Resources
for Research in the University of Ulster Libraries
The Library exists
to support research in all disciplines. This guide is intended to give useful general
information for all researchers. For information in your subject area,
see Research Support for
your Subject
For the latest news
for researchers, see the Library's
Research Blog
Research and
Innovation at the University of Ulster
University of
Ulster Research and Innovation
Research Office
Research Studies Handbook
Getting Started with Library Resources
The Student
Portal is the gateway to the range of library resources, including the
library catalogue, electronic databases, electronic journals and subject
guides. To login you will require your Student ID and Network Password.
Library electronic resources can be found on the Learning Resources
tab, under Key Services.
Once you are logged on to the Portal, you have
authenticated access to most of the electronic resources and there is no
need for any other usernames or passwords.
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Getting Started - Useful Books on Research
Blaxter, Loraine, 1945-. - How to research / Loraine Blaxter,
Christina Hughes and Malcolm Tight. - 3rd ed. - Buckingham
: Open University Press, 2006.
Murray, Rowena. - How to write a thesis / Rowena Murray. -
2nd. ed. - Maidenhead : Open University Press, 2006.
Neville, Colin. - The complete guide to referencing and
avoiding plagiarism / Colin Neville. - 2nd. Ed.- Maidenhead : Open
University Press, 2010.
Rugg, Gordon, 1932-. - The unwritten rules of PhD research
/ Gordon Rugg and Marian Petre. - Maidenhead : Open University
Press, 2004. - 0335213456
Rumsey,
Sally. - How to find information : a guide for researchers
/ Sally Rumsey. - Maidenhead : Open University Press, 2004.
- 0335214290
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Research Methods
BUBL Link Research methods
Dissertation doctor
University of York: Research methods and resources
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Document Delivery The
Document Delivery Service (formerly known as Inter-Library Loans) is
available to all students and staff. Requests can be made using the print request forms
(blue for books and reports, yellow for journal articles and conference
papers). However, academic staff and research students may also
request material online.
You will be prompted to login with
your ID number and network password (the same details you use for access via Portal or staff directory).
Select
Request a book or journal article from another library and complete the
form with as much information as possible.
Delays may be caused if you omit
essential details. For clarity, where possible please refrain from using
abbreviations.
Make sure you select your preferred collection site.
For Journal articles:
Once completed, and before sending the
request by clicking the Confirm button, you must print out the
form and SIGN the copyright declaration - the document delivery service is offered
in accordance with the terms of UK copyright law, which requires
your signature. You may FAX or post it to your
Document Delivery Office.
Your request may be processed, but we cannot
legally give you the document until this signed form has been
received.
Use the Place Request tab to make further requests and Logout when you are finished.
Note: if you have fines or overdue library
material your request will not be processed.
For more information on the Document Delivery service, including
collecting your requests, receiving your journal article requests
electronically using Secure Electronic Delivery (SED) and British
Library's EThOS (Electronic Theses Online Service), please see the
main
Document Delivery page.
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Access
to other Libraries
SCONUL Access
SCONUL Access is a co-operative venture between most of the higher
education libraries of the UK and Ireland. It enables staff and
eligible students to have access to and borrow material from other libraries.
For further information please click on
SCONUL Access.
British
Library - help for researchers
The British Library allows access to their London Reading
Rooms for researchers. The Library's collection of over 160
million items includes books, maps, patents, manuscripts and
newspapers. To gain access to the Reading Rooms it is necessary
to apply for a Readers Pass.
Letter of Introduction
Many colleges and universities have external membership
schemes for students who have no connection with that particular
institution. If an institution has collections of particular
interest to your research, it is worth contacting them to find
out their admissions criteria. The
Arts Subject Librarian can provide you with a letter
of introduction to support your request for admittance
to other university libraries, though we cannot guarantee
that this will be granted. To obtain a letter of introduction you must be in good standing with the
University of Ulster Library
and have no overdue books or outstanding fines.
Other
Library Catalogues
The COPAC library catalogue gives free
access to the merged online catalogues of many major University,
Specialist and National libraries in the UK and Ireland. A list of
contributing libraries is available
here.
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Managing Information
RefWorks Enhanced: a database to enable you to
- Import and organise your references
- Link to Word to automatically format your paper
and bibliography
Introductory classes on RefWorks will be given on each
campus; dates of classes and details of how to book are on on the
Learning Resources tab on the
Student Portal.
RefWorks Enhanced can be found as one of the Library Databases under
Learning Resources in the Student
Portal.
