As well as compiling Subject Guides for each School across campus, your friendly Library Liaison Team also put together Resource Guides on topics of interest and significance. While you might currently feel like you’ve read more than enough on the Covid-19 pandemic to last a lifetime; bear with us!
“What does the future hold in the coming months and years? The pandemic has the potential to make its effects felt for years to come.”
More than ever, it’s been difficult to keep ahead of the pace of change and updates. Our team of library staff and student volunteers have been sorting the current affairs wheat from the chaff on behalf of our Library colleagues and users. Focusing on the impact and response to the crisis, both here in the UK and globally, the resource guide takes in a wide range of interdisciplinary fields, from sport to society, and transport to technology.
The guide also offers a Scopus feed of some of the most recent NU research outputs on corona virus and its implications.
We think this might be of particular interest to those of you who may be considering a topical COVID 19 angle for upcoming dissertations or assignments. If you’re aware of any updates or new resources that you think our readers should be aware of, we’ve incldued a contact box so you can send us your suggestions.
The Perdita Manuscripts is an excellent resource for those interested in Early Modern history, Women’s Studies, and the History of the Book. It provides access to digital copies of little known manuscripts written by women, together with helpful notes and essays by experts in the field.
The database holds over 230 digitised manuscripts created and compiled by women in the British Isles during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. These previously ‘lost’ (perdita) female authors produced a diverse range of content such as account books, calligraphic writing, culinary writing, diaries, medical writing, prayers, prose, translations, travel writing, verse and more. The collection also includes writing in English, French, Greek, Italian, Latin and Spanish.
Document detail pages include a scan of the original document, which you can enlarge to read or download as a pdf, alongside bibliographic details of the manuscript. Links below provide further details, sometimes including physical descriptions of the manuscript, additional information on the repository holding the item, notes and searchable keywords.
Some manuscripts also include section details for each page of the scanned document, which have details such as genre of a section, first and last lines and folio information.
Where you have accessed the document via a search query, you’ll also find a Search Results tab, which provides an overview of where your search terms can be found in the document.
The manuscripts can be explored and accessed in three ways:
Browse Documents Section
Under the Browse Documents tab, you can browse the manuscripts by alphabetical listing, genre, repository, date, language or by particular primary authors (Perdita Women).
Search Directories
The Search Directories, available under the Research Tools tab, allow for browsing using subject terms lists (metadata). You can select from a list of Perdita Women (primary authors of manuscripts), Names in general (key names included in the database, excluding the Perdita Women), Places, and Genre.
In the Research Tools tab you’ll also find an index of the first lines of both poetry and prose texts.
Search Tool
The search tool located in the top right, provides options for a basic keyword search and an advanced search. While BOOLEAN operators, phrase searching, and wildcards can be applied in both search options, advanced search allows for a more complex query to be constructed by searching particular fields (e.g. title), limiting by date, and selecting specific terms from lists of Perdita women, languages, genres or sources.
The Help section provides further useful advice and guidance on searching the database and using the digitised images in your study, research or teaching.
The Library has lots of great collections and resources, so when it comes to finding wider reading for your topic or beginning research for your assignment or dissertation it might all seem a bit overwhelming. Library Search is a great place to start looking for information but there are many other resources you might want to try. To help you get the best out of our resources we’ve put together this list of some of the most useful online databases and collections for Media Studies.
Let’s dive in!
Scopus
Scopus is a large, interdisciplinary database of peer-reviewed literature, providing an index of articles, book chapters, conference papers and trade publications.
One of the main advantages of using Scopus is that it provides a lot of useful information about the articles it indexes. This includes full reference lists for articles and cited reference searching, so you can navigate forward and backward through the literature to uncover all the information relevant to your research. You can also set up citation alerts, so you can be informed of new, relevant material automatically.
Scopus tutorial showing how to expand your search results.
Scopus includes other smart tools that can help you track and visualise the research in your area, including author and affiliation searching, visual analysis of search results, a journal analyser, and author identifier tools. You’ll find tutorials and advice on using these features in the Scopus support centre and on their YouTube Channel.
JSTOR
JSTOR provides access to full-text materials including scholarly journals, books and book chapters in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. It has basic and advanced search options that allow you to search by topic keyword, author, subject area, title or publisher.
Film and Television Literature Index
The Film and Television Literature Index is an excellent resource for film and television research, with coverage focused on film and television theory, writing, production, cinematography, technical aspects, and reviews. You’ll find indexes and abstracts for more than 500 journals and full-text records for over 100 journals and books.
The database uses subject terms to help you refine your search and get more helpful results, this (five minute) video explains how to use the database and how the subject term functions works.
Video guide to the Film and Television Literature Index.
Newspapers
Newspapers can be a great source of information, with news stories and editorial opinion offering a fascinating angle on your research topic. The Library provides access to a wide range of news resources, dating from the 17th century to the present day, and stretching from Newcastle to New York and beyond. You’ll find an overview of these resources on our Newspaper Guide.
