Books added to the Library by students in SAPL (Semester Two 2022/23)

Our Recommend a Book service for students 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.

Further information about Recommend a book.

In Semester Two, academic year 2022/2023 we successfully processed 50 requests in SAPL totalling £3832.

A New Environmental Ethics The Next Millennium for Life on Earth
A Sense of Wonder Towards Nature Healing the Planet through Belonging
Ambedkar in London
Anamnesis: On the Theory of History and Politics
Annihilation of Caste
Antoni Gaudi, 1852-1926: Architecture, Ideology, and Politics
Arkkitehti Elissa Aalto / Architect Elissa Aalto
Being Brahmin, Being Modern
Black men in Britain: an ethnographic portrait of the post-Windrush generation
Building for Change: The Architecture of Creative Reuse
Building Theories – Architecture as the Art of Building
Collective Action!: The Power of Collaboration and Co-Design in Architecture
Colonial Modernities Building, Dwelling and Architecture in British India and Ceylon
Concrete Revolution: Large Dams, Cold War Geopolitics, and the US Bureau of Reclamation
Construed Heritage: Narratives and Collectable Experiences
Cuzco: Incas, Spaniards, and the Making of a Colonial City
Drawing Attention: Architecture in the Age of Social Media
Flourish: Design Paradigms for Our Planetary Emergency
Food Deserts and Food insecurity in the UK
Food rule : An Eater’s Manual
Gaudi Unseen: Completing the Sagrada Familia: Completing the Sagrada Família
Interview Techniques for UX Practitioners
Kuwait City Parks A Critical Review of their Design, Facilities, Programs and Management
Laughing at Architecture: Architectural Histories of Humour, Satire and Wit
Machine Learning and the City: Applications in Architecture and Urban Design
Material Reform: Building for a Post-Carbon Future
Meat, Modernity and the Rise of the Slaughterhouse
Modernism and the Professional Architecture Journal: Reporting, Editing and Reconstructing in Post-War Europe
On the Street: In-Between Architecture
Planting Design / 2nd
Plastic Emotions
Routledge handbook of urban forestry
Silent Coup: How Corporations Overthrew Democracy
Space and Power: Politics, War and Architecture
Spaces for Children The Built Environment and Child Development
Temple Sagrada Familia
The architectural detail
The essential Gaudí
The Persian Garden Echoes of Paradise
The Politics of Oil
Twenty Minutes In Manhattan
Urban Ecosystems Understanding the Human Environment
Urban Jungle: Wilding The City
Urban Nature Enriching Belonging, Wellbeing and Bioculture
User Research A Practical Guide to Designing Better Products and Services
Vegetable Plants and their Fibres as Building Materials
Waste Material Recylcing in the Circular Economy
Water Always Wins Thriving in an Age of Drought and Deluge
Water: A Critical Introduction
Why Cities Need Large Parks

Oxford Bibliographies Online

After trialling on several occasions we have recently been able to purchase the Oxford Bibliographies Online collection which gives staff and students access to a comprehensive collection of articles published and reviewed by academics covering a wide range of subject areas. Users can personalise their experience by saving citations and articles to their own profile.

Oxford Bibliographies Online

Subject areas covered (click on subject to link to resource via Library Search)

Oxford University Press Very Short Introductions

In the library we love these short guides from OUP who provide a variety of great concise books on lots of different topics.

We’ve recently updated this collection so it includes to most recent publications from OUP published in 2022 and 2023.

This series offers concise introductions to a diverse range of subjects—from artificial intelligence to folk music to medical ethics—in 35,000 words or less.

Each one of these big little books provides intelligent and serious introductions written by experts who combine facts, analysis, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make even the most challenging topics highly readable.

On our catalogue, Library Search you can search by keywords like in the screenshot below so “very short introduction” and browse through or add in Oxford to add in results for that publisher. Re-sort your results to “newest” if you’d like to browse through the latest ones added to our collection.

