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PSC2017 - Finding and Using Research: Home

Welcome!

This site has a couple of activities that I think you will find useful. These explore the variety of academic literature you may come across and give you some hints and tips to help you explore and identify relevant research from the abstracts. 

  1. Understanding Abstracts: This online activity is designed to help you understand and evaluate journal article abstracts to focus reading and research on the most relevant resources. It will take approximately 15 minutes to complete.
  2. Understanding Academic Sources: This tutorial is designed to help you understand the main types of academic literature and how you can use them in your academic work. Knowing which type of literature to look at for the information you need will make your research more effective and save you time. This tutorial will take approximately 15 minutes to complete.

At the bottom of the page, you'll see a video with an update on NELSON and a selection of databases you'll want to explore to access relevant academic and research literature.

Understanding Academic Literature

This tutorial is designed to help you understand the main types of academic literature and how you can use them in your academic work. Knowing which type of literature to look at for the information you need will make your research more effective and save you time. 

Understanding Abstracts

This online activity is designed to help you understand and evaluate journal article abstracts to focus reading and research on the most relevant resources.

NELSON

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.

Useful Databases