Welcome to all of our new and returning research students at City. We have a great new research resource at CityLibrary called Sage Research Methods Online Videos It’s easy to access from the library Databases A-Z which is on the left hand side of the Library website.
It includes hours of video tutorials, interviews and case studies and covers the research lifecyle. The interface is quite clear and professional, there is a search box to search for video content and it is possible to browse by research method, discipline or video type (for example interview, documentary..).
There are lots of videos of academics discussing specific research questions and parts of the research process, ranging from 1 minute to approx 15 minutes. A strength of the resource is that presenters share their own experiences and insights and top tips for doing research. To the side of the video, there’s a transcript of everything that the academics say. This can be really useful for note taking and you can download a PDF of the transcript to read offline.
I recently attended the Learning at City conference and was offered the opportunity to present a poster. This was the first time that I have produced a poster so thought I would share some tips. I found it enjoyable, a opportunity to be creative, a talking point and delegates at the conference asked interesting questions such as “What is information literacy and how do you teach it?”
Use the opportunity to develop your creativity.
If the poster is based on an abstract, remain true to this.
Don’t reinvent the wheel. Look for an organisational template or an existing poster to adapt with permission.
Make it clear, well structured and not too content heavy.
I initally drafted the content using Adobe Pro editing tools. It was then edited in MS Publisher.
Seek out colleagues to assist with design expertise as required.
The content is similar to a presentation and probably takes as much thought but is possibly more concise and visual.
Ask a colleague to proof read and check the resolution of the poster especially if it is being professionally printed.
Love your poster and allow it to tell the story of your research.
Poster – Increasing student confidence through information literacy
Since 2013, we have been offering a patron driven acquisition scheme called Read for Research based on the research interests of our research students, early career researchers and staff doing research at CityLibrary.
So far we have purchased 1700 print books and 260 e-books through the scheme.
Very popular across disciplines in the University. The most borrowed books are on general PhD writing and different research methods such as grounded theory. For those interested in exploring research methods further, we also have access to Sage Research Methods Online.
A reading list of titles is being compiled which indicates the breadth of research done at City.
See our #readforresearch and @Citylibresearch on Twitter and see feedback from our research students on their choice of titles and on Read for Research. Feedback includes : “Highly recommend #readforresearch – have ordered loads of fantastic books!” “I requested a book through your fantastic Read for Research scheme. The book has now arrived in the library. Thank you for this” “Big thanks to @CityUniLibrary#readforresearch scheme, which has helped keep my reading up to date”.
The furthest distance travelled by a Read for Research (Law) book is probably a title ordered from Australia.
City research students & staff can order titles by simply completing the Read for Research webform and use #readforresearch to discuss their choices.
Looking for research inspiration in the summer? Come and visit our changing Read for Research book displays during June- August 2019 on level 5 of the Northampton Square Library
A question I am sometimes asked is what is the difference between Cite Them Right, ProQuest Refworks and Cite this in Word (also known as Write N Cite)?
These products have similar names but in reality they have different purposes. My advice would be start with the concepts of citing and referencing and understand these first. These terms are often used together and interchangeably to mean citations included in your academic work to indicate where you have used or quoted other peoples’ ideas or research and a more detailed alphabetical list of these references at the end of your work.
Cite Them Right
At City, we have access to Cite Them Right Online. In the Basics section, it gives an overview of citing and referencing and also plagiarism and other concepts such as summarising and paraphrasing. It also gives useful examples showing different types of sources such as books, journal articles and websites etc and how to cite these in your text and reference list. We also have the book version of Cite Them Right in the library.
ProQuest RefWorks
ProQuest RefWorks is an online reference management software which we subscribe to at City. It is useful especially if you are doing a longer project or dissertation.
It is used to store, manage, and organise references which are gathered during the research process.
It can be used to assist with the production of reference lists (which it calls Bibliographies) and contains a number of different referencing styles such as Cite Them Right Harvard.
