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School of ECLS – new resources

We are delighted to announce some new journal titles and other resources available from the University Library.

Ones useful for ECLS staff and students are :

New journals

Children Youth and Environments

This title covers the latest news on children, youth and their environments. It is dedicated to improving the lives of young people and is aimed at students, researchers, policy makers and professionals. Access is from volume 13 onwards.

Topics in stroke rehabilitation

Published 8 times per year, this journal focuses on the study and dissemination of theoretical and practical information related to the subject of stroke rehabilitation. Reviews and reports common clinical practices, state-of-the-art concepts, and new developments in stroke patient care and research. Access from volume 3 onwards.

Seminars in speech and language

Published 5 times per year, this journal provides information on clinical advances in speech and language pathology, offering diagnostic procedures, screening and assessment techniques, treatment protocols, and short- and long-term management practices. Backfile access for years 1984-1999.

Language Learning

A quarterly journal which publishes research articles that systematically apply methods of inquiry theories from linguistics, psycho-linguistics, cognitive science, ethnography, socio-linguistics, sociology, semiotics, educational inquiry and cultural and historical studies to address fundamental issues in language learning. Access is from volume one.

New Resources

Bloomsbury eBooks

We’ve bought five new eBook collections from Bloomsbury, comprising over 150 titles across a wide range of subjects. The new collections are: Education 2018; Film and Media 2017; Linguistics 2018; Literary Studies 2018.

All the new titles are individually catalogued on Library Search, or you can access a full listing of collection contents on this page.

De Gruyter

We have access to De Gruyter’s enire ebook collection until June 2019, after which we will buy access to the most well used titles. This currently covers over 27,000 titles related to numerous subjects including education and social science. All titles are catalogued individually on Library Search.

Emerald eBook collection

We have bought a range of eBooks from Emerald these are all cataloged and available on Library Search.

Titles include:

The future of learning and teaching in next generation learning spaces

Accelerating changes in schools; leading rapid successful and complex change initiatives

Teaching excellence in higher education

Sunday Times Digital Archive

We’ve now added the archive for 2007-2017 to our newspapers collection.

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New resources: Medical Sciences

We have been busy buying new journal titles and some backfiles for the Medical Sciences. These backfiles mean we now own the electronic content outright, in perpetuity, so have access to the full text of the journal articles.  Dive in and discover:

 

JOURNALS – NEW LANCET TITLES

Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology

Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology

Lancet Psychiatry

 

JOURNALS – BACKFILES

Angiology v.1-49 (1950-1998)

Caries Research v.1-31 (1967-2008)

Diabetologia v.1-39 (1965-1996)

Journal of Dental Research v.1-77 (1919-1998)

Journal of Neurochemistry v.1-67 (1956-1996)

To save you logging in to each individual resource you can access them via the RAS (Remote Application Service).

 

PRINT BOOKS – NEW EDITIONS

During the summer we have also been checking the whole of the Walton Library print stock for new editions and ordering when we find them.  Use Library Search to find out what is available.

 

E-BOOKS

We have renewed our subscription to Springer Link books which covers eBooks in many different disciplines including Biomedicine, Dentistry, Life Sciences, Medicine & Public health, Psychology, Social Sciences.

Biomedical and Life Science 2018

The following eBook collections have been purchased outright:

  • Biomedical and Life Science 2018
  • Computer Science 2018
  • Earth and Environmental Science 2018
  • Engineering 2018
  • Medicine 2018
  • Social Sciences 2018

 

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School of ECLS: New Springer and Palgrave eBooks

 

During this academic year we have made available a range of eBook collections from SpringerNature which includes titles from Palgrave.

This system has been using something called Evidence Based Acquisition to select the final purchase of ebooks based on the usage during the trial.

For the School of ECLS we now have available 57 ebooks from this supplier.

The top 5 based on usage are :

The Palgrave International Handbook of Action Research

Graduate Employability in Context

Life in Schools and Classrooms

Bilingual and Multilingual Education

The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Thinking in Higher Education

Please contact the Social Sciences Liaison Team if you wish to see a full list of titles; all are available on our catalogue, Library Search

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How to be a Fake News Ninja

As a University student it is imperative that you arm yourself against the barrage of fake news that can be found in today’s media.  To produce academically sound assignments and research, you need to be able identify and evaluate information quickly and with authority.

