Mobile Apps & Resources Guide

Collage of mobile app icons

Our mobile devices are great for helping us to stay in touch with friends and family, keeping us up-to-date with the latest trends and news on social media and, of course, for sharing cat videos.

However, your mobile device can also be a great tool for learning and study, if you’ve got the right apps!

With recommendations from students in SNES, (who have been using tablets on their course for the past year) our updated Mobile Apps and Resources Guide provides a host of freely available apps and mobile friendly resources that can help you get the most from your device. It includes apps for study and productivity, creativity and design, history, languages, business, science and more.

Screenshot of the Mobile Apps Guide page

So whether you’re just getting set up with your tablet or an old hand looking for something new to help keep you organised with your work or up-to-date in your subject area, our guide has something to help.

Some highlights include:

Microsoft Office Lens – this app helps you make documents or pictures of whiteboards screen readable. You can also use Office Lens to convert images to PDF, Word and PowerPoint files.

Pocket – allows you to save articles, videos and stories from any publication, page or app to read at a later time.

Trello  – a useful tool that helps you to organize and prioritize your projects using boards, lists and cards.

BrowZine –  a tool that allows you to access and keep up to date with key journal titles that the Library subscribes to in your subject area.

If you have any further suggestions for useful apps that we could add to the guide, let us know at: lib-sage@ncl.ac.uk

Thieme Science of Synthesis (SOS) trial

We have trial access to Thieme Science of Synthesis (SOS) from now until the end of the year.

Are you looking for critically-reviewed, synthetically-relevant and readily-applicable methods with detailed experimental procedures to support your research projects?

To start getting to the synthesis quicker, try Thieme Science of Synthesis (SOS), a full-text resource for evaluated methods in synthetic organic chemistry.

There is no need to login as you will be recognized automatically by IP address during the trial. However, you can register for a personal account by clicking on “MySoS” in order to save searches and results lists.

Click the “Training & Support” button in the top menu to find case studies, author lists and further help. There is a quick start guide and video tutorials to support you.

We would like to know how this resource supports your research, assessed work and teaching, so please send any comments to Julia Robinson, Faculty Liaison Librarian for chemistry.

Freshers’ Guide to the Walton Library

Wishing a Warm Walton Welcome to all new and continuing students in the new academic year!

Just as you are settling into life at University we thought that you might benefit from this list of tips of how to make the most out of your time in the Walton Library.

Opening hours

The Library opening hours change throughout the year, but during term time, we are open normally until 22:00.

Resources

Use your Reading Lists as a great starting point for finding academic material. They can be accessed via your VLE (Virtual Learning Environment), which is either Blackboard or the MLE, depending on the course you are studying.

All academic resources that we purchase will be available via Library Search. It is the most prominent element on our colourful website and it will show you books, articles, journals in both physical or electronic format, databases and others.

The library website can be found here: www.ncl.ac.uk/library/
The library website can be found here: www.ncl.ac.uk/library/

Use keywords to find the titles that you need and Library Search will tell you whether we have them or not, whether they are available on the shelves, in which library and part of which collection they are. If a book we have in stock is NOT currently available on the shelves, the best thing you can do is to log in with your student ID and password and place a reservation:

Reserving is in your best interest because this is what will prompt a current reader of the book to bring it back so that you can use it. So remember: Shy bairns get nowt.

Specialist help

There are subject-specific guides that give you information directly relevant to your course. You can find them by selecting your course in Subject Support, on the Library website.

Want to ask us a question?

Library Help is the place you seek. You can browse our FAQ database by topic or search it by using keywords. You can also send us an email or chat with us. Library Chat is monitored 24/7, so as long as you have access to the internet, wherever you are in this great, big world, you can contact us.

GUEST POST: Reflections on my First Year

Law Reports

Caitlin, a final year Law student, shares some advice for getting through the first year at Newcastle Law School.

About Me:

My name is Caitlin Stiles, I am a fourth (and Final Year) Law Student, and have recently come back from doing a Year Abroad in Groningen, The Netherlands. Alongside my degree studies, I am a Law Library Aide and the Law School’s Employment and Enterprise Representative.

As a Law Student myself, I know how first year feels and the first few weeks can be really overwhelming – don’t worry! Get used to the city, the degree, the accommodation and it all gets easier (and more enjoyable) over time.