Referencing
A useful guide to referencing is:
Cite them right : the essential referencing guide / Richard Pears and Graham
Shields
Library
Travel Fund
and Alumni Fund Travel Scholarship
The Library Travel Fund and Alumni Travel Scholarship are available to help students travel
to other libraries or information centres for purposes of
research.
Applications for the Library Travel Fund will be restricted to
journeys within the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.
Accommodation and subsistence costs are not met from this
fund.
The Alumni Fund Travel Scholarship is for travel
outside Northern Ireland and application deadlines are 30th April and 30th
November each year.
For further information and application forms for
both funds, please click
on Library
Travel Fund.
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Intellectual
Property Issues
Copyright
The Copyright Designs and Patents Act does allow copying
of copyright materials under certain circumstances.
The amount of a published work which may be photocopied
is generally interpreted as:
- no more than one chapter of a book
- no more than one article of a journal issue
- no more than one single case report from a law report
OR
- no more than 5% of a given work, whichever is greater
Copying must be for the purposes of non-commercial research
or private study, which is why, if we make or obtain a photocopy
for you, we ask you to sign a copyright declaration that you
require the copy for this purpose.
Below are useful Web sites on copyright should you require
further information.
University
of Ulster Copyright Guidance and Reference (Login using Network
ID and Password)
Guidelines for Fair Dealing in an Electronic Environment
CLA: the Copyright Licensing
Agency
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is an issue taken very seriously by all academic
institutions. There is much information on plagiarism and
how to avoid it. One of the best sites is
JISC
Plagiarism Advisory Service which covers all aspects of
plagiarism.
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Current
Awareness
Below is a list of suggestions on how you can keep
up to date in your area of interest.
Journals
One of the most effective ways to keep up to date in journal
literature is to save and re-run searches on the most relevant
databases for your subject. Many databases provide an email alerting
service.
To find the best databases for your subject and how to set up
their alerting services go to
Research Support for your
Subject.
Journal Alerting Services
Zetoc Alert is a table of contents alerting service which will
email you the contents pages of your chosen journals every
time a new issue is loaded into the database. It is updated
daily so you may be emailed within 72 hours of publication. Zetoc
Alert can be found as one of the Library Databases under Learning
Resources in the Student Portal.
ticTOCS: a
journal alerting service from JISC
Citeulike
Cited Reference Searching: identify more recent
articles which cite an original piece of published research. Cited Reference
searching is available on Web of Knowledge on the Web of Science tab.
Web of Knowledge can be found as one of the Library Databases under
Learning Resources in the Student
Portal.
Conferences
There is a Conference Alerts service which includes a
searchable database of forthcoming academic conferences and
a free alerting service. For details go to http://wwww.conferencealerts.com
Research
Discussion Lists
Electronic discussion lists are a valuable way
for researchers and academics to share information and ideas
by e-mail or via the Web.
Below is a selection of some of the most popular discussion
lists.
JISCMAIL is the
major electronic mailing list for the UK higher education
community. The search headings include people and subjects.
CataList is a catalogue of LISTSERV internet discussion lists with
access to over 47,000 lists.
Theses Use the
Index to Theses to search for theses in the UK and Ireland. Index to Theses
can be found as one of the Library Databases under Learning Resources
in the Student Portal.
EThOS is a
British Library service whereby theses are made available in digital form.
It is necessary to register on EThOS to use the service.
Web sites
Intute lists academic websites for
the HE community. Email Alerts can be set up.
ChangeDetection monitors URLs for change and alerts you
by email when a change occurs. For details go to http://www.changedetection.com/monitor.html
Books Many publishers
will send you regular emails or RSS feeds to alert you to new books
Some online booksellers provide an alerting service which
emails you details of new books in a specified field.
Amazon
offers a free a "notification preference" though you will need to register.
Book News "for the latest books in science,
technology and medicine".
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Useful
Websites For Research
Government web sites
A very valuable source
of information. All government departments have web sites
and many give access to official publications, guidelines
and statistics. Many
official publications are only available online.
DirectGov A-Z of Central Government will take to a complete listing of all UK government websites.
Directory of Irish Government Websites is a complete listing of all Irish government websites.
UK National Statistics site for official UK statistics.
Central Statistics
Office Ireland links to official Irish government statistics.
Research Organisations
British Academy
Higher Education
Academy
Research Councils UK
CORDIS:
information on European Research and development
European Research Area (ERA): research involving a transnational
perspective National
Science Foundation: funding agency for research in the USA Search engines
Google
Scholar Google Scholar enables you to search specifically
for scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers,
theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports
from all broad areas of research. Use Google Scholar to find
articles from a wide variety of academic publishers, professional
societies, preprint repositories and universities, as well
as scholarly articles available across the web.
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