Here are 10 tips on how you can be a Fake News Ninja:

  1. Be aware: just simply knowing that not all information is created equal is the first step.
  2. Check the source: Where did the information come from? This can be tricky, especially on social media.
  3. Read more: don’t just rely on the piece of information that’s in front of you… go an find another reliable source and see if the facts are the same.
  4. Check the author: Do a bit of Google stalking to see if the author is credible.
  5. Check the references: does the item have references? What sources have they used? Are they credible?
  6. Check the date: watch out for re-posts old news items.
  7.  Check your biases: You own beliefs and prejudices can have an affect on how you accept information.
  8. Is it a joke?: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!
  9. Ask a Librarian: Librarians are the original Fake News Ninjas.  Come and ask us about any reference that you aren’t too sure about and we can help you make an authoritative decision on  the information you use for your research.
  10. Knowledge is power: Read more about Fake News and how you can win the fight. Everything you need to know is in our Fake News Guide.

Read our other blogs on Fake News to be aware of the consequences of Fake News and the history and growth of Fake News.

References
IFLA (2018) How to spot fake news. Available at: https://www.ifla.org/publications/node/11174 (Accessed: 23 March 18)

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The consequences of Fake News

A scan of some of our “Fake or Fact?” stories this week might raise a few smiles, but as we’ve seen increasingly over the past couple of years, Fake News can have far-reaching consequences.
Hands up, who’s had the awkwardness of friends or family members reposting dubious material on Facebook? If so, you’re not alone. Apparently, according to a MIT study published this year, based on three years’ worth of Twitter meta-analysis, fake news travels up to six times faster than genuine stories. False stories were up to 70% more likely to receive a retweet – often due the novelty or shock factor.

In the sphere of politics, this can have worrying consequences. The U.S. election in late 2016 coined the term for us and is a particularly rich source of Fake news and political spin. Business Insider lists some of the most influential fake news stories to surface during this time; from false claims that WikiLeaks had proof of Clinton arms deals with ISIS, to a fictional Papal endorsement of Trump, said to have received nearly a million hits on Facebook. Only this month, the Jakarta Post reported on concerns of Fake News polluting the build-up to the Indonesian Presidential Elections next year as Facebook groups flood the country’s web spaces with doctored videos; something that has previous lead to protests in the streets of the capital.

And even when we know we might be dealing with dubious information, Fake News can continue to wield influence. Newcastle University’s own Dr. Gavin Stewart, a meta-analysis expert explains “claims with no scientific proof cast doubt over those with overwhelming evidence, leaving us at the best confused and in the worst case making totally the wrong decision.”

A strong example can be found in the now discredited research of Andrew Wakefield. Back in 1998, Wakefield drew unsubstantiated links between the MMR vaccination and childhood autism. Despite the widespread exposure of the fraudulent claims and rebuttals from the medical community, vaccination rates of the MMR vaccine dropped, and last year saw a 400% increase of measles cases across Europe.

So what does this mean for you as a current student?
The National Literacy Trust has been conducting research into pupils’ critical skills, and worryingly, has found that 35% of teachers in the UK taught pupils citing fake news and satire as legitimate sources. A fifth of pupils between 8 and 15 believe that everything found online is trustworthy and true. The antidote to this is building on one of your core graduate attributes and competencies – critical thinking. Always check out stories you’ve found online before using them in your work. Who have they come from, how partisan is that group or author? Is the material satire? What does the author stand to gain? Employers in all industries are looking for graduate with sharp reasoning skills and sound judgement. As students producing work in the current “post-truth” climate, your job is a little tougher, but you can turn this to your advantage by proving you have the skills and the smarts to outwit the Fake News racketeers.

Read our other blogs on Fake News to learn about the history and growth of Fake News and how you can become a Fake News Ninja.

References
1. Vosoughi, Roy and Aral, (2018). “The spread of true and false news online.” Science, 359: 6380, pp. 1146-1151.
2. Roberts (2016) “This is what fake news actually looks like — we ranked 11 election stories that went viral on Facebook.” Business Insider UK. November 17th
http://uk.businessinsider.com/fake-presidential-election-news-viral-facebook-trump-clinton-2016-11/#5-hillary-clinton-sold-weapons-to-isis-and-it-was-confirmed-by-wikileaks-7)
3. Pearl (2018). “Indonesia battels fake news as elections looms” Jakarta Post. 15th March http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2018/03/15/indonesia-battles-fake-news-as-elections-loom.html
4. Newcastle university (2018) “Filtering out Fake News” 7th March. http://www.ncl.ac.uk/press/articles/latest/2018/03/fakenews/
5. Houston, (2018) “Measles back with a vengeance due to fake health news” The Irish Times. Feb 23rd. https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/measles-back-with-a-vengeance-due-to-fake-health-news-1.3401960
6. National Literacy Trust (2018). “Commission on Fake News and the Teaching of Critical Literacy Skills in Schools” https://literacytrust.org.uk/policy-and-campaigns/all-party-parliamentary-group-literacy/fakenews/

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History and growth of Fake News

Fake News is nothing new and has been going on since time began!