Or visit the OUP Very Short Introductions website directly and then filter using the subject categories. OUP have arranged the titles under headings such as Medicine and Health, Arts and Humanities, Law, Social Sciences

if you are accessing off campus then once you’re on the OUP site please click “sign in” (on the left hand menu and select Newcastle University from the list to enter your Campus ID and password.)

Oxford University Press also have a podcast you can subscribe to about titles and topics in this collection.

Art and Architecture Archive

We are delighted we now have access to Art and Architecture Archive (parts 1 and now 2 after a sucessful trial) from Proquest.

This is a full-text archive of consumer and trade magazines comprising of key research materials in subjects relating to art, architecture, architectural history, art history, cultural history, fine art, industrial design, photography, social history and visual arts.

Coverage is from the late-nineteenth century to the twenty-first. The issues are scanned as full colour images with each article indexed so you can quickly find the topic you are looking for.

We think these are an invaluable source, as a historical record of the art and architecture industries. Through reviews, advertisements, exhibition listings, and awards, you can investigate the careers of major artists and architects, as well as the history of the commercialization and marketing of art/architecture.

You can search across both collections looking for individuals, topics, movements, industry news items, interviews with major artists, or features about technological developments, as well as photographs / illustrations, architectural plans, statistics, and reviews.

You can search or browse the archive in various ways (use Advanced Search to see all search options), and retrieve many types of content.

You also might want to browse by publication so check out Building Design, Architects’ journal or The Architectural Review. Click on publications on the Proqest website and you’ll see an A-Z list.

Screenshot of front cover of Building Design
Screenshoot of front cover of The Architectural Review

Books added to the Library by students in SAPL (Semester One 2022/23)

Photo by Alex on Unsplash

Our Recommend a Book service for students 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.

Further information about Recommend a book.

In Semester One, academic year 2022/2023 we successfully processed 19 requests from 15 students (3 PGR,  6 PGT and 6 UGT) in SAPL totalling just over £580.00

China contemporary : architectuur, kunst, beeldcultuur = architecture, art, visual culture.

Coffeeland: A History

Design and Science

Edible Economics: A Hungry Economist Explains the World

Ending the Anthropocene – Essays on Activism in the Age of Collapse (Reflect, 12)

Let’s Go! Poekhali! Textbook 1.1

LO–TEK Design by Radical Indigenism

Louise Bourgeois’ Spider: The Architecture of Art-Writing

Material Misuse: Kennedy and Violich Architecture: No. 4 (Architecture Landscape Urbanism S.)

Mixed Reality In Architecture, Design, And Construction

Nomad Century: how to survive the climate upheaval

Posthuman Knowledge

Richard Serra Props, Films, Early Works

Sitopia: How Food Can Save the World

The Untold Story of the People of Azad Kashmir

The Web of Meaning: Integrating Science and Traditional Wisdom to Find Our Place in the Universe

Transpositions: On Nomadic Ethics

Unbounded Practices: women,landscape architecture and early twentieth century

Yarn from Wild Nettles: A Practical Guide

Books added to the Library by students in SAPL (Semester Three 2021/22)

Our Recommend a Book service for students 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.

Further information about Recommend a book.

In Semester Three, academic year 2021/2022 we successfully processed 21 requests from 13 students (8 PGR,  1 PGT and 4 UGT) in SAPL totalling just over £1600.

A History of the Middle East (5th edition)

Advancements in the Philosophy of Design

Ambiguous Territory: Architecture, Landscape and the Postnatural

Colloquial Amharic

Glitterworlds The Future Politics of a Ubiquitous Thing

Global Water Ethics: Towards a Global Ethics Charter

Handbook of Waterfront Cities and Urbanism

Heritage, Gentrification and Resistance in the Neoliberal City

Resisting AI An Anti-fascist Approach to Artificial Intelligence

Spaces of Neoliberalism: Urban Restructuring in North America and Western Europe

Stairways to the Stars: Skywatching in three Great Ancient Cultures

The Architecture of Waste: Design for a Circular Economy

The Dissertation A Guide for Architecture Students

The Making of Modern Iran: State and Society under Riza Shah, 1921-1941 (Routledge/BIPS Persian Studies Series)