Remember to use your critical thinking skills when using newspapers as they may present biased opinion and inaccurate facts – watch out for Fake News!
Current News
If you’re looking for current news sources, Lexis is an excellent place to start. Providing access to UK national and regional newspapers, from the 1990s to the present day, Lexis presents a copy of the newspaper text, without images or formatting, alongside the details you’ll need to create a reference.
Once you have logged in to Lexis, click News in the main menu to go straight to the news content. You can refine your search using date ranges, keywords or by selecting specific newspapers or publication types (i.e. broadsheet or tabloid).
International News
The Library’s online news resources are strongest for the UK, but we do also provide access to a wide range of historic and contemporary international news resources, including The New York Times archive. You may want to explore Nexis which covers international news from the 1980s to present day.
Historic News
The Library provides access to several million digitised pages of historic newspapers, dating from the seventeenth century. We have all UK broadsheet archives online (e.g. The Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph) as well as titles which are strong in arts and culture coverage, such as the Times Literary Supplement.
If you want to search across a range of historic new sources, start with Gale Primary Sources, as this gives access to almost all our British newspaper archives, except The Guardian and The Observer.
Box of Broadcasts (BoB)
Box of Broadcasts allows you to access TV and radio broadcasts from over 65 channels, including most of the UK’s Freeview network, all BBC TV and radio content from 2007, and several foreign language channels. It’s a great resource for finding documentaries or critical opinions.
You can view archived programmes, create clips and playlists, and see transcripts to help with citation and translation. You can also search other users’ public playlists to see curated lists around topics similar to your own. There are lots of helpful tutorial videos on the BoB website.
Unfortunately, Box of Broadcasts is not available outside the UK.
Statista
Statista is an extensive statistics platform covering over 1.5 million data sets. It includes reports, statistics and forecasts on a range of topics. So if you want to know which social media platforms are most popular across the globe; compare TV advertising statistics; explore industry trends, or see how many people use Netflix, Statista is a brilliant place to start.
Statistics and reports can be exported in a range of formats including images and PowerPoint, giving you flexibility over how you can include visual data in your assignments. The statistics’ source is also included, giving you the information that you need to cite it successfully.
Statista tutorial showing how to do a basic search for data.
This list was just a taster of all the great resources available for your subject area, to access these and to find out more visit your Subject Guide and explore the journals, databases and subject specific resources we’ve curated for Media Studies students.
Library Search is a powerful tool that can help you find good quality, relevant information quickly. Using Library Search is pretty intuitive but there are some useful search tips that can help you improve and get the most out of your searches:
Keywords and Subject Terms
When you’re searching for information it’s important to use a range of related keywords to ensure you find everything relevant to your topic. For example, if you’re searching for information on ‘Climate Change’ you might also want to search for ‘Greenhouse Effect’ or ‘Global Warming’ too. Thinking of related keywords can sometimes be difficult but Library Search can help!
From your search results page, click on the title of a resource to open the resource record and scroll down to the ‘Details’ section. Here you will find a list of ‘Subjects’, also known as subject terms, used to describe the topics and themes this particular resource discusses. Take a look at this list and add any relevant words to your search string.
There are some other useful features in the resource record page that can help with your searches too:
Browse the virtual shelf
At the very bottom of the record you’ll find a virtual bookshelf, a visual list of the books that can be found next to this one if you were looking in the physical library. As the library is organised by subject some of these titles might be useful for your research too.
Read the abstract
A quick way to tell if a resource is going to be relevant and useful for your research is to read the abstract, a summary of the contents of the resource. On the resource record in Library Search, you’ll find this under the heading ‘Description’.
Advanced Search
The Advanced Search function in Library search allows you to create a search that will produce more focused results. It does this by providing a range of search fields and drop down lists that help you build up your search.
Select from the options to:
Limit your search field to the title, author, subject, collection etc.
Apply BOOLEAN operators (AND, OR, NOT) to your keywords
Filter by specific material types, languages and dates to focus your search results to the most relevant resources.
Take a look at the Advanced Searching page on our Finding Information Guide for more on how to combine your keywords, create a search string and improve your search results.
This time of year is normally one of the busiest for the Libraries on campus. Instead, the Libraries are currently physically closed and both revision and exams are taking place at homes across the country (and possibly further afield!). While this ‘new normal’ might seem overwhelming at first, in many ways, it’s business as usual. Read on to find out how we can all work together to ensure you have the best possible revision and exam experience.
Your subject-specific
guide also contains links to useful journals, databases and eBook
collections that are tailored for your course. You may also find it helpful to
browse through a list of newly-acquired
online resources that the Library have purchased to better enable your
studies from home.
There are a number of MCQ (multiple choice question) books available
to read online to complement your revision. They cover subjects including:
paediatrics, neurology and physiology.
Library Help remains available 24/7 to assist with your queries – please send them in via email or live chat. We are also regularly updating Library FAQs to bring you the most up-to-date information. (Hint: if you filter the FAQs to show ‘remote services temporary FAQ’, you’ll only be shown the newest Library FAQs.)
