The Literature Review: Support for Higher Degree Research: Gather

Library & Learning resources support for research degree students

Gathering resources relies on your ability to locate and access information and data.

Skills and tips to collect useful information

You should to be able to:

  • Search a range of different print and electronic resources.
    These will be familiar library search tools such as the Library Search and subject-specific and multidisciplinary databases. It may also encompass services such as the Digital Library, Moodle and the University's central repository, Open Access BCU It will also involve you searching for material not held by the University library and knowing how to request that material.

  • Understand how important it is to appraise and evaluate your search results and also to sort and manipulate the results of your searchingThe results may lead you to reconsider your search strategy. Clearly you also need to be aware of the different elements of a citation.

  • Use alerts/current awareness services to stay up-to-date in your field of research.

  • Engage with your scholarly community via social media, networking, email and discussion lists.

  • Understand the advantages and disadvantages of open access resources.

  • Use online help and know that you can contact your Liaison Librarian for help with searching for and accessing bibliographic information.