Research consultations
The Physics Subject Librarian is available for individual research consultations to help with in-depth information queries and use of Library resources.
Doing a literature search
Your time is important. Effective literature searching is efficient:
- The topic, context, and treatment
Establish the problem statement or research question
Know the background
Perhaps use review articles
Always focus on your intended treatment
- The search itself
Types of databases
Adapting your search to the database
What to do when good databases go bad...
- Evaluating your search results
Given criteria to establish the relevance and quality.
For advanced projects, finding relevant, subsequent citations of your core research material is advisable.
Citation searching sometimes discovers unexpected applications.
Finding the material
A journal article, conference paper, or book chapter:
- Search for the item's title in Articles and more.
- Failing that, search the Catalogue for the name of its journal or book.
- Check we have what you need, i.e., correct author, issue, etc.
- If it is still unavailable, ask for help or request an Interlibrary loan.
A book:
- Search for the book's title in the Catalogue.
- Failing that, search for book's title in Articles and more.
(Which discovers uncatalogued, but available, e-books)
- Check we have what you need, i.e., correct editor, edition, etc.
- If it is still unavailable, ask for help or request an Interlibrary Loan.
Current awareness services
Create a relevant search in a suitable database, then convert it to an Alert to be automatically advised whenever later items are added to the database that also match your search criteria. You can be alerted to:
- New items that match a previous database search, including articles in press.
- New items by a particular author.
- New citations (references made) to particular works, or even all works, by a particular author.
- Recent news of professional interest, including forthcoming events or publications.
Rich sources of news items, upcoming events, and freshly published research include:
If you have difficulty going directly from a publisher's website or email alert to a recent journal issue, please check that title in the Catalogue or ask for help.
