Library session: computing programmes

What is an academic library for?

Most likely, you will come across the library when looking for:

You can use two libraries: Ulster University and QA Higher Education.

Where to start?

A subject guide explains the resources provided by the university library, as well as how to research various topics on your programme. Use the blue tabs at the top of the screen to navigate the guide.

Reading lists will guide you to the textbooks and articles your lecturers suggest you read to succeed. Each module has its own reading list. It is normally integrated with the Blackboard module page (see the menu in the Blackboard module pages). Alternatively, search in the reading lists for the module code and select the correct CRN number (you will find this information in each module handbook).

The QAHE library portal page will show you the resources and services available from both Ulster University and QA Higher Education.

Library home page

When looking for Ulster University resources, the library home page is the best place to start from. Here is what some of the links there mean:

Your login (OpenAthens)

To access your library electronic resources, you will  almost always be asked to use OpenAthens login method:

Read a guide or Watch a video guide

Textbooks

Textbooks are a particular kind of books. They are written in order to explain various broad areas of knowledge, e.g. research methods or Java programming language. 

You are likely to come across two types of textbooks:

Finding textbooks

Use the library catalogues (Ulster University and QAHE) to find textbooks.

Catalogues do not search inside books, so try to predict what helpful books may be called. For example, a topic of cost-benefit analysis is likely to be discussed in books about information systems or systems development . Search for "information systems" or "systems development". Then search these books for the section discussing cost-benefit analysis. Read more about finding and accessing ebooks from Ulster University and QAHE.

Part of the library collection is O'Reilly Learning - a particularly good source of instruction textbooks and video tutorials.

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 not usually 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 university library catalogue.

Academic research

Academic research is interested in bigger-picture theories that could be applied out across a range of situations.

Normally, a researcher uses experiments, observations, surveys and other established methods to develop solutions, form conclusions and 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 as wrong at a later date, after more rigorous research has been done. Or society and technology etc. may change, and what was true years ago will no longer be correct.

Scholarly (academic, peer-reviewed) publications

Examples of academic research publications are:

These publications exist to report the outcomes of research produced by researchers. 

There are thousands of scholarly journals. Also, thousands of academic conferences take place every year.

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.

Searching for academic research

Your module reading lists and lecturers will guide you to the most relevant and helpful scholarly articles. To find scholarly articles on the topic of your research, use USearch and Google Scholar.

USearch searches across all the most useful computing and technology databases to which the university subscribes.

Also, Google Scholar does the same plus it searches other institutional repositories (archives) for the publications on Open Access. Make sure to connect Google Scholar to the Ulster University databases (using the Settings - Library links) before using Google Scholar for research.

See this guide to finding scholarly articles. The guide contains a video about USearch and advice on linking GoogleScholar to the Ulster University databases.

Google Scholar tips

If you want the search engine to search for exactly what you have typed (e.g. “data protection”), put your search phrases into speech marks to run a phrase search. Google Scholar will thus not run separate searches for each word; it will search only for the whole phrase inside the speech 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 the link.

The Cited by link will show more recent publications that  have used the current article as a source and acknowledged it in their reference list. Adding the word "review" to your search may help you to find publications providing a broad critical overview of the established research on a particular topic.

Difference between USearch and Google Scholar

Linking Google Scholar to university databases

ACTIVITY:

Now, when searching in Google Scholar, the results wll encorporate the publications from the university subscriptions, as well as those which are on open access.

Contact librarians

To discuss your research and its sources, and resolve any problems related to the library, please contact the Library team.