Literature Review Help

Creating your first literature review can be a complex process requiring a number of skills. It involves identifying, evaluating and synthesising previous research in your field of study. Structured around research ideas, its purpose is to set the research scene by highlighting the main arguments and identifying gaps or shortcomings which need to be addressed with further research.

For help with writing your literature review take a look at the Library’s online tutorial: Producing a literature review. This tutorial will guide you through the process of writing a literature review in 7 steps. It also suggests sources of further advice about specific skills and provides recommended reading. You can also try the Literature review ice breaker quiz from the University of Sheffield Virtual Graduate School.

Christmas Vacation 2014

If you’re away from Sheffield for the Christmas Vacation remember that the Library can offer support to students in various ways:

• The Information Skills Resource features valuable tutorials on literature searching, referencing, plagiarism and more

• If you need to contact the Library email the HelpDesk: library@sheffield.ac.uk (Please note that the HelpDesk will not be staffed during Christmas closure days: Thursday 25 December to Thursday 1 January inclusive)

• If you’re having trouble accessing electronic resources check the eResources Service Status page

Merry Christmas, see you in January!   

Information literacy - getting started

Find out how information literacy can help you with writing assignments and conducting research. The Library’s information literacy webpages are split into useful sections to support you at different stages: Getting started, Writing assignments, Research skills, and Employability.

The Getting Started page has links to some of our tutorials on effective note taking, understanding your reading lists and using StarPlus, the Library catalogue.

Loan Periods: Christmas Vacation 2014

Please note: vacation loans do not apply to External borrowers.
Items will be issued/automatically renewed for the Christmas vacation as follows:

• Non-requested items will now be loaned out/ renewed until Monday 19 January.
• Requested items that are issued from Monday 15 December will be due for return on Monday 19 January.

If an item is not requested we will continue to automatically renew it beyond 19 January but any that are requested during vacation will need to be returned on that date.

Before you go home please check your myLibrary Account in StarPlus to make sure that your items have been renewed over the vacation (don’t forget you can also renew the items yourself) and return any that need to be brought back sooner.

On 15th December we will be cancelling any unwanted requests. Please email library@sheffield.ac.uk by 12th December to let us know about any requests you would like to keep on your account.

Referencing

Correct referencing is not only an essential component of academic writing, but will also help you to avoid plagiarism. Learn how to reference correctly in the style used by your department. Use our referencing tutorials available from the Information Skills Resource.

Searching for Researching workshop

Searching for researching your first independent project: hands-on workshop

Do you need to find literature for your first independent research project? Not sure where to start? Tried searching but retrieving too many or too few results? Then come along to a hands-on Searching for Researching workshop at 301: Student Skills and Development Centre.

Run by the University Library, this workshop will show you how to find the best resources for your first research project. You will learn about different information sources and how to create an effective search strategy to produce a manageable set of relevant results. You will also consider evaluating information, referencing and plagiarism - making sure you use your own ideas and reference the work of others properly.

There are 3 places are still available on the workshop TOMORROW. Book your place: http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/301/services/workshops/searching

Plagiarism

“Plagiarism (either intentional or unintentional) is the using of ideas or work of another person (including experts and fellow or former students) and submitting them as your own. It is considered dishonest and unprofessional. Plagiarism may take the form of cutting and pasting, taking or closely paraphrasing ideas, passages, sections, sentences, paragraphs, drawings, graphs and other graphical material from books, articles, internet sites or any other source and submitting them for assessment without appropriate acknowledgement.” University of Sheffield, 2013

Plagiarism is an important topic that all students are expected to take seriously.

Consult the library’s Information Skills Tutorial on plagiarism to learn how to avoid it.

Student services also offer information regarding plagiarism in assessments

301: Student Skills and Development Centre

301 is the University's Student Skills and Development Centre, which is based at 301 Glossop Road.  301 run a wide range of academic skills workshops to support you in your study, on topics such as speed reading, critical thinking & exam technique.

You can also book a 20 minute one-to-one session with a tutor to discuss your research or study skills.