I am writing this blog post to reflect on my First Year, as a Fourth Year Student (hindsight is a beautiful thing)! I’ll give you my top tips and what to do (and not to do), to hopefully make your law life a little easier.

My First Year:

Looking back, I entered First Year somewhat naively and thought that I would easily get the same grades as I got at A level. I soon learnt that there was a jump to make and spent the first few weeks worrying that my formative results were no longer in the eighties – trust me an eighty at A Level is very different in the degree! Your marks will improve over time as you get used to legal research.

I learnt quite quickly that headings in essays are your best friend, and can make a difference big difference in the clarity of your work.

It is also really important to balance your time. I know that First Year (and especially the first year deadlines) can be what seems like the most stressful semester of your life. Don’t take the “First year doesn’t count attitude”, because employers in final year will ask for an explanation – but having said that DO manage your time and get involved as much as possible!

Balance your degree with what you’re interested in, whether that’s a night on the Bigg Market, Sports Wednesdays or relaxing at your accommodation. First year is as much about getting to know Newcastle and student life, as it is about learning the skills that you’re taught – just make sure to strike a fair balance!

The Eldon Society offers so many opportunities (legal and non – legal) so do get involved, and there is no better time than first year to get involved so you can really grow and become part of the society and what it has to offer!

In regards to the degree and time management – figure out what works best for you! I personally found a 9-5 day was best for me (but didn’t learn this until second year!) I did all my seminar work, reading etc in the day by going to the library 9 to 5, and taking rest breaks and then having the evenings and weekends free to ‘de-stress’ and socialise. Secondly, your degree is not a competition, share notes, thoughts and revision tips with each other – this isn’t ‘Suits’, helping each other really does help you learn and succeed!

Seminars are the most valuable part of university teaching, a lot of the time they are really focused on helping prepare for the exam – so spend that extra half hour really preparing for the seminar and asking anything you’re unsure about – even if it only seems small!

Finally, don’t be afraid to ask – again this took me time to learn and to overcome fears of speaking in seminars and lectures! However, it really will surprise you how helpful lecturers, classmates and even those in the legal profession can be if you take the time to ask!

Finding help with IEEE referencing

For those of you reading this that don’t know, the IEEE referencing style is a numeric citation system used in engineering, electronics, computer science and information technology publications. And for those of you reading that already know this, you will be pleased to hear that the IEEE referencing style has now been added to Cite them right   (If you have trouble accessing Cite them right off campus, just search for it on Library Search).

So what does this mean and how does it help? Well, let’s say that you have referred to a set of specific technical standards in your most recent academic work but aren’t quite sure how to reference them accordingly. Open Cite them right and type standards into the search bar at the top right of the home page and hit the Enter key:

The search results will return a link detailing how to reference technical standards:

All that’s left to do now is to click on the link, select IEEE from the drop down reference style menu and follow the excellent guidance. There’s further help on IEEE referencing on the far right hand side:

As well as referencing technical standards, journal articles and books in the IEEE style, Cite them right will also show you how to reference more unusual items, such as Twitter posts and YouTube videos, enabling you to correctly include all of your research sources with ease.

New book bin at Fredrick Douglass Centre

From 7th October we are piloting a scheme where you can return your long loan library books to any of the following locations on campus regardless of where they were borrowed:

For those based at the Helix site, we have also included a new book return drop off point located in the Frederick Douglass Centre – view on Google Maps.

Remember, this only applies to long loan items – Student Text Collection items will still need to be returned to the library you borrowed them from.

This pilot will run throughout the first semester. The items from the book bin will be collected 9.15am and 3.30pm Monday to Friday (with the bin being closed and the machine shut down on Friday at the last collection of the week.)

 

Finding theses from elsewhere

Although the Library holds copies of all Newcastle University PhD theses and copies of theses written for other research degrees, you may find you need a thesis from elsewhere. If this is the case, our Theses and Dissertations guide is a good place to start. This tells you what print and electronic theses we hold and where to find other UK or international theses.

Ethos

Ethos allows you to search the details of 500,000 UK theses from over 120 institutions, from the 1970s to date. The full text of about one fifth of these is available for immediate download to registered users, and in other cases, you may be able to request a copy in digital or other format (for which there may be a charge).

Can’t find the theses you’re looking for? If all else fails, it may be worth checking to see if an institution has its own repository.