The Planet After Geoengineering

The Transformation of Addis Ababa: A Multiform African City

The Value of a Whale: On the Illusions of Green Capitalism

Towards a Cultural Political Economy Putting Culture in its Place in Political Economy

War Diaries: Design After the Destruction of Art and Architecture

Ways of Walking: Essays

Werewolf: The Architecture of Lunacy, Shapeshifting, and Material Metamorphosis

Resource Trial – Faculti Platform

Faculti is a media library of up to date academic and professional research insights. It is cross disciplinary and includes insights from The United Nations, UK Parliament, Bank of England and many other academic and research institutions worldwide.
It includes useful Leading Figures, Most Cited and Explainers categories as well as the ability to browse specific subject areas or do a keyword search.
Our free trial lasts until 10th November 2022.

Faculti platform

The platform is compatible with any desktop computer or mobile device.

If you’re on campus then access the platform here

If you’re off campus you’ll need to authenticate in a different way so click on access via this link

The trial ends on 11th November 2022. To help us evaluate it, please email us your feedback, or leave a reply on this blog.

New resource now available: Mass Observation 2000s

We’re pleased to announce that we have now added the latest 2000s module to the very popular Mass Observation Online resource. We already had access to the 1980s and 1990s modules.

About Mass Observation

Mass Observation is a pioneering project which documents the social history of Britain by recruiting volunteers (‘observers’) to write about their lives, experiences and opinions. Still growing, it is one of the most important sources available for qualitative social data in the UK. This latest instalment is a great resource for anyone researching aspects of the early 21st century. It complements our existing access to the original Mass Observation project archive, which covers 1937-1967.

2000s collection

This module has a strong emphasis on technological advancements and the changing means of communication that came with the new Millennium. Highlights include the Millennium Diaries, the events of September 11th and environmental concerns, as well as detailing the everyday lives, thoughts, and opinions of respondents.

Searching and browsing

Screenshot of filtering options
Filtering options

You can browse or search Mass Observation in various ways.

Browse by directive: browse the different directives (surveys), which are arranged chronologically and by topic.

Browse all documents: browse all the individual documents, and then further filter your search as required.

You can also use the Advanced search box at the top of the screen to search for specific topics.

Help

Screenshot of research tools
Research tools

We’d recommend you start by reading through the Introduction (top menu) which explains more about the project and the different document types. If you’re looking for ideas about how to make use of it, take a look at the Research Tools, which includes essays, videos, exhibitions and chronological timelines.

Note that as over half the materials in these collections (mainly the pre-2000s modules) are handwritten, the database enables Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR) to help you search. We would recommend you read about how HTR works, to help you get the best out of the database, in the Introduction section.

Books added to the Library by students in SAPL (Semester Two 2021/22)

Our Recommend a Book service for students 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.

Further information about Recommend a book.

In Semester Two, academic year 2021/2022 we successfully processed 42 requests from 32 students ( 15 PGR, 7 PGT and 10 UGT) in SAPL totalling just over £2800.

