Research tools & resources

When undertaking library research you will need to use the following tools in order to identify resources on your research subject:

• Library catalogues
• Bibliographies
• Indexes and abstracts
• Full-text databases
• Academic portals
• Search engines

After identifying relevant resources you may then need to locate, access and use the following types of resources:

• Books
• Journals
• Theses
• Primary sources
• Websites

You should note that the above distinction between 'finding tools' and actual 'resources' is in some instances artificial, for example a full-text database can help you to locate a relevant article and can also provide the article.

The following pages outline what these tools and resources are and what they can be used for. Links are included to elsewhere in the tutorial where you can find more detailed help on using these research tools and resources.

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