Other services available through 301 are Mathematics and Statistics Help (MASH), Languages for All, Writing Advisory Service and Specialist dyslexia/SpLD tutorial service.

For more information about the services available at 301, please see their webpages:
sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/301 

 

Trial to International Historical Statistics

The current online edition of International Historical Statistics (1750-2010) is now available to University of Sheffield staff and students. This authoritative reference source provides key economic and social indicators for the last 260 years.

Access is only available on campus from this webpage: http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/library/cdfiles/trialihs

The trial ends on 13 December 2014. We welcome your comments on this resource: feedback form

Searching for Researching workshop

Searching for Researching is delivered by The University Library at 301: Student Skills and Development Centre, which is located at 301 Glossop Road. The workshop will show you how to find the best resources for your research project. You will learn about different information sources and how to create an effective search strategy to produce a manageable set of relevant results. You will also consider evaluating information, referencing and plagiarism – making sure you use your own ideas and reference the work of others properly.

Places are still available on the workshop for the following dates:

• Thursday 20 November 2014 (18:30-19:30)
• Tuesday 2 December 2014 (12:00-13:00)

For more information and to book your place, please click here.

 

Information Skills Advisory Service

Do you require help with literature searching for your assignments?

Would you like some advice on referencing?

Would you like to speak one-to-one with a subject Librarian?

If so, then the Information Skills Advisory Service is here to help you!  The service is located on Level 1 of the Information Commons – just ask at the Information Desk. There is no need to book an appointment – drop in between 13:00 & 17:00, Monday to Friday (during term time).  However, please be aware that there may be a queue for the service during busy periods.
 

myResource Lists

The Library provides an online reading list service, myResource Lists, with links to electronic resources such as journal articles, ebooks and websites in addition to items physically held in the library. You can search for your reading lists by course, lecturer and department. For more information, please see our short introductory video on the myResource Lists homepage.


How do I access myResource Lists on & off campus?

You can access these in the following ways:

 

• Via the Reading List link in your MOLE course menu
• Via the My services menu in MUSE
• From the Library web pages, under the A to Z link
• From the StarPlus homepage

What do I do if I have any problems, or can’t find a myResource list for my course? Email: readlist@sheffield.ac.uk 

StarPlus for all: basics and more

StarPlus, the Library catalogue, can be accessed from your MUSE account (under My services) or from the Library webpages at: http://www.shef.ac.uk/library.

Remember to sign in by clicking on the University members link at the top of the page. This will give you full access to resources and features including the e-Shelf and your online Library account.

Search under the University Collections tab to find: books, ebooks, journals, theses and multimedia.  Enter keywords into the search box then refine your results later.

Use the Articles and More tab to search for journal articles from databases.  All results shown will be available for you to access. However, you can also choose to include results without full text online access.

Top tips

• Use quotation marks when searching for a phrase, e.g. “global warming”.
• Use an asterisk at the end of a word to represent alternative endings.  For example, educat* will search for: education, educating, educational etc.
• Use the e-Shelf to organise, print, email and push your search results into reference management software. Add search results to your e-Shelf by clicking on the star icon (located on the left of each search result).
• To request a book that is out on loan, click on the Get It tab and then click Request (top left of window).
• Look at the Subject Guides to identify the key databases and online resources for your subject area. Link to the Subject Guides from the home page of StarPlus.
• Search for and connect to databases from the University Collections tab.
• Take a look at our StarPlus tutorial to learn more.

Searching for your research project

Need to search for literature for a research project?

Start with a search for books on the StarPlus University Collections tab.

Then move onto searching for journal articles. The Articles and More tab in StarPlus defaults to search Primo Central- a general, multidisciplinary database. This will give you quick, quality results. Make sure you have signed into StarPlus by clicking University members at the top of the page.

For a more specific search, use databases. Find the databases useful to you on your Subject Guide: http://www.shef.ac.uk/library/subjects/subjects. Subject Guides also give links to other relevant information sources.