A history of design institutes in China : from Mao to market
A Post State-Centric Analysis of China-Africa Relations : Internationalisation of Chinese Capital and State-Society Relations in Ethiopia
Applications of Advanced Green Materials
Architecture Competitions Yearbook 2021
Autonorama: The illustory promise of high-tech driving
Building Colonial Hong Kong Speculative Development and Segregation in the City
Building for Industry
Building Iran Modernism: Architecture, and National Heritage Under the Pahlavi Monarchs (Arab studies journal/ vol 20 issue 1)
Can the Subaltern speak?
Collage Architecture
Companion to Public Space
Computer Architectures: Constructing the Common Ground
Constructing a place of critical architecture in China : intermediate criticality in the journal Time + architecture
Down Detour Road: An Architect in Search of Practice
Dream Play Build: Hands-On Community Engagement for Enduring Spaces and Places
Egalia’s Daughters
Healthy Cities? Design for Well-Being
How to Live in a Flat
Learning from Shenzhen: China’s Post-Mao Experiment from Special Zone to Model City
Minding Bodies; How Physical Space, Sensation, and Movement Affect Learning
No place to go: how public toilets fails our private needs
Non-Extractive Architecture: Volume 1 – On Designing without Depletion
Prostitution and the Ends of Empire Scale, Governmentalities, and Interwar India
Raising Global Families
Revolutionary Bodies Technologies of Gender, Sex, and Self in Contemporary Iran
Rhetoric: Essays in Invention and Discovery
Routledge Handbook of Interpretive Political Science
Spaces of Colonialism: Delhi’s Urban Governmentalities
Sunderland on behalf of living, history North East
Technical Studies, tectonic explorations : notional considerations in developing a tectonic dissertation
The Freedom to Be Free
The New Autonomous House: Design and Planning for Sustainability
The Philip Johnson Glass House: An Architect in The Garden
The Private Rented Housing Market Regulation or Deregulation?
The Routledge Handbook of Institutions and Planning in Action
The Speculative City: Emergent Forms and Norms of the Built Environment
Undesign: Critical Practices at the Intersection of Art and Design
Vegetarian Architecture: Case Studies on Building and Nature
Which Contract: Choosing the Appropriate Building Contract / 6th
Who Owns the Past?: Archaeological Heritage between Idealism and Destruction (Ex Novo: Journal of Archaeology)
Women [Re]Build: Stories, Polemics, Futures
Women and Public Space in Turkey: Gender, Modernity and the Urban Experience

Finding empirical and methodological research articles

When it comes to research methods or research methodologies, there can be a lot of unfamiliar terms and concepts to get to grips with. One question we’re often asked by masters business students is how to find empirical and methodological research articles. It’s a good question as it can be quite tricky to locate articles on these topics, so here’s some advice on how you can go about searching for them in Library Search and the databases that we subscribe to.

Book shelves with hanging light bulbs
Photo by 🇸🇮 Janko Ferlič on Unsplash

What is the difference between empirical and methodological research?

Let’s start by defining our key terms, so we know what to look out for:

Empirical research

Empirical research is based on observed and measured phenomena and derives knowledge from actual experience rather than from theory or belief.

How do you know if a study is empirical? Read the subheadings within the article, book, or report and look for a description of the research methodology. Ask yourself: Could I recreate this study and test these results?

Key characteristics to look for:

  • Specific research questions to be answered
  • Definition of the population, behaviour, or phenomena being studied
  • Description of the process used to study this population or phenomena, including selection criteria, controls, and testing instruments (such as surveys)

Another hint: some scholarly journals use a specific layout, called the “IMRaD” format, to communicate empirical research findings. Such articles typically have 4 components:

  • Introduction: sometimes called “literature review” — what is currently known about the topic — usually includes a theoretical framework and/or discussion of previous studies
  • Methodology: sometimes called “research design” — how to recreate the study — usually describes the population, research process, and analytical tools
  • Results: sometimes called “findings” — what was learned through the study — usually appears as statistical data or as substantial quotations from research participants
  • Discussion: sometimes called “conclusion” or “implications” — why the study is important — usually describes how the research results influence professional practices or future studies

Thank you to Penn State University for their description of empirical research: https://guides.libraries.psu.edu/emp

Methodological research / study

According to Mbaugbaw et al., a methodological study will:

“…evaluate the design, analysis or reporting of other research-related reports […] They help to highlight issues in the conduct of research with the aim of improving […] research methodology, and ultimately reducing research waste (2020, p.1).

In simple terms, it’s research on research!

Key characteristics to look for:

  • Will have the term ‘methodological research’ or ‘methodological study’ in the title or abstract.
  • Has more of a focus on the method(s) employed to do the research (e.g. interviews, questionnaires) rather than the findings of the research.
  • Evaluates how research was done and how the methodology could be improved.

How to find empirical and methodological research articles in Library Search and databases

Finding these research articles isn’t always easy, but it can be done! While they are indexed in most databases, it can sometimes be tricky to find them because of the wide variety of names used for these type of studies (methodological research can also be known as research-on-research, meta-research, meta-epidemiological studies etc.). Here’s our top tips for finding empirical and methodological research articles:

Searching via journal titles

The easiest way to find these journal articles is to target journals that are focused on research methods, then search or browse within those titles.

