Thinking about using EndNote to manage your OSCOLA references?

EndNote is a useful tool for keeping in-formation with your references, but the OSCOLA_4th_edn style in EndNote does require some manual inputting and amending of references to ensure that footnotes and bibliographies comply with the published guidelines for the OSCOLA referencing style.

Therefore, the first step you must take before you start using EndNote and OSCOLA is to tap into and become very familiar with the OSCOLA 4th referencing style (to find out more go to our referencing library guide). We also strongly advise that you don’t quick-step around it – give yourself enough time to start learning how to use EndNote and that you read the following instructions we’ve prepared for you EndNote X9 and OSCOLA 4th for Newcastle Law School which includes how to input manually different types of law sources into EndNote.

STRICTLY REFERENCING: Getting to know OSCOLA 4th referencing style

What is OSCOLA?

The Oxford University Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA) is the standard referencing format used by law students and anyone writing in a legal field.  It allows for exact referencing of cases, journals and statutes meaning that sources can be found quickly and accurately.

HELP!!!!!

OSCOLA can be a bit daunting at first, especially if you are unused to referencing, but don’t worry, we have a lot of help available.   Here are some top tips for getting to grips with OSCOLA from scratch or if you just need a refresher:

  1. Start by going to our library guide, where you will find tips and resources to build your knowledge up.
  2. Have a look at our OSCOLA and referencing slideshow to understand the importance of referencing and to get a brief overview of OSCOLA.
  3. Set some time aside and work through the Citing the Law Tutorial from Cardiff University. This will show you how to cite cases, legislation and secondary sources, as well as how to identify authors and quote.
  4. For quick “how do I”? questions, check out the OSCOLA quick help guide (physical copies also available in the Law Library) or Cite the Law’s A-Z referencing examples.
  5. And if you are trying to use OSCOLA and EndNote, don’t forget we have a handy guide for you. More on this next time!

And lastly, if you are in doubt, remember we are always here to help! Contact us via library help or ask in the Law Library.

Hip-hop your way around the Harvard style

Harvard at Newcastle is the most frequently used referencing style and if your school does not have a preferred style, it is the one that we would recommend. This is because there is the most comprehensive guidance available for Harvard and it is a style that can manage referencing all types of information. Whether you are referencing a book, news article, Instagram or market research, the Harvard at Newcastle style has got you covered.

There are many variations of Harvard but the one used at Newcastle can be found in Cite Them Right. Harvard uses an in-text citation (Millican, 2018, p.12) inserted in the text, coupled with a reference list at the end of the document, which provides the key. Cite Them Right  is available as a published book to borrow from the library and Cite Them Right Online provides the same comprehensive guidance in a searchable interface that can be accessed anywhere online. It includes guidance about how to reference just about every type of information you can think of, including the more tricky online sources such as social media.

You will find the Harvard at Newcastle style in EndNote on campus PCs and through the RAS, and are able to download the style from our EndNote guide if you are using it locally on your own device. We’ve also included some useful tips and advice about getting to grips with Harvard on our referencing guide.

Routine for Referencing

What are the key steps to a successful routine for referencing? Of all the enquiries we get in the Library, referencing is the most common.

Referencing is the acknowledgement of the sources that you use in your work. You must reference all sources that you use in your assignment, project or dissertation, including words and ideas, facts, images, videos, audio, websites, statistics, diagrams and data.

Over the next two weeks weeks we’re focusing on referencing, giving you the routine for success. As a novice, you might need a little help to understand the steps and techniques for your referencing style.

We’ll tell you where to get advice and help

Understand why we reference and how

How to avoid plagiarism

How to manage your information to make your life easier and assignments less stressful, giving you the routine for success.

Walton Library: Reading Lists and the STC

Hopefully you are feeling settled at the Walton Library and finding your way around.  During your induction session you may have heard Library staff mention reading lists and STC books. This blog post breaks these terms down to help you get the most out of the Library.

What are reading lists?

When it comes to reading lists, the clue is in the name. They are materials your lecturer(s) have selected to help you understand your subject – and are not necessarily books! Reading lists can contain journal articles, websites and other media, such as podcasts and videos. The material on your reading list is broken down into essential, recommended or background reading for your convenience.

Not all reading lists look the same. Some lists are divided into the above categories, and some are divided into weekly or even daily reading. Speak to your lecturer if you have a query about the content on your module’s reading list.

Where are they?

There’s more than one way to access your reading list. If you use the Medical Learning Environment (MLE), you can access your reading list from the “Reading” tab on the “Learning Materials” window. These are embedded in each Case. See below for reference:

A reading list on the Medical Learning Environment (MLE).

You can click on the items within the reading list and it’ll take you directly to Library Search, where you will be able to see the item’s location and availability.

If you use Blackboard, once you’ve logged in, you will see that the “Reading Lists” link is on the “Overview” page for each module you’re registered on. See below for reference:

The location of a module’s reading list on Blackboard.

You can also access your reading lists from the Library homepage. Follow this link and click the green “More information for students” button.

