1. Academic Skills:
Information & Research Skills
for Undergraduates
libguides.rhul.ac.uk/
November 2013
Russell Burke
Library Services

2. Aims of the session
Library
Services
• Overview of Library Services available to support your essay research
• Step 1 - Plan and prepare a literature search
• Step 2 - Use LibrarySearch and subject specific resources to find information
• Step 3 – Adapt & refine your searches
• Step 4 - Manage your references (& generate bibliographies using RefWorks)
• Access eresources off-campus
• Using other libraries
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3. Library
Services
My essay question / research topic:
What do I want to find out?
(Describe the next slide: what do you see?
What words would you search for to find
information on what is depicted?)

4. Library
Services
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5. Developing your search strategy
“In the avant-garde films of the 1920s, everything we
see, including the human being, is subservient to rhythm &
movement.”
Main concepts
1. avant-garde films
2. 1920s
3. What we see on film
4. Rhythm & movement
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Alternative terms
Experimental, art, modernist /
cinema, filmmaking …
Early 20th Century, pre-war,
silent era …
Mise-en-scène, frame(d),
screen, shot, represented …
Pace, flow, repetition,
alternation, patterns, editing …
Library
Services

6. Step One: Think about your own research
topic & related concepts and write down the
keywords that you need to search for

7. Library
Services
Now that I know what I want to find out:
What resources would I use?
See part 1 of the following prezi for an overview of the types of
material available via the Library:
http://prezi.com/24tl5r36eel5/developing-your-search-skills/

8. Selecting information sources
Library
Services
Library Subject Guides: libguides.rhul.ac.uk/
Online databases (eresources): libguides.rhul.ac.uk/Databases
LibrarySearch: librarysearch.rhul.ac.uk
Senate House Library catalogue (& eresources): ull.ac.uk
Other internet resources…
These can also be found on the main Library webpage

9. Library
Services
Why can’t I just use Google?
Evaluating information sources:
http://prezi.com/q5jglgamre6c/evaluating-information/
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10. Step 2: Use your Library Subject Guide and select the
resources or types of resources you think you would need to
use to carry out your research

11. Library
Services
Now that I know what I want to find out
& where to find the resources:
How do I carry out searches to
find information on my topic?
(By combining your search terms in meaningful way!)
See your Library Subject Guide > Training > Searching for videos & more help

12. Combining keywords - AND
Library
Services
Narrow your search using AND
(useful if you have too many results)
e.g. avant-garde AND film
Results
Results
containing
containing
BOTH
AVANT-GARDE
TERMS
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Results
containing
FILM
ie. only brings back results where all the words searched for
are included somewhere in the title, summary and/or full-text

13. Combining keywords - too few results?
Library
Services
Broaden your search using OR
(useful if you have too few results)
e.g. role OR function
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ie. brings back results where any the words searched for are
included somewhere in the title, summary and/or full-text

14. Making the most of synonyms
Library
Services
As well as searching for alternative terms, you can use wildcard characters ($ ?
* -) to replace letters in search terms or to truncate a term:
Examples
theat* - finds theatre, theater, theatrical, etc.
wom*n - finds women, woman.
NB: Help pages in the online resources will explain which character is used
as the wildcard
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15. Combining keywords – phrase searching
Library
Services
Use quotation (speech) marks to search for phrases where word need to appear
next to each other (e.g. specific terminology, title of books / films, names &
places).
“À la recherche du temps perdu”
“French New Wave”
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16. Step three: think about how you will combing keywords
and enter your search queries in your selected eresources
(adjusting terms as you need to)

17. Library
Services
Now that I have found information on
my topic:
How do I know that it is what I
want and good quality
material?
(see the ‘Evaluating information sources’ link
mentioned above)

18. Reviewing & evaluating your research
Library
Services
Do you have
enough / too
much
information?
Do you need to
review your
underlying
research
question?
Is the
information
current / within
the date you
require
Is it relevant to
your research?
Does it answer
the whole
question?

19. Library
Services
Now that I have the information
(books, chapters, journal
articles, webpages etc) that I need:
How do I manage &
reference them?
(You may have a lot of references and research material
to keep track of!)

20. Keeping track of useful items
Library
Services
• Emailing links to yourself
• Using the e-shelf in LibrarySearch
• Log in to LibrarySearch
• Click on the star icon beside useful results
• Go to ‘e-shelf’
• Create baskets, email, export results
• NB - most other eresources provide these functions (you can do the same in
JSTOR / ProjectMuse / MLA Bibliography
• OR you can keep all of your references in ONE PLACE and
organised them by topic, essay title or course etc. by exporting
references to RefWorks – this is really easy to do!
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21. RefWorks
Library
Services
Bibliographic reference management software
Capture, save and organise references
Create a bibliography for your essay from containing 1 to 1000
items in your Departments Referencing Style in seconds!
Access it via the Library Subject Guides (Citation & Referencing)
Contains online self-help tutorials
Sign up to a free Library RefWorks training session:
Check the Library Information Skills Training Session on the Subject guide:
http://libguides.rhul.ac.uk/

22. Step four: save the results that you need (references,
abstracts, URL links, full text) and organise these so that you
can find them when you need them & reference them in your
assignments

23. Access online resources off-campus
Library
Services
Royal Holloway ‘Campus Anywhere’ (VPN)
The only way to access all of our electronic resources off campus is
to install the Virtual Private Network (VPN) service, known as
'CampusAnywhere'.
This is quick and easy to set up and works on PCs, laptops & Macs
Go to the IT Services website to find out more:
http://www.rhul.ac.uk/it/home.aspx

24. Using other libraries
Library
Services
Royal Holloway students all get free access to Senate
House Library (SHL):
take along your RHUL Id card if you want to borrow books or
use the study space there.
Online registration for SHL’s eresources:
see the ‘Beyond RHUL’ section on the Library Subject Guides for
more information
Access to other Libraries using SCONUL Access:
see the ‘Beyond RHUL’ section on the Library Subject Guides for
more information

25. Questions?
Library
Services
Russell Burke
Information Consultant
2-07 Bedford Library
Royal Holloway University of London
Russell.Burke@rhul.ac.uk
01784 414065
Please remember to always check:
• LIBRARY SUBJECT GUIDES
• @RHUL_Library on TWITTER
• the Library’s FACEBOOK PAGE
for the latest information and updates!
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Leo Reynolds. Flickr. CC-BY-NA