Following the announcement of lockdown, ASK have made some
new resources to assist with online examinations. These are broken down into
helpful categories: how
to revise for an online exam, what
to do before an online exam and exam
technique. While you will get details from your School about the specific
changes to your exam(s), these pages have really helpful advice on preparing
for and succeeding in online assessment.
Choose an area in your home to work in that’s best suited to your needs. This might be a bedroom, kitchen or office space. You may want to consider making some adjustments to your existing desk (or kitchen table!) to avoid causing an injury. If possible, choose to work in an area that has plenty of natural light and is well-ventilated.
Build yourself a realistic revision planner, with plenty of breaks factored in. You won’t be able to revise everything in one day so breaking down topics into manageable chunks is essential. Regular exercise, a balanced diet and a good night’s sleep are also key to revision success.
Remember to take regular study breaks to stay hydrated, get
fresh air and clear your mind. You’re unlikely to revise effectively without
regular breaks and time away from your work. There are a number of activities and resources
on the Library’s website for things you can do while taking a break. These
include seated desk yoga, colouring in sheets and mindfulness exercises.
We are pleased to announce we have trial access to Westlaw’s student textbooks, in addition to the standard Westlaw All Books collection we use on a daily basis.
The Sweet & Maxwell Academic collection gives access to an additional 19 titles to support studying at home during this pandemic. Titles include Winfield & Jolowicz on Tort, Treitel on the Law of Contract, Megarry & Wade on the Law of Real Property and Elliott & Wood’s Cases and Materials on Criminal Law, among others.
To access this content, log into Westlaw and click on Books in the menu at the top of the page.
If you know the book you are looking for, search by a title keyword, e.g. tort.
If you want to browse these student-focused books, use the filters on the left-hand side of the screen. Scroll down and select ‘Sweet & Maxwell Academic’.
We hope you find this additional access to Westlaw useful; please leave feedback or contact libraryhelp@ncl.ac.uk you want to get in touch. The temporary access ends on May 27th 2020.
We have a service called “Books on Time” for students. This allows you to tell us about the books you need for your studies. If we don’t have the books you need, simply complete the web form and we’ll see if we can buy them. For books we already have in stock, if they are out on loan please make a reservation/hold request using Library Search.
SAGE Video is an easily accessible resource with more than 1,600 hours of streaming video collections in the social sciences, created for use across higher education to support pedagogical needs, for undergraduate teaching and learning through to higher level academic research.
SAGE Video combines originally commissioned and produced material with licensed videos to provide a complete disciplinary resource for students, faculty, and researchers.
It covers the following subject areas:
Business & Management
Counseling & Psychotherapy
Criminology & Criminal Justice
Education
Leadership
Media, Communication & Cultural Studies
Politics & International Relations
Psychology
Sociology
The resource includes:
Seminal documentaries on subjects aligned to core curriculum topics
Case studies on classic and newly published research
Tutorials illustrating practical applications of methods and concepts
Interviews with leading experts on key topics
Practitioner demonstrations of theories and techniques
Observational footage of practitioners in real-life professional settings
The trial is available until 16th March 2020. As always, your feedback will be very welcome: you can either email it, or leave a comment on this blogpost.
If you are off-campus, please login to RAS first of all, and then access SAGE Video from a browser within RAS.
Are you preparing a dissertation or project, or will be doing so next academic year?
Make sure you visit our interactive dissertation and project guide. Based on the extensive experience of staff from the Library and Writing Development Centre, this guide includes an interactive search planner, which takes you through the different stages of developing your search strategy, and enables you to create and download your personalised search plan: you can even ask for feedback on it from the Library liaison team.
The search planner is complemented by a project proposal planner, developed by our colleagues in the Writing Development Centre, to help you develop or refine your research proposal.
The guide also points you to further advice on a wide range of relevant skills, to give you advanced knowhow in finding, managing and evaluating information. For example: where to find specialised information resources for your subject area, and methods to keep your literature search up to date over a long period.
It’s easy to navigate, with clear text and short videos throughout. Whether you are already underway with your dissertation, or just starting to think about it, we’re sure you will find it helpful!
Academic work builds upon the shared ideas, words and findings of other people. However, whenever you use other people’s work you must acknowledge it. This includes sources from books, journal articles, newspapers, video or other sources. You need to make it clear to the readers of your work where you got the information from and who produced it.
Remember if you are directly quoting an author you need to put the text in quotation marks and give the page number, e.g. “Referencing is the best” (1 p. 3)
Referencing Styles
There are a number of different referencing styles which enable you to present your references in a particular format. Harvard at Newcastle is a modified author/date style and the most commonly used. However some people prefer a numbered style e.g. Vancouver or Vancouver superscript
Using EndNote to display the style
The Harvard at Newcastle style has been added to EndNote X9. For more information on using EndNote to manage your references see our EndNote Guide.
Remember when you cite you must be consistent and cite each type of references correctly for your chosen style. For more help with citing references use the online resource Cite them right.