Search tips: Make sure you think about your keywords and any alternative words or spellings that could be used. Learn more about constructing your search here: https://librarydevelopment.group.shef.ac.uk/shef-only/info_skills/successful_db.html

Use the Find It buttons in databases to check access (Print and electronic) to articles of interest.

Planned Industrial Action at the British Library (St Pancras and Boston Spa)

A one day strike will be taking place at the British Library’s buildings at St Pancras and Boston Spa on Wednesday 15 October 2014.  There is likely to be significant disruption to the Reading Room Services at St Pancras. The Boston Spa Reading Room is planning to be open but there may be disruption to the services.  There might also be a delay in the delivery of some collection items to St Pancras Reading Rooms on Thursday 16 October.

It is advisable to check any changes to opening hours and available services.

For further information and updates please see here

Updates can also be found on Twitter: @britishlibrary  

Welcome to all new and returning students

Welcome to the University of Sheffield!  We hope you will enjoy your time here and we look forward to meeting some of you at induction sessions arranged by your department.

To get you started on finding resources for your studies, check our Introduction to library & computing services web pages or pick up our QuickStart Guide from any library site. Our web pages contain links to our subject guides and a suite of information skills tutorials, together with videos on a range of topics. Check out our one-minute video on how to borrow a book.

You’ll need your UCard and PIN to borrow books using our self-service machines. If you forget your PIN or want to change it go to https://www.shef.ac.uk/cics/password sign in, and follow the instructions.

When you borrow a book we’ll renew it for you automatically unless someone else wants it. We’ll send you a weekly borrowing statement by email, so check this carefully to make sure your books aren’t wanted back. We're running a no-fines pilot this year, so please think of others and return books if they're requested by someone else. You may find yourself blocked from further borrowing if you keep books needed by others. Success of the pilot depends on you - we don't want to have to reintroduce fines!

If the book you want is out on loan, you need to request it online through the StarPlus Library catalogue and we’ll email you when it’s ready to collect. Select the Information Commons as your collection site for 24/7 self-service collection. Remember to sign in to StarPlus by clicking the University members link at the top right of the page.

Remember we’re here to help you, so come and speak to us. Our library HelpDesk can answer your email or telephone enquiries. Just email library@sheffield.ac.uk or telephone 0114 222 7200. You can also get specific subject help from your subject librarian.     

The Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration

The Library now has online access to this resource through Starplus. The Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration provides a complete exploration of the prominent themes, events, and theoretical underpinnings of the movements of human populations from prehistory to the present day. Access to the resource can be found here. You may be prompted to log into Starplus if you have not already done so.

Research data management in the arts and humanities – looking after your research outputs

GUEST BLOG POST FROM LAURIAN WILLIAMSON, RESEARCH DATA MANAGEMENT CO-ORDINATOR

In April I attended the excellent History DMT (Data Management Training and Guidance) workshop held at the Humanities Research Institute which explored best practice for research data management (RDM) in history. History DMT is an AHRC-funded project, led by the Institute of Historical Research in collaboration with the Department of History, University of Hull and the Humanities Research Institute, University of Sheffield.

One of major project outputs will be a free online training course dedicated to the research data types that historians are most likely to come across in their research. This training course will be made publicly available in 2014. Delegates were given an opportunity to comment and provide feedback on the content and format of the online training course and I am eagerly looking forward to its launch.

 During the workshop several presentations from researchers highlighted for me the diverse types of research data created and managed by this community, which included:

·         Textual materials

·         Visual sources

·         Oral History

·         Statistical data

I was also a timely reminder that when we (the TUoS RDM Service Delivery Group) are planning for the delivery of researcher-focused RDM services and support the challenge is to ensure that we are catering for different subject disciplines and working practices.

At the start of your research project or activity (whether externally funded or not) you will need to consider the management of your research data. Research data can be textual, numerical, qualitative, quantitative, final, preliminary, physical, digital or print.

Thinking about RDM early on in the research process will allow you to plan for:

·         Organising and structuring your material

·         Storing and backing up your research material

·         Preparing material for analysis, or to share with others

A couple of useful RDM training resources to explore further are listed below. If you would like the RDM team to visit your research group or department to talk about RDM requirements, training, and advocacy please do let us know. Contact us via the RDM helpdesk.