Here’s some examples of such journal titles to help you find methodological studies:

I recommend that you search for these titles in Library Search under ‘Everything except articles’ filter:

Screenshot of Library Search and searching for a particular Journal title.

Within these titles I recommend searching for “methodological study” in the abstract:

Screen shot of searching within SAGE Journals for "methodological study"

To find empirical research articles, you would go to top, peer-reviewed, research journals in your field of study (the list is endless!) and search within these using relevant keywords.

Here are some key journal titles in the field of business:

You then need to search within these journal titles, ideally within the abstract, for keywords relating to the research design / method ( i.e. how the researcher collected their empirical research) So you might search for terms such as interview*, survey*, questionnaire*, “focus group*” or “mixed method*” :

Screen shot of searching within a business journal for an empirical research method

Searching via keyword in Library Search and databases

If you aren’t finding enough when searching within journal titles, broaden your search by looking within Library Search and other suitable databases.

The Advanced Search within Library Search is a good place to start. Again, try to search for keywords such as “methodological study”, or by method, e.g., interview*, survey*, questionnaire*, “focus group*” or “mixed method*”, along with your subject topic. Remember to use the filters if you need to find research within a particular time frame, such as the last 10 years and to change the drop down to search “everything”.

Screenshot of Library Search search for "methodological study"

If you are looking within Scopus or subject specialist databases, such as Business Source Complete, the process is exactly the same. If your search isn’t working, try different keywords, but persevere as the research is there, it just might be hiding:

Screenshot of Scopus showing searching "methodological study" within the Abstract field.

Searching with controlled vocabulary / subject headings

Some of our databases use controlled vocabulary (a thesaurus), this allows you to identify the preferred terms used in a particular database for your topic of interest, making it easier to find relevant articles. Here is a worked example using controlled vocabulary in Business Source Complete:

I tried a search for “empirical research”, and found it is a preferred term within this database:

Clicking on this preferred term allows you to explore any related or narrower terms, which you can choose to add to your search to improve the quality of your results:

Screenshot of thesaurus in Business Source complete

I decided to add Empirical research and the related term Quantitative research to my search, clicking add to include them in my search string:

I can then add subject related terms to my search:

Many of the social sciences databases have a thesaurus that you can search within.

SAGE Research Methods

For further help on topic of research methods and methodologies, check out SAGE Research Methods. This is a database containing thousands of resources, dedicated to the subject area of Research Methods. It supports all stages of the research process including: writing a research question, conducting a literature review, choosing the best research methods, analysing data, to writing up your results and thinking about publication. It contains information suited to all levels of researchers, from undergraduates starting your first project to research associates. Within the resource, you can access dictionary and encyclopaedia entries, book chapters, full books, journal articles, case studies, some datasets and video. There are many uses for the resources you will find in SAGE Research Methods:

  • get a quick explanation of a term or concept in a dictionary or encyclopaedia entry
  • access a full overview of a qualitative and quantitative methods, theory or approach in a specialist book
  • use an e-book chapter that covers a specific method in more detail for your methodology chapter or when choosing how to approach your research
  • access a journal article that illustrates the real world application of the methods in research

Access the SAGE Research Methods User Guide for an overview of the resource, and use the tabs below to access videos and training materials to get started. 

To access SAGE Research Methods, either:

I hope you have found this useful. I’m sorry there isn’t an easy way for finding such articles, however, a thorough and systematic search within journal titles, Library Search and databases will allow you to find some relevant and good quality articles that you can use in your research.

If you need further help with this topic or something similar, please make an appointment with your Liaison Librarian.

References

Mbuagbaw, L., Lawson, D. O., Puljak, L., Allison, D. B. and Thabane, L. (2020) ‘A tutorial on methodological studies: the what, when, how and why’, BMC Medical Research Methodology, 20(1). Available at: https://bmcmedresmethodol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12874-020-01107-7 (Accessed: 15 June 2022).