Geography postgraduate presentation
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This document provides an overview of a library training session for geography students on advanced research skills. It discusses developing effective search strategies, identifying relevant information sources, searching databases and online catalogs, evaluating search results, citing and referencing materials, using bibliographic management software, accessing resources off-campus, and getting help from library staff. Interactive activities are also included to help students apply the concepts to their own research topics.
Geography postgraduate presentation
- 1. Library Library & InformationTraining for Geographers: Advanced Research Skills for Projects and Dissertations http://libguides.rhul.ac.uk/geography Autumn 2016 Emma Burnett
- 3. Library Session Outline 3 • Developing a search strategy • Searching information sources – hints & tips • Citation and referencing • Using other libraries • Accessing online resources off-campus
- 4. Library My essay question / research topic: What do I want to find out?
- 5. Library Developing a search strategy 1. Identify keywords that define your research question 2. Select relevant information sources 3. Evaluate and modify your searches 4. Select and save results 5. Locate copies of promising texts
- 6. Library 6
- 7. Library Identifying key concepts & keywords Alternative terms e.g. governance / policy / regulation Alternative spellings e.g. colour or color; theatre or theater Changing terminology e.g. global warming / climate change
- 8. Library Analysing your query - an example Finding information on: ‘population trends in Fiji’ Main aspects Alternative terms 1. population trends demographics, statistics or data 2. Fiji South Pacific, southern hemisphere, Oceania
- 9. Library Activity 1 Think about your own dissertation / essay topic / research interests and spend a couple of minutes planning your search.
- 10. Library Now that I know what I want to find out: What resources would I use?
- 11. Library Activity 2 Spend up to 3 minutes noting down which resources or types of resources/information you think you would use to carry out your research.
- 12. Library Selecting information sources http://libguides.rhul.ac.uk/Geography Databases LibrarySearch Senate house library catalogue Other internet resources These can also be found on the main Library webpage
- 13. Library Now that I know what I want to find out & where to find the resources: How do I search for information on my topic?
- 14. Library Reviewing your results – hints & tips Too many results? Narrow your search using: AND e.g. population AND trends “population trends” AND “southern hemisphere”
- 15. Library Reviewing your results – hints & tips Too few results? Broaden your search using: OR e.g. population OR trends population OR demographics “population trends” OR Fiji
- 16. Library Wildcard searching – hints & tips Use wildcard characters ($ ? * -) to replace letters in search terms Examples bio* - finds biology, biosphere, BIOS, etc. *owl* - finds howl, howler, owl, owls, bowl, etc. wom*n - finds women, woman, etc. NB: Help pages in online databases will explain which character is used as the wildcard
- 17. Library Activity 3 Go to your subject pages and select a database or use LibrarySearch and try out a few searches using your keywords and some of the search techniques we’ve just looked at.
- 18. Library Now that I have found information on my topic: How do I know that it is what I want and good quality material?
- 19. Library Evaluating Information Presentation on evaluating information 19
- 20. Library Reviewing your research Do you have enough / too much information? Is it relevant to your research? Does it answer the whole question? Is the information current / within the date you require Do you need to review your underlying research question?
- 21. Library Now that I have the information (books, chapters, journal articles, webpages etc) that I need: How do I manage & reference them?
- 22. Library Selecting & saving results & full text Most databases allow you to: Select and save results to a ‘folder’ Save, download or email results to yourself Save search ‘history’ & re run them Always make a note of your search queries and which database you used.
- 23. Library Citation and referencing Acknowledge the author of the source Enable the item to be traced Evidence of scope and depth of your research Reference style – the layout & format of your bibliography - CHECK WITHYOUR DEPARTMENT
- 24. Library RefWorks • Bibliographic management software • Capture, save and organise references • Access it via the Online Resources A-Z lists • Contains online self-help tutorials Library RefWorks sessions: http://libguides.rhul.ac.uk/training
- 25. Library Legal & ethical issues Copyright: https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/library/teachingsupport/copyrightadvice.aspx Plagiarism: For more information about avoiding plagiarism, sign up to this event: http://www.students.royalholloway.ac.uk/events/2015/09/28/academic-honesty-how-to-write-well-and-avoid-plagiarism/
- 26. Library Access online resources off-campus Royal Holloway ‘Campus Anywhere’ (VPN) The only way to access all of our electronic resources off campus is to install theVirtual Private Network (VPN) service, known as 'CampusAnywhere'. How to set up theVPN connection: https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/it/faq/itfaqs/vpn/faqwebvpn.aspx
- 27. Library Using other libraries Senate House Library http://senatehouselibrary.ac.uk/ SCONUL Access http://www.sconul.ac.uk/sconul-access
- 28. Library Any questions? For more help & guidance on any of the topics explored in this course, or for one to one training sessions, please contact the Library Information Consultant for Geography: Emma Burnett [email protected] and see the subject guide http://libguides.rhul.ac.uk/Geography Further information can also be found on the Library website www.royalholloway.ac.uk/library