Once you have defined the scope of your research topic, the next step is to think about the range of resources available.
This is your first port of call and contains a record of all the material catalogued by the Library. Search the catalogue to find the location of books on your reading lists.
Handbooks:
These are more advanced than textbooks and normally contain essay contributions from key writers in a particular subject field, providing a holistic approach to a topic.
Scholarly or peer reviewed journals provide a forum for academic debate and contain the latest research in a subject. They can be published monthly, quarterly, half yearly, annually or even biannually. Available in two formats either print or electronic (online).
To access the content of an online journal you normally link to a database. Some database may only provide an abstract to a journal article rather than full text access.
Institutional Repository (Open Access)
A good source for working paper
Blogs:
Researchers are using blogs to communicate progress updates on various stages of projects they are engaged with.
Social Media:
Most research organisations are using Twitter and Facebook as outlets to publicise their latest reports.
A creative approach to problem solving using a six step process:
Define, Discover, Dream,Design, Deliver, Debrief
Watch this video to learn more
