CNKI: New Year, new look!

tomoko-uji-633735-unsplash

Do you use CNKI and China Academic Journals? The resource has a new look for the New Year!

CNKI still offers access to journals, theses, proceedings, newspapers and yearbooks on a wide range of subjects – literature, history, philosophy, politics, military affairs, law, education & social sciences, electronic technology & information science, economics & management – but is now even easier to use.

CNKI homepage - new interface

Access CKNI from our Chinese and Japanese Studies Subject Guide. Once you have logged in, click on the New Homepage button (top left-hand corner of the screen) to go to the new interface which makes searching this vast resource easy.

CNKI link to new homepage

N.B. If you really do prefer the old version, you can still access this for 6 months (until the end of June 2019). Just click on ‘Old Version’ in the menu at the top of the screen.

CNKI link to old version of interface

Lexis: Full Academic Library now available

We’re pleased to announce that we have recently upgraded our Lexis subscription to their Full Academic Library.

This provides access to an extensive range of new content (almost 500 new online sources), including practitioner textbooks and major works in many areas of law, such as finance, taxation, criminal, consumer, planning, housing, and family law.

The new content will be individually catalogued on Library Search soon, but for now, the best way to access it is via Lexis itself. You’ll find the new content in the relevant sections of Lexis (e.g. in Forms and Precedents, Commentary or My Bookshelf).

To browse or search a full list of Lexis content in all categories, click on Sources in the top right hand corner.

Where could maps take you?

Sniffer dog in high vis detecting a gas leak

So when does an Animal Science student need to use EDINA Digimap and GIS software?  The answer is not all do, but you never know where your dissertation project may take you, and what software may help your research or your presentation or visualisation of results.

Grace’s dissertation took her to Sunderland to road test the country’s first gas sniffer dog.  Collaborating with an Earth Science student to help her use the mapping products and with training from the geosciences team in using GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) accurate to 2cm, she plotted the gas leaks and successful finds by her faithful four legged co-worker.  The team demonstrated that a dog’s nose is as good conventional gas detection equipment, and could be very helpful with difficult to trace gas leaks.

Sniffer dog in high vis finds gas leak
Sniffer dog, image used with permission from Dr Catherine Douglas, School of Natural and Environmental Sciences.
Digimap illustrating gas leaks detected
Map created by student using EDINA Digimap https://digimap.edina.ac.uk/ and used with permission by Dr Catherine Douglas, School of Natural and Environmental Sciences.

With many thanks to Dr Catherine Douglas, School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, for providing this content.

See what is available to you on the Maps Guide and take up opportunities to collaborate or share good practice with other disciplines. You never know where it might lead!

Please note: EDINA Digimap requires registration before use.

Government Publications: Questions in the House!

GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS

Surely all MPs are giving us the correct facts?

Take a look at our links to resources for Legislation, Statistics and Official Publications to make sure!

Government publications provide primary information in a variety of subjects. Statistics, White Papers, Parliamentary Bills and a whole range of Official Legislation.

These are a good reliable source of accurate statistics, and can give support to your argument in essay topics across all subjects.

Many government publications are now available online; our Library Guide highlights the useful websites.

Interested in Student Loans or the legal details of part time Employment Contracts?

Details of all UK legal processes can be found at the government website Gov.uk which provides lots of useful information about government services, with an A-Z of departments, agencies and local councils.

Meaningful Vote mean anything to you?

Keep up with the debate and Prime Ministers Questions at this website.

Follow the government shenanigans as it happens!

Democracy Live is the BBC’s new website which offers live and on demand video coverage of the UK’s national political institutions and the European Parliament.

Who stole 40 llbs of butter from Mr Wadsworths wagon in 1778?

You can find out here in The Proceedings of Old Bailey which contains accounts of over 100,000 criminal trial held at London’s criminal court.

So, for more information about finding your way around all aspects of Government Publications please take a look at our helpful video.

Get ahead of the game!

A game of chess

Phew, the exams are behind you and you can breathe a sigh of relief! One semester is done and dusted and the next is around the corner. But before you say, “I don’t want to think about that yet”, why not use this simple checklist to ensure that you start semester 2 ahead of the game?

  1. Find your reading lists for your semester 2 modules and start to read the items now. You’re upcoming lectures and seminars will make much more sense in light of this and enable you to use your time more efficiently as a result. If it seems overwhelming, why not just start with the items your academic has marked as ‘essential’ on the list?
  2. Look at your upcoming module handbooks on Blackboard and check out the assignment details. Are you going to have to produce a type of assignment you have never done before? Or do you need to develop your assignment writing skills? The Writing Development Centre are here to help.
  3. Get familiar with your subject specific guide and explore the databases and resources that are recommended for you.  It will make finding high quality information for assignments much easier and will help you access those top marks.
  4. Hone your referencing skills by checking out our referencing guide and the fantastic referencing tool which is Cite them Right. Getting to grips with your referencing style will not only help you to avoid plagiarism, but will get you some easy marks.
  5. And if all of this seems overwhelming and you need some help with managing your time, check out the ASK website for some advice.