Have at look at our timeline on our Fake News Guide for a snapshot of how Fake News has shaped history:

With the introduction of mass news with the invention of the printing press, and the massive up-rise in news being created and fed via social media, the growth of the term ‘Fake News’ and the actual production of Fake News stories has grown exponentially in recent years:

  • The term ‘Fake News’ is searched for in web browsers 70.8-118 thousand times a month.
  • #fakenews has over 251.2k mentions on Twitter
  • In 2017 Donald Trump mentioned the term ‘Fake News’ in public correspondence, 320 times!

Not only has the volume of Fake News grown, but also the speed that it spreads.  However, maybe there is a way we can slow it down:

Read our other blogs on Fake News to be aware of the consequences of Fake News and how you can become a Fake News Ninja.

References
Kiely, E. (2018) Trump’s Phony ‘Fake News’ Claims. Available at: https://www.factcheck.org/2018/01/trumps-phony-fake-news-claims/. Accessed: 23 March 2018).
Smith, R. (2017) The Numbers Behind Fake News. Available at: http://www.dailyinfographic.com/numbers-behind-fake-news. (Accessed: 23 March 2018).

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Resource in Focus: Ovid

All resources on Ovid

Ovid enables researchers, clinicians, students and other healthcare professionals find medical information to make critical decision, improve patient care, enhance ongoing research, and fuel new discoveries.  The Ovid platform gives access to a collection of databases.

Database and Coverage:

Click on the database name above to go to the Fact file to find out more and to see whether they would be useful for your research.

Where can you find Ovid?

There will be links on your relevant subject guide or you can access the catalogue, Library Search.

Database Guides
Once you have accessed OVID through the above methods, you will see an initial selection window. To find out more about  a specific resource, click on the Information icon at the right hand side of the page (see example below):

Screenshot of the Ovid list of databases. Need to click on the information button next to each database to find out more. Once you have decided on which database to search within OVID, then all you need to do is to tick the box next to the database you would like to search and then select ‘OK’.

Want to know more?
Each database in OVID has different subject headings and thesauri, however there are tips and tricks that you can learn that are common to searching all the databases on OVID.  So why not check out the Advanced Searching Techniques or watch some of the help videos we have on our YouTube Channel.

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Where to find theses and dissertations?

Many of you are busy writing your dissertation right now, in the depths of your Masters project or wrestling with your PhD. If you are looking for ideas then look no further than our Theses and Dissertations Guide.

There are many reasons why you would use other theses and dissertations for your studies:

  • Has anyone else done a thesis or dissertation on my topic? If so…
    • How similar is it to my research question? Do I need to change my question slightly?
    • What references/citations did they use? Check them out, they might have used some good references that can help you.
    • Can you use this theses/dissertation as a reference for your research?
  • Inspiration! Maybe you have a vague idea what your research question is, but you want to see what’s been done already.

Our Theses and Dissertations Guide tells you what print and electronic theses NU Library holds, where to find international theses and signposts you to further information on theses/dissertation production.

 

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Fancy yourself as the next Sherlock?

What comes into your head, when someone says ‘maps’? I think we often presume that if we aren’t studying geography, earth sciences, archaeology or architecture for instance then they aren’t for us. But think again! Maps can be applied to a variety of different ways in research and we have put together a Maps topic guide to explain what resources we have and potentially how they can be used.

The Maps guide outlines the different ways you can access both physical and online maps and gives you an overview of how you can use our online Digimap ROAM subscription.  With this tool, you can not only get up to date OS Maps, but also historic maps which can help track both infrastructure development, as well as social and environmental changes too. And if you want to directly compare different aged maps against each other, Digimap lets you toggle between the two on your screen.

Thematic maps and a database of case studies to see how Digimaps have been applied to research can also be found on the Maps guide. Here is just a taster to whet your appetite:

  • Mapping the victims of Jack the Ripper using Historic Roam
  • Conducting a national fox survey using Environment Roam
  • Studying garden history and landscape in the 18th Century
  • Designing housing in Byker for an Artists in Residence project.

So…..before you rule out maps as not relevant for your research, why not take a minute and have a look at our Maps guide  to see if there is potentially something for you!

N.B. If you’re wanting to be the next Sherlock, just remember you need to plan your investigations in advance and register with Digimap at least 24 hours before you need to start using the resource.