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Planning Library Research

• The library research process
• The research subject
  Research scope
  Subject keywords
• Research tools & resources
  Research tools
  Resources
• Institutions & collections
  Overview
• Keeping records
• Key points

Using Libraries

• Planning library visits
  Academic libraries
  National libraries
  Museum and art galleries
  Government libraries
  Special libraries
  Archives and records offices
  Special collections
• Using library catalogues
  What is a library catalogue?
  Searching
  Results lists
  Catalogue records
  User functions
• Using library staff
  Library skills training
• Copyright
  Fair dealing
  Copyright Licensing Agency
  Government publications
  Electronic copyright
• Photocopying
• Inter-library loan
• Key points

Using Resources

• Using books
  Types of books
  Evaluating
• Using journals
  Locating
  

Finding a printed journal article


Finding an electronic journal article


Finding articles on a subject area


Finding articles in journals not held by your library


Evaluating

• Using theses
  Locating
  Current research
• Using government publications
  Understanding government publications
  
  Parliamentary papers
  
  Non-Parliamentary papers
  
  Locating
  
  United Kingdom Official Publications
  
  Index to House of Commons Parliamentary Papers 1801-1995
  
  British Official Publications Collaborative Reader Information Service
  
  Locating government publications within Senate House Library
  
  Online government publications
  Citation
• Using manuscripts & archives
  Manuscripts v archives
  Understanding manuscripts & archives
  
  Document types
  
  Reading documents: handwriting and palaeography
  
  Reading documents: language
  
  Locating
  
  Repositories
  
  Arrangement and description
  
  Using finding aids
  
  Using manuscript catalogues
  
  Planning your visit
  Reproduction, copyright & citation
• Using electronic resources
  Access
  Search strings
  
  Keywords and operators
  
  Boolean operators
  
  Proximity, truncation and wildcards
  
  Truncation
  
  Putting it all together
  
  Getting help
  
  Example: searching an electronic concordance
  
  Database searching
  Database results
  
  Consider which results you want to consult further
  
  Make a list of the results you are interested in
  
  Save the results
  
  Alerting services
• Using web resources
  Searching
  
  Using Google: simple
  
  Using Google: advanced
  
  Other search engines
  
  Metasearch engines
  
  Invisible web
  
  Academic portals
  
  Evaluating
  
  How authoritative is the information?
  
  Who links to the website?
  
  Online subject tutorials
• Key points

Referencing & Bibliography

• Citing references
  Citation systems
• Compiling a bibliography
  Structuring a bibliography
  Systems & consistency
  
  MHRA system
  
  Harvard system
  
  MHRA system (pdf)
  
  Harvard system (pdf)
• Software for bibliography
  What bibliographic software does
  Selecting bibliographic software
  
  Checklist
  
  How it works
  Downloading records
  
  Tagged and delimited records
  
  Maintenance
  Further information
• Key points

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