Sound Data Management Training (SoDaMaT) RDM training materials

DataTrain managing research data in archaeology

UK Data Archive tutorials

Researching for your dissertation over the Summer?

Searching for Researching workshop - 301: Student Skills and Development Centre, Glossop Road

Thursday 12th June 12-1

Come and find out about the information sources available to you, search tips to help you get the most relevant results for your project, evaluating information, plagiarism and referencing.

Follow the link above to book a place. 

Working on your dissertation over the summer?

 The Library can help!

•  Library resources for your subject – subject guides featuring recommended databases and websites 

•  Our Information Skills Resource – features many handy tutorials, including referencing and literature reviews 

•  For items not currently held in stock – Book Recommendation Form - Interlibrary Request Service 

•  British Library Boston Spa minibus – trips arranged in June, July and August 

•  Find the librarian for your subject – for any extra support you require 

Additional study space available in Hicks Building and Dainton Building (Tuesday 27 May – Friday 13 June)

The Library is providing additional study space (weekdays only) in the following locations until Friday 13 June:

Hicks Building (09:00 – 21:00)
Room F28
Room F41
LT 4 (D Floor)
LT11 (H Floor)

Dainton Building (09:00 – 18:00)
Room 12c (Ground floor)
Room 12h (Ground floor)

Plagiarism

“Plagiarism (either intentional or unintentional) is the using of ideas or work of another person (including experts and fellow or former students) and submitting them as your own. It is considered dishonest and unprofessional. Plagiarism may take the form of cutting and pasting, taking or closely paraphrasing ideas, passages, sections, sentences, paragraphs, drawings, graphs and other graphical material from books, articles, internet sites or any other source and submitting them for assessment without appropriate acknowledgement.” University of Sheffield, 2013)

Plagiarism is an important topic that all students are expected to take seriously

Consult the library’s Information Skills Tutorial on plagiarism to learn how to avoid it

Student services also offer information regarding plagiarism in assessments.

Further investment in our ebook collection

As we are committed to enriching our eresource collection for staff and students, we are spending a further £40,000 on ebooks.

For the next 12 months, we will have full-text access to 'Cambridge Books Online Evidence-based Monographs' collection.  This includes over 17,000 ebooks spanning all subjects on the Cambridge platform.

We will continually monitor usage, and at the end of the 12 months, we will obtain perpetual access to the ebooks that you have decided are the most relevant.

To access these and other ebooks, please go to StarPlus; sign in, and search for your chosen field.

Alternatively you can go to the Cambridge platform

 What do you think of our ebooks?

We are running a survey to see what our students think of ebooks.  Please complete the survey here

New online resources: Times Digital Archive & State Papers Online

Times Digital Archive, 1785 – 2008

 

The Times of London was first published in 1785 and is the oldest daily newspaper in continuous publication. The Times Digital Archive provides online access to the full-text of every page from every issue of The Times newspaper from 1785 to 2008. The resource allows users to conduct simple or advanced searches.  It can also be browsed by date.

State Papers Online, 1509 – 1714 

State Papers Online is an archive that provides access to 16^th and 17^th century State Papers. The University Of Sheffield has access to the following collections:

• Part I - The Tudors, 1509-1603: State Papers Domestic

• Part III - The Stuarts and Commonwealth, James I - Anne I, 1603-1714: State Papers Domestic

The resource can be searched using a range of search limiters including date, reign and language. The resource also provides: a series of essays by leading historians with links to the archival materials; calendars, which provide abstracts or summaries of the documents; an image gallery; links to related online sites; and research tools including lists of abbreviations and a glossary of historical terms.

Access

These resources can be accessed from the Library’s StarPlus catalogue by searching under the University Collections tab (remember to sign in to StarPlusfirst).  Alternatively, access them from the following links:

Times Digital Archive 

State Papers Online

You will be prompted to log in to MUSE if you haven’t already done so.