Library session: health and social care programmes
What is an academic library for?
Most likely, you will come across the library when looking for:
textbooks
scholarly journal articles and market data for research
study space and facilities
help from librarians
You can use two libraries: London Metropolitan University and QA Higher Education.
Where to start?
The QAHE library portal page will show you the resources and services available from both London Metropolitan University and QAHE. This page is worth bookmarking.
Reading lists will guide you to the textbooks and articles your lecturers suggest you read to succeed. Each module has its own reading list.
A subject guide explains the business management-related electronic resources available to you from London Metropolitan University.
Books
Textbooks are a particular kind of book. They are written in order to explain various broad areas of knowledge, e.g. healthcare or social care. Normally, they discuss the main approaches and theories in a balanced manner. It is helpful to use a good textbook when studying a new subject (module). Read more about textbooks.
Not all books are textbooks. Many books advocate one point of view, often based on the research done by the author. You do not have to agree with every book you read. As you develop your own knowledge and experience, you will get better at reading critically other people’s views.
Finding books
Use the library catalogues (London Metropolitan University and QAHE) to find books. Catalogues do not search inside books, so try to predict what helpful books may be called. For example, a topic of employee motivation is likely to be discussed in books about organisational behaviour or human resource management (HRM). Search for "organisational behaviour", "human resource management" or "HRM". Then search these books for the section discussing employee motivation. Read more about finding and accessing ebooks from London Metropolitan University and QAHE.
Google Books can be helpful if you do not know what books cover your topic of interest. Google Books searches inside many printed and electronic books; however, it is usually not allowed to show their full texts. Browsing some pages may be enough for your research. It may also give you an idea of what books to search for in the library catalogues.
Academic research
Academic research is interested in bigger-picture theories that could be applied across a range of products, companies, industries or even markets.
Normally, a researcher uses experiments, observations, surveys and other established methods to develop solutions, form conclusions, propose new theories etc. Before publication, the results of this research are reviewed by other specialists in the same field of knowledge. This peer-review process adds credibility to the research.
Knowledge is constantly developing, therefore some research conclusions accepted as correct earlier may be regarded wrong at a later date after more rigorous research has been done. Or the society, economy etc. may change and what was true years ago is not correct anymore.
Scholarly (academic) publications
Examples of academic research publications are scholarly (or peer-reviewed) journals, collections of conference papers (or conference proceedings), monographs and similar. These publications exist to report the outcomes of research produced by researchers.
There are many thousands of scholarly journals. Your lecturers may also call them academic journals.
Publishers aggregate these publications into collections, which are normally called databases. You may also come across phrases like "academic databases", "university databases" and similar - these all mean the same thing: collections of research publications and other content relevant to students and researchers.
Read about articles and journals on the London Metropolitan Subject guides
The full list of the databases and the most useful health and social care databases to which London Metropolitan University subscribes.
Google Scholar tips
Google Scholar only searches for scholarly publications (i.e. academic research). It does not include trade (i.e. industry) publications, market research, company information etc.
Search for transformational leadership. How many results did you get?
Now search for this phrase in quotation marks (“transformational leadership”) and search. How many results did you get? Why is there a difference in the number of results?
The phrases that you want the search to retrieve exactly as typed (e.g. “relationship marketing” or “corporate social responsibility”) can be placed in quotation marks to run a phrase search. Google Scholar will not run separate searches for each word; it will search only for the whole phrase inside the quotation marks. Most academic databases understand phrase searching too.
The [PDF] (or similar) link on the right side of the screen indicates that the article can be accessed for free. To access it, click on the link.
The Cited by link will show more recent publications that used the current article as a source and acknowledged it in the reference list. Adding the word "review" to your search may help you find publications providing a broad critical overview of the established research on a particular topic.
You may find it helpful to watch the following videos discussing some of the content explained above:
Contact librarians
To discuss your research and its sources, and resolve any problems related to the library, please contact the Library team.
Example 1. How to conduct research on inequality
Please use the Library Portal to find all the information resources you need for your assignment.
Click on London Met.
Under Online research resources, select Ebooks.
This way, you will open the Ebooks guide. Please use the Ebooks guide as follows.
Firstly, click on the link of the Reading Lists. This is where you will find the books that your lecturers recommend that you read for each module. Please explore the books in your reading lists for the Researching Inequality module. Start by reading the core book for the module.
Secondly, search in the QAHE and the London Metropolitan University Library catalogues to find resources on your assignment for the above module.
London Metropolitan University Library catalogue
Thirdly, look for information in Google Books. This is where you will find parts of the book, not the whole book, but you can still find information on your assignment topics:
After using the ebooks guide in the Library Portal, please use the Databases guide to find more resources:
Click on the Subject guides to find the databases.
Select your topic: Health and Social Care.
Then select Key subject collections.
Look for your topics in the databases available.
Lastly, look for academic articles in ejournals in the London Metropolitan University Library catalogue and Google Scholar.
The search terms you can use to research the topic of your assignment are:
Income inequality
Health inequality
Mental health
Obesity
Education
Crime and punishment
Please do not forget to use Boolean Operators (AND, OR, NOT) to combine or exclude keywords. For example, depending on the topic of your choice, conduct your research by looking for the following search terms:
Learning difficulties AND inequality
Inequality AND obesity
Learning difficulties AND obesity
Please use the London Metropolitan University guide on referencing.
Example 2. How to conduct research on social issues
Please use the Library Portal to find all the information resources you need for your assignment.
Click on London Met.
Under Online research resources, select Ebooks.
This way, you will open the Ebooks guide. Please use the Ebooks guide as follows.
Firstly, click on the link of the Reading Lists. This is where you will find the books that your lecturers recommend that you read for each module. Please explore the books in your reading lists for the Social Issues in Context module. Start by reading the core article for the module: Ellis, T and Silverstone, D (2012) ‘Legalise Drugs? in Ellis, T and Savage, S (Eds). Debates in Criminal Justice, London: Routledge pp149-184.
Secondly, search in the QAHE and the London Metropolitan University Library catalogues to find resources on your assignment for the above module.
London Metropolitan University Library catalogue
Thirdly, look for information in Google Books. This is where you will find parts of the book, not the whole book, but you can still find information on your assignment topics:
After using the ebooks guide in the Library Portal, please use the Databases guide to find more resources:
Click on the Subject guides to find the databases.
Select your topic: Health and Social Care.
Then select Key subject collections.
Look for your topics in the databases available.
Lastly, look for academic articles in ejournals in the London Metropolitan University Library catalogue and Google Scholar.
The search terms you can use to research the topic of your assignment are:
Cannabis legalisation
Cannabis prohibition
Please do not forget to use Boolean Operators (AND, OR, NOT) to combine or exclude keywords. For example, conduct your research by looking for the following search terms:
Cannabis legalisation AND UK
Cannabis prohibition AND Denmark
Please use the London Metropolitan University guide on referencing.