Photo by Chase Clark on Unsplash

Are you using the best information to make your point?

With the huge volume of information available and the speed with which you can find something on just about any topic with a simple search, it can be difficult to be sure that you are using the best quality information for your task. Your tutors will often give advice such as recommending that you use academic or peer-reviewed journal articles, and it can be tempting to stick to ‘safe’ types of information such as books.

But depending on your assignment topic, you will need to explore a breadth of different information types, including many that will be online. So how do you know which ones to you?

You will need to consider many issues, including authority, accuracy, objectivity, currency and coverage within an information source. This will help you make decisions about the quality of the information, its reliability and what role it could play within your thinking.

You will evaluate information all the time without thinking about it. It doesn’t need to be a conscious or difficult task. Our Six Questions video will help give you some ideas for the types of questions to keep in mind to make your own judgement.

You may also sometimes decide to include a piece of information, even though it may not be from a credible source or its impartiality is questionable, because it illustrates the point you are trying to make. Being aware of your reservations about a reference allows you to be more confident in your judgment.

Find out more on our Evaluating Information guide …

Resource in Focus: Statista

This is an extensive statistics platform covering over 1.5 million data sets (and adding an additional 500 each day) with revenue forecasts from 2015 to 2022 on over 400 industries.

Data is collected from over 22,500 sources covering over 75,000 different topics.

The platform can broken down into different elements including:

Statistics : where you can choose your industry e.g. Consumer goods, Retail & Trade.

Reports : This section is very comprehensive and you can select :

  • Dossiers which are a quick quantitative overview of a topic. These are in house reports which contain the most recent and relevant statistics concerning a single subject. You can export these in PowerPoint or PDF format.
  • Outlook Reports which are trend forecasts
  • Surveys which are market insights from an expert and consumer perspective
  • Toplists which are company ranking for sales and analysis
  • Market studies
  • Industry Reports which are perfect for highlighting key figures for a particular industry sector. These are updated annually and contain textual information as well as numerical data such as turnover and revenue.
  • Global Business Cities Reports which are ranking and key statistics on particular cities.
  • Brand reports contain insights into the brand itself
  • Country reports
  • Further studies which are more in-depth reports

Outlooks; these provide information on specific areas and help you identify the potential in those areas. This can include forecasts, detailed market insights and key performance indicators.

Statista online help video

This short video from Statista gives a nice overview of the different search functionalities.

Access via https://www.statista.com/ or via the record on Library Search.  (If you are accessing on campus, the platform will authenticate using IP address. If you are accessing off campus you will be taken through EzProxy so access should be seamless if you’ve logged in previously using your Campus ID and password).

What you can do if the books you want are out on loan

  1. Take a look at your reading lists to see if there are other titles available for you to read instead.
  2. Make a Hold request (reserve a book) using Library Search. Once the item has been returned from loan it will be reserved for you to collect, this also alerts us that the book is in demand and is one of the triggers we use to order additional copies (where possible).
  3. Browse the shelves at same shelfmark location of the book/s you wanted to borrow, as these should relate to the same subject. We have a virtual “Browse the shelf” feature on item records in LibrarySearch, so you can browse the books without even being in the library.
  4. Use LibrarySearch to search for journal articles about your subject of interest, to do this, make sure you choose to search “Everything” in the Search Scope drop down box.
  5. If there is a book that you want to read for your studies that is not in stock in the library, you could recommend we buy itthis can be done through our Recommend a Book service, where we assess if the book will be purchased for addition to stock.

Study Well@NCL

Students studying well

Study Well@NCL is a collaborative campaign formulated by NUIT, the NUSU Welfare Equality Officer and the University Library. Study Well@NCL advocates a responsible approach to studying and encourages positive behaviours in study spaces because we know it can be stressful especially at certain times of the year.

  • Choose the right environment for your study needs. We provide different study spaces and study rooms across campus depending on how you want to study.
  • To find a free space check out our current study space availability information on the web or via the Newcastle University App. If you’re struggling to find a study space in the library buildings please ask a member of staff and we will help you.
  • To find free cluster spaces use the Find a PC function, also available via the Newcastle University App.
  • Find information on developing your academic skills and specifically exam and revision advice. The Academic Skills Kit (ASK) website has information to help.
  • Stay hydrated and take regular breaks. You can take up to 30 minutes before your PC automatically logs off in all the clusters, and before belongings are removed at extremely busy times in the libraries.
  • Respect the food and drink policy of the space you’re studying in, and use the bins and recycling containers to keep it clean and tidy.
  • Make sure you take your belongings with you if you’re going to be away for longer than 30 minutes. All belongings are left at the owner’s risk.
  • If you are being disturbed by noise in any of our Library spaces, text the Library Noise Alert Service on 07891 484 764 (at your standard SMS rate) and we will investigate. This service is specifically for monitoring noise issues in Library spaces.
  • If you’re feeling overwhelmed please contact the University Student Wellbeing Team or NUSU Student Wellfare. They’re there to help.