You can see how to create a ProQuest RefWorks account here:
Cite this in Word (Write N Cite)
This is a tool which can be downloaded on to your computer from the ProQuest RefWorks tools menu and used within Microsoft Word to access your RefWorks references and assist with citing and referencing in your work. You can add citations for example (Smith, 2014) into your work and create an alphabetical reference list ( which is calls a bibliography) at the end of your text.
Conclusion
I would suggest first understanding the principles of citing and referencing and the format of different references so you either know something looks correct or you know where to look it up (eg. in Cite Them Right). Then you can consider if you would like to use a reference management software (eg. ProQuest RefWorks) and then whether wish to use the Refworks plug-in Cite this in Word (or Write N Cite) to assist with your citing and referencing.
If you do use software to generate your references then always double check everything yourself to make sure it is correct and for that reason having a knowledge of citing and referencing is important.
Project Euclid is an online publishing service driven by libraries, publishers and academics in the fields of theoretical and applied mathematics and statistics. It offers access to a growing platform of high-quality, peer-reviewed journals, books and conference proceedings.
New features include:
Improved searching, citation exports, publisher landing pages, mobile optimisation, e-mail alerts, and access indicators for all content.
Content
All users have access to table of contents pages and article abstract pages. Project Euclid has made 70% of its journal articles openly available with over 1.2 million pages of open-access content.
You can browse titles such as the Journal of Applied Mathematics available via CityLibrary’s subscription.
Email alerts and RSS feeds
Users can register to follow publications by receiving an emailed table of contents when a new issue is published. They can also sign up to new issues or articles of any publication in their RSS feeds. There is a list of feeds for books and journals.
The Sunday Times has provided comment and analysis since 1822 both on weekly news and on societal issues in general. City Library Services subscribes to The Sunday Times Digital Archive which provides a complete searchable run of the newspaper from 1822 to 2006.
The nineteenth century content has previously not been very accessible and has been largely unexplored but the archive now provides researchers with a large range of social, historic and cultural content and insights.
The twentieth and twenty first century content is well known for its investigative approach to journalism and in-depth and well researched stories.
It is a great resource which is of general interest and is especially useful for humanities and social sciences courses such as History, Journalism, Politics and Cultural Studies.
You can access the Sunday Times Digital Archive directly from the Databases A-Z on the CityLibrary homepage by using your City IT username and password.
See also our Newspaper guide for both current and historic newspaper content.
Library Services are delighted to bring you access to the Times Higher Education. This allows you to keep up to date with the latest developments and news in the higher education sector.
All City staff and students can obtain access to the Times Higher Education via the Library. With our institutional subscription, you can read online articles and digital editions and also download the app to your device.
Follow the instructions below to set up your account. Remember to use your university email address when you register to enjoy all the benefits of our subscription.
SAGE Research Methods Online is a useful online resource for anyone doing research or learning how to conduct research.
Its coverage spans the full range of research methods used in the social and behavioural sciences, plus a wide range of methods commonly used in science, technology, medicine, and the humanities.
With more than 800 books, reference works, journal articles, and videos from SAGE’s world-renowned research methods list, it provides information on writing a research question, conducting a literature review, choosing a research method, collecting and analyzing data, and writing up the findings.
Some features include:
Titles from SAGE’s renowned book, journal, and reference content in Research Methods.
The Methods Map visualises relationships among unique methods terms, concepts, and people.
Methods Lists can be used to compile selected books, book chapters, and journal articles for later review or to share with colleagues.
Videos, cases and podcasts.
See also an introductory video (click the link and scroll to the bottom of the page).
IEEE Xplore provides access to content from IEEE as well as the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).
It contains full text of almost one-third of the world’s current literature in electrical engineering, communications, and computer science, including highly cited peer-reviewed journals, conference proceedings and standards and some archival material from the 1880s.
Search options include:
Basic Search—type in a key word or phrase.
Advanced Search—construct complex search queries.
Author Search—find articles by author’s name.
Search history, allowing you to view, edit and re-run your recent searches.
Select citations to print, e-mail or download directly from search results.
See the You Tube video on Advanced searching on IEEE Xplore below:
