This website has been created to help you get familiar with searching and using academic sources for your assignments. In your assessments for the nursing programme you will be expected to use good quality academic sources to evidence your work. Read the information below and complete the activities to improve your confidence in finding and identifying academic sources. In your assignments for your course, you will need to find, use and reference good quality information.
Once you've completed the activity below, click on the 'Harvard Referencing' tab at the top of the page. This will introduce you to the Cite Them Right Harvard Referencing style. There are useful videos and tutorials on the Cite Them Right Harvard website, which you can access through the page. These can help you gain familiarity with the referencing style and understand the principles behind academic referencing.
The information below will help you explore the literature you need for your academic assignments.
Finding good quality information to support your academic work takes time. Make sure you give yourself enough time to find and read the literature you need. This is a skill you will develop as you study. Here are some hints and tips to help you get started.
When you have a topic or question you need to research it is worthwhile spending a few minutes thinking about what you want. First, break down your question into keywords and think about the type of information required; do you need key theories, facts or research? This will help to point you in the direction of where you need to search.
Here are some useful questions to consider:
NELSON is a good place to search for academic sources that the University Library provides to support your studies.
NELSON is the tool that searches the library resources (both print and online). You can use NELSON to search the library’s books, e-books, e-journals, videos and more. Login with your University username and password at the top right-hand side of the page so you can access the full-text material and save your search results.
You can use keywords to search or use the AI research assistant. NELSON will give you the full text by default. However, if you use the Research Assistant, you will see content that you might not be able to access. A useful tip is to add 'suggest resources I can access in full' at the end of your prompt.
If the item is available electronically, you’ll see a link to the full text online. If the content is available in print, you’ll see a shelf mark letting you know where to find the book on the shelf.
Some resources are only available through their specific database, so you’ll need to go direct to them (for example, Statista).
As you develop your understanding of the topic, you may prefer to go directly to the databases. They often have subject specific filters that allow you to focus your research relevant to your topic.
I hope you have found this website useful. I look forward to meeting you later to answer any questions you have about using the Library. We'll also look in more detail at how to find good quality information to support your academic work.
