Hello, and welcome to the first in our brand-new student blog series UniSkills Focus On exploring key resources for your studies! Over the coming year we will publish a new blog on the last Friday of the month (a bit like a payday bonus!). Each blog will focus on a different resource, or selection of resources, designed to help you maximise your reading and research skills!
In each blog we will look at:
- The benefits of the resource
- How to find and access the resource
- How you can get the most out of using the resource
- Signpost to further help and support
This month UniSkills will focus on your Reading Lists Online and Discover More.
Reading Lists Online
Your module reading list is a great place to start your reading. All the materials on your list have been chosen by your tutors so you know they will cover topics you will be expected to write about in your assignments.
The easiest way to find your reading list, especially if your tutor has provided a link, is through Learning Edge. If you don’t have a direct link in your module area you can also access Reading Lists Online from the Institution Homepage in Learning Edge and from the UniSkills Finding Academic Information page!
You can search Reading Lists Online in a couple of ways:
- Type in your module code – this is perhaps the easiest way
- Type in your module name
- Type in your tutor’s name
Once you’ve found your reading list, you will be able to see more details about each resource. This includes seeing if it’s a physical book, available in Catalyst, or if it’s an online resource, such as an eBook. Most online resources are available to access direct from the link provided within your reading list.
Other features of Reading Lists Online that you can use include:
- Adding your reading list to My Lists, so you don’t have to search for it again
- Adding an item to My Bookmarks, this means you won’t have to look through a whole reading list to find a useful book, journal article etc.
- You can change the citation style to Edge Hill Harvard, APA, MHRA or Vancouver
- You can add notes against an item
- You can set a reading intention e.g. items you have read, will read or definitely won’t read and you can filter your list by reading intention
- You can also filter the list by the type of material and whether it is available in print or online
So, you can see, there is more to Reading Lists Online than just finding your reading list. To learn more about your Reading Lists Online be sure to watch our handy video guide.
Discover More
Discover More is the place to search if you want information about physical books available from the University Library and to access eBooks. It is also a good starting point for finding academic journal articles. Discover More is a great tool to search beyond your reading list and show your tutor that you can find your own wider reading.
You can access Discover More in several ways:
- From the Institution Homepage in Learning Edge
- From the Student Homepage click on Library Search
- From the Library and Learning Services homepage
- From the UniSkills Finding Academic Information page
Once you’ve entered your initial search, don’t forget to make use of the filters on the left-hand menu. You can filter your results to narrow down your search to include:
- Format – to find a journal article or eBook
- Content Type – if you’re searching for articles be sure to check Peer Reviewed
- Publication Year – limit your results to ensure you are reading current research e.g. Last 5 Years
Watch our handy video tutorials for more info on searching Discover More to find books, eBooks and journal articles, available on our UniSkills Finding Academic Information page.
Subject Resources
In addition to the resources we’ve looked at today there are many other search tools available and we will be exploring these further over the coming months. If you’d like a preview of what’s available in your subject area simply visit our Subject Resource pages. From here you can click into your subject area and discover useful Journals and Databases, Websites and other resources related to your programme of study.
Further Help and Support
If you need any further help or support finding, accessing or getting the most out of your resources head over the UniSkills web pages. From here you can access lots more information, toolkits and video tutorials, book on a UniSkills workshop and even book a 1-2-1 appointment.
That’s it for this month, we’ll be back in October to look at a brand-new resource: Statista!