For all those new to systematic searching this online tutorial will guide you through the steps required to systematically search for studies for your research methods assignment and project.
Click on the image to jump into the support Guide and start building your search strategy.
Lee Snook
Following your feedback on the study space booking system we have launched a new system which will allow you to book flexible time slots & to self-check-in and check-out. It supports study spaces across our Streatham and St Luke's campuses.
Key improvements are:
Booking limits new system - Book between 1-6 hours in a single booking
Track & trace - Bookings will support the University Track & Trace for COVID-19.
Power - You will be able to request a study space which has a power socket using system filters
Booking timings - Flexible grid, choose start and finish times
We will be continually reviewing our study space facilities to make improvements, please send us your feedback on the new system.
The MLA has created an online course to help students use the MLA International Bibliography.
They have just released the fifth module of the course, Literary topics.
If you need any help using the MLA International Bibliography, please get in touch with your liaison librarian.
Ovid is an advanced search platform allowing you to perform sophisticated literature searches. The University has access to a number of OVID databases, primarily in the fields of medicine, psychology, and life and health sciences, but also covering the agriculture and forestry disciplines. You can browse the list of available databases below:
Full text database covering psychology and related disciplines.
APA PsycExtra is a psychological gray literature database. Content includes research reports, conference abstracts and presentations, newsletters, reports, magazines, brochure/fact sheets, and more.
Extensive bibliographic database covering psychology and related disciplines.
An index to scholarly literature in agriculture, forestry, and allied disciplines in the life sciences, including aspects of human health and nutrition.
Biomedical and pharmacological research databases
Literature relating to global public health issues. Useful for research into national and international public health topics.
Healthcare management research database covering health policy, quality and safety, management and administration.
Research literature database covering all aspects of human medicine and related biomedical research.
Evidence-based social science research database for policy-makers and practitioners within health and social care.
In order to get the most from the Ovid databases, you should take full advantage of their advanced search functionality in order to produce a powerful advanced search strategy which will yield highly focussed search results.
Each of the databases has its own specialiast functionality, incoprorating discipline specific subject headings or thesaurui so we recommend you search each database iindividually to take advantage of these subject specific functions.
At first, the search interface can seem a little daunting. And if you do not frame a search correctly you may find your search produces too few results or an over abundance of irrelevant results.
To help you get to grips with this, we have just released a Searching Ovid Databases guide. You can use this guide to assist you as you start building your searches. It will guide you through:
Click on the image to jump into the support Guide and start building your Ovid Search Skills
Lee Snook
The University has trial access - until 1st January 2021 - to the Sustainable Development Online collection from Taylor & Francis. This full text resource includes various materials such as book chapters, articles and teaching and learning resources.
Click to Access: SDGO. Just login with your University username and password.
This collection supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals which are " the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. They address the global challenges we face, including poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice". You can learn more about the programme and how you can contribute via the UN website.
Watch this short 3 minute video to learn more about the resources available via SDGO.
Goal 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere
Stop poverty in all its forms. Eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere, and reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty. Implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all and ensure that everyone has equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services, ownership and control over land.
Goal 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
End world hunger. Ensure access by all people to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round and end all forms of malnutrition. Ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, and that help maintain ecosystems.
Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
Ensure good health and well-being for all. Reduce the global mortality ratio and end preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years of age. End the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases. Promote mental health and well-being and achieve universal health coverage.
Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning
Ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning. Eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development and care. Ensure equal access to all levels of education for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations.
Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
Tackle all forms of gender equality issues. End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere and eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation. Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life.
Goal 6: Ensure access to water and sanitation for all
Implement clean water solutions globally. Achieve universal access to safe and affordable drinking water for all and achieve access to adequate sanitation and hygiene for all. Improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimizing release of hazardous chemicals and materials.
Goal 7: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
Ensure universal access to affordable and clean energy for all. Increase the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix and enhance international cooperation to facilitate access to clean energy research and technology and expand infrastructure and upgrade technology for supplying modern and sustainable energy services for all in developing countries.
Goal 8: Promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for all
Ensure inclusive and sustainable economic development worldwide. Promote sustainable economic growth and achieve higher levels of economic productivity through diversification, technological upgrading and innovation. Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including for young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value.
Goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
Ensure sustainable industry innovation and infrastructure. Develop quality, reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure that supports economic development and human well-being. Promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and upgrade infrastructure and retrofit industries to make them sustainable, with greater adoption of clean and environmentally sound technologies and industrial processes. Encourage innovation by enhancing scientific research in industrial sectors.
Goal 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries
Reduce inequality within and among countries. Empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status. Ensure equal opportunity and reduce inequalities of outcome, including by eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices and promoting appropriate legislation, policies and action in this regard.
Goal 11: Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
Develop sustainable cities and society worldwide. Ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing, and enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization and capacity for integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management. Reduce the adverse environmental impact of cities, by paying special attention to air quality and waste management, and strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the word’s cultural and natural heritage.
Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
Ensure sustainable consumption and responsible production patterns. Reduce global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains. Achieve the environmentally sound management of chemicals throughout their life cycle and substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse. Encourage companies to adopt sustainable practices and to integrate sustainability information into their reporting cycle.
Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters, as well as integrate climate change solutions and measures into national policies, strategies and planning. Improve education and awareness-raising on climate change mitigation, impact reduction and early warning.
Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources
Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources. Prevent and decrease sea pollution of all kinds, in particular from land-based activities, and sustainably manage and protect marine and coastal ecosystems to avoid significant adverse impacts. End overfishing, illegal, unreported and regulated fishing and destructive fishing practices in order to restore fish stocks. Increase scientific knowledge, develop research capacity and transfer marine technology in order to improve ocean health.
Goal 15: Sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss
Prevent threats to biodiversity. Ensure the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems and their services, in particular forests, wetlands, mountains and drylands. Promote the implementation of sustainable management of all types of forests and halt deforestation, and combat desertification and restore degraded land and soil. Take significant action to reduce the degradation of natural habitats and prevent the extinction of threatened species.
Goal 16: Promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies
Promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies. Significantly reduce all forms for violence and end abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children. Promote the rule of law at the national and international levels and ensure equal access to justice for all.
Goal 17: Revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development
Revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development. In order to support and achieve the ambitious targets of the 2030 Agenda, strong SDG partnerships will need to form, bringing together national governments, the international community, civil society, the private sector and other actors.
If you have any feedback on the SDG Online database we would love to hear from you. How useful was this for teaching/research? Did you find the collection easy to use online? Any other comments? All insights welcome - just send a quick email with feedback to elibrary@exeter.ac.uk
Our Libguides system is provided by a company called Springshare, who offer all kinds of library related software to help us run our services. As well as providing great software they also flag interesting library related websites, and today they introduced us to whichbook - and we love it!
Whichbook is a great site for helping you to discover new reads. Instead of browsing or searching by author name or book title, you can choose books by
You can also start with a recent bestseller you enjoyed and discover other books with a similar mood that you might like to try next.
As well as highlighting the books, the site also flags where you can buy (via Amazon) or borrow the books through the public library service. If you have joined Devon Libraries, choose that option from the menu to see if the book you are interested in is available there - in print or as an ebook or audiobook. if you belong to any other 'local to you' library services, you can try those too.
So, if you are planning some leisure reading for the approaching holiday season, why not start exploring and see what you find?
We hope you enjoy the site as much as we do!