 

Take a look at our StarPlus tutorial to learn more.

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 on 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 Online’, ‘Open source in a new window’ 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 will 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”, “old testament”.

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.

Our Successful Database Searching tutorial will help you plan your search further.

The Pop Up Library is coming to Elmfield!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We'll be in the Elmfield common room on Tuesday 17th March 2pm-4pm. 

Drop by and say hello, and we'll do our best to answer your questions about digital library resources and support for learning and research in politics and sociological studies. Look out for our banner, and we look forward to meeting you.

New! Daily Mail Historical Archive (1896-2004)

The Library now subscribes to the Daily Mail Historical Archive. As well as providing access to the regular edition of the Daily Mail, the archive also contains Special Issues and the Atlantic Editions, printed on board the transatlantic cruise liners between 1923 and 1931. The archive can be browsed by date or searched using the basic and advanced search options. It also provides access to a small selection of essays about the Daily Mail including a chronology of key events in the history of the newspaper (see the Essays tab at the top of the screen).

Access

Access is available directly from this page by connecting to the Daily Mail Historical Archive website – you’ll be prompted to log in to MUSE as necessary. Alternatively, the archive can be accessed via StarPlus, the Library catalogue (search under University Collections).

Newspapers in the Library and on the Internet

For further help with finding newspapers in the Library and on the Internet, take a look at our subject guide or contact the librarian for your department. 

Nexis UK - news and business information database

Nexis provides full text access to UK national and regional newspapers as well as international newspapers, newswires and foreign language news sources. Coverage is from the 1980s onwards and is updated daily. Nexis also provides access to business information such as company profiles and industry reports from a variety of sources.

Nexis has a range of search screens for the different types of information sources that it indexes e.g. News, Company Profiles, Industry News etc. Navigate between these search screens by clicking on the Search tab and corresponding subtabs at the top of the screen. Alternatively, click on the Sources tab to browse or search for specific information sources.

The University Library has developed a Nexis worksheet to guide you through conducting a news search. The worksheet can be accessed from this webpage by clicking the link on the right, under Quick links. A range of tutorials are also available from the Help link on the Nexis UK website (located in the top right corner of the screen). There are also help links on each page with information about that particular page.

Nexis can be accessed via StarPlus (search under the University Collections tab) or from the following link: http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/library/cdfiles/nexis . You will be prompted to sign into MUSE if you have not already done so.

Information literacy- writing assignments

Find out how information literacy can help you with writing assignments and conducting research. These web pages are split into useful sections to support you at different stages: Getting started, Writing assignments, Research skills, and Employability.

The Writing assignments page links to useful tutorials on searching for information, evaluating information, referencing, and plagiarism.