If you’re having a technical problem when using your reading list, email: med-reading-lists@ncl.ac.uk and we’ll investigate the problem for you.

What is the STC?

The Student Texts Collection (STC) at the Walton Library.

If you’ve been to the Walton’s service desk asking for a stapler, you may have heard the staff directing you to the STC. STC or Student Texts Collection is a separate room, located next to the printers and the self-issue machine, which contains our high demand texts. Many of these will be essential on your reading lists. These books are available for short loan only – four hours during the day, unless you take them out four hours before the Library closes, when you can loan them overnight (providing you return them before 9:30AM the next weekday and 10:30AM on weekends!)

These short loan books are perfect if you’re on the go. You can issue one before a lecture and then return it just after! They’re also ideal if you only need to use a short section of a book: you can copy up to one chapter or 10% of a book (whatever is greater) using the photocopier.

How does it work?

Just like long loan items, STC books are on Library Search. However they can’t be reserved if all the copies are out on loan. STC books need to be checked out and returned from your account using the self-issue machine in the STC room.

STC books are listed separately on Library Search.

If you have any further queries about the STC, you might want to check out our Library FAQs here. Desk staff at the Walton can also be called upon to lend a hand if you’re stuck.

Be wise – start thinking about your Reading Lists

 

Although it’s now the summer vacation, it is time for our academics to start thinking about the reading lists for 2019/20. So, what resources are you going to recommend to your students to support your teaching? How will you ensure the Library has what you need in stock?

Use the Library’s Reading Lists to create, manage and update your own lists online. Or, you can send your list as an attachment to your Library’s Reading List team using our submission form.

Why use this service? Well, your lists will help the Library to order the correct number of copies of the titles you want to recommend, to decide on the appropriate loan periods of those printed books and enable access to electronic resources for your students. CLA scans (digitised book chapters and articles) can easily be requested through Reading Lists too. There’s no need to email us or fill out a separate request form; simply tag the item on your list and leave it to us.

Benefits for you include:

  • Your book orders and scanning requests will be dealt with seamlessly by a dedicated team of Library Staff.
  • It is an effective and efficient way of getting your Reading Lists to your students via Blackboard, alongside your teaching materials.
  • You can add resources from Library Search, any database or while you’re browsing the Web (via the “Cite it” tool).
  • You will provide accessible information to your students about their required reading, with live links to Library Search, eBooks, full-text journal articles and book chapters.
  • You can organise the resources to suit your needs, e.g. by week, topic, lecture or seminar.
  • You can tag the items on your Reading Lists so your students can clearly see what is essential, recommended or background reading.
  • In tagging each item, the Library can ensure appropriate stock provision for your students based on module numbers.
  • You can notify the Library and your students of any changes you wish to make to your lists automatically.
  • Reading Lists can boost student engagement with your subject and you can see the access statistics for the items on your list, providing valuable insight on how the students are using the materials listed.

So, Reading Lists are a great way to let your students know what they need to read, and to keep the Library informed too; they are the wise choice.

You can find information about creating and managing your Reading Lists, and making resources available to your students here. And if you have any questions about this service, please do contact us at readinglists@ncl.ac.uk

Have a good summer!

Art of the Possible: academic skills resources

You’ll find links to the relevant Library resources below.

As time is limited, please feel free to explore as you wish!

A. Academic skills resources

We’d recommend exploring the finding-evaluating-managing guides at the top of the screen, but feel free to try out the other guides on this page as well.

The Library’s online learning resources focus mainly on information skills: for a wider range of academic skills content and support, visit the Academic Skills Kit.

B. Research skills resources

Aimed at UG/PGT students: please explore our dissertations/projects guide. Try the proposal planners and search planners: could you use them with your students?

Aimed at PGR students: please explore the new online format for our HSS8002 information and library skills module. We’ve created a dummy version of HSS8002 for today’s workshop. You should be able to access the dummy course directly via this link.

Browse the module content via the left hand menu, or, if you want to try out the information skills checker, choose I am studying this module for credit in Newcastle on the home page.

You can also read our LTDS case study about this project.

We Are Here All Summer!

 

Stefan Schweihoter
pixabay

 

The University libraries will be open throughout the Summer vacation, you a can find the opening hours for each library here.   Please note that during self-service times, access to the building will be by Newcastle University Smartcard only.

However, there will be building work in progress during library opening times and there may be some noisy periods in some areas.  Free disposable earplugs will be available at the Service Desk.

You will still find the Liaison team on levels 3 and 4 of the Philip Robinson Library – we will be the ones wearing hard hats!

You can come to us for Endnote support and 1-1 sessions. Please book an appointment via Library help.

If you have an urgent question, and we are not physically around you will find 24/7 support via our out-of-hours Live Chat Service provided by a co-operative of academic librarians from around the world.

We hope you have a lovely summer!

 

Dippy the Dinosaur and Climate Change Heroes

Dippy the Dinosaur ExhibitionThe Liaison team visited the wonderful Dippy the Dinosaur at the Great North Museum: Hancock this week.

First put on display over 100 years ago, Dippy is a cast of a Diplodocus dinosaur and measures a massive 21.3 metres long –  he was an incredible sight to see!

Dippy, who belongs to the Natural History museum, is currently touring the country and will be in Newcastle for this special exhibition until Sunday 6 October 2019.  You can find out more about Dippy and book tickets here.

Dippy the Dinosaur exhibition showing timeline

Alongside the brilliant Dippy, the exhibition at the Great North Museum also features a spectacular visual timeline that emphasises the significance of climate change.  Beginning in the time of the dinosaurs and highlighting the climate change brought about by the meteor that killed the species, it continues up through the industrial revolution to the climate emergency of today.

The display spotlights academics and teams from Newcastle University who are researching important climate change related issues.  You can find out more about the work of these researchers below:

Dippy’s ‘Climate Change Heroes’ Reading List:

Dippy the Dinosaur exhibition display showing research on climate change

 

Professor Mark Whittingham (Professor of Applied Ecology)

Franks, J.R., Emery, S.B., Whittingham, M.J. and McKenzie, A.J. (2016) ‘Farmer attitudes to cross-holding agri-environment schemes and their implications for Countryside Stewardship.’ International Journal of Agricultural Management, 5(4). pp.78-95

Dunn, J.C., Buchanan, G.M., Stein, R.W., Whittingham, M.J. and McGowan, P.J.K. (2016) ‘Optimising different types of biodiversity coverage of protected areas with a case study using Himalayan Galliformes.’ Biological Conservation, 196, pp. 22-30

Hiron, M., Part, T., Siriwardena, G.M. and Whittingham, M.J. (2018) ‘Species contributions to single biodiversity values under-estimate community contribution to a wider range of values to society.’ Scientific Reports, 8, pp.1-7

Find more of Professor Whittingham’s work via his Newcastle University’s ePrints page.

 

Dr Elizabeth Gibson (Reader in Energy Materials)

Summers, G.H. and Gibson, E.A. (2018) ‘Bay Annulated Indigo as a New Chromophore for p-type Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells.’ ChemPhotoChem, 2(6), pp.498-506

Summers, G.H., Lefebvre, J.F., Black, F.A., Davies, E.S., Gibson, E.A., Pullerits, T., Wood, C. and Zidek, K. (2016) ‘Design and characterisation of bodipy sensitizers for dye-sensitized NiO solar cells.’ Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 18(2), pp.1059-1070

ElMoll, H., Black, F.A., Wood, C.J., AlYasari, A., ReddyMarri, A., Sazanovich, I.V., Gibson, E.A. and Fielden, J. (2017) ‘Increasing p-type dye sensitised solar cell photovoltages using polyoxometalates.’ Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 19, pp.18831-18835

Find more of Dr Gibson’s work via her Newcastle University’s ePrints page.

 

Dr Niki Rust (Research Associate)

Braczkowski, A., Holden, M., O’Bryan, C., Choi, C., Gan, X., Beesley, N., Gao, Y., Allan, J., Tyrrell, P., Stiles, D., Brehony, P., Meney, R., Brink, H., Takashina, N., Lin, M., Lin, H., Rust, N., Salmo, S., Watson, J., Kahumbu, P., Maron, M., Possingham, H. and Biggs, D. (2018) ‘Reach and messages of the world’s largest ivory burn.’ Conservation Biology, 32 (4), pp.765-773

Rust, N, and Kehoe, L. (2017) ‘A call for conservation scientists to empirically study the effects of human population policies on biodiversity loss.’ Journal of Population & Sustainability, 1(2), pp. 53-66

Rust, N. and Taylor, N. (2016) ‘Carnivores, Colonization, and Conflict: A Qualitative Case Study on the Intersectional Persecution of Predators and People in Namibia.’ Anthrozoos, 29 (4), pp. 653-667

Find more of Dr Rust’s work via her Newcastle University’s ePrints page.

 

Urban Observatory

Newcastle University’s Urban Observatory collects real-time urban data from across the Tyne and Wear area. With over 50 data types available, including air quality, traffic, sewage and noise levels, it provides the largest set of publicly available real time urban data in the UK.

 

Beyond the Library

Will you be working on a dissertation or project this summer or next year? Worried that the Library might not have access to the specialist books and other resources which you need? Wondering how you can find out about resources relating to your research topic which are held in other libraries?

Wonder no more! There are three main ways you can find and access books and other resources held elsewhere:

1. Search

You can search the catalogues of over 100 UK and Irish academic libraries, national libraries and other major research libraries via COPAC. For a more in-depth and up to date search, you can also search individual academic library catalogues online. Need to look further afield? Search library catalogues internationally via WorldCat.

2. Visit

We have more information about how you can visit other libraries, locally and nationally, here. The SCONUL Access Scheme enables students to use other academic libraries around the country, but you need to register online first (and be sure to check the access arrangements for any library you are planning to visit, as they may alter during the year).

3. Obtain

If we haven’t got the book you want, you can ask us to consider buying or borrowing it, via our Books on Time service. If you need a copy of a journal article to which we don’t have access, please apply via our inter library loan service.

Image by andreas160578 from Pixabay.