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Mining and Minerals Engineering: Dissertations & Research Projects: 4. Find: Where to Search

Once you have decided what sort of research materials you want to work with, you can choose the best research tool to help you find that material. There are two Library Research tools that will help you find print and electronic primary and secondary materials:

1. Library Search

2. A-Z Databases

Don't just use Google for information!

Google will find lots of information and is a great tool for examining certain kinds of material such as blogs and other openly accessible web resources.  However, the information you find will vary greatly in terms of accuracy, currency bias etc. Always evaluate the material for research quality.

As well as containing information that is not exposed through Google, the Library research tools also allow you to be more precise with your searching as they offer specialist research database features to improve your research discovery.

Explore the guidance on Library Search and the A-Z Databases below and then complete the activities to test your knowledge and understanding

Library Search Activities


Library Search: Quiz
 

A-Z Databases Activities

 
 
1. Watch the video demo
2.Explore the tutorial
3. Select a database and try out some searches
4. Contact your librarian if you need help

A-Z Databases List

Requesting resources to collect at the Penryn Campus

New video coming soon! If you need any advice in the meantime please get in touch.

Library Search

Library Search is  a good starting point for introductory material for your research.

You can search for your research topic(s) and quickly and easily retrieve details of print and electronic books, journal articles and other full text material. You can also use it to check whether we have particular books or journals you may discover during your literature searching.

 

A search for biomining in Library Search returns the following catalogue results. Note the type of content. There is a mixture of print and electronic texts.

This search finds matches in book and journal titles (and in brief details such as subject terms, contents page listing details).  For more granular searching within the content of books and journals you should use the Articles + more feature of Library Search and the research databases.

Catalogue search results Biomining

You will find many results on the Articles + more tab than the Catalogue tab if you were to run the same search for biomining.

In addition to all the content in the Catalogue tab, there is also a wide range of content from various full text resources, with journal articles, book chapters and other full text resources that match your search terms.

Articles + more search is often a good starting point for introductory material, but if you want to research the global literature on a topic, and go beyond quick full text results, then you should follow up with a database search. You can tailor your search more precisely using all the sophisticated functionality available on the research databases.  

Article Search results Biomining

You can also use Library Search to check on the availability of print and online journal titles.

As you begin searching the research databases you may find references to particular journal articles that look interesting.  Some databases only include short bibliographic details of articles with an abstract.  If you want to read the full text you can use Library Search to discover if you have full text access.

To search for journal titles, just enter some/all of the journal title into the library Search box and then browse the Catalogue tab to check for access.

A search for the journal Mining Journal returns the following catalogue results. You can browse through the list and click on the titles for access.

Mining Journal catalogue record

In this example, for Mining Journal you can see that both print and e-versions are available,

Mining Journal password

Note: the e-version requires a separate username and password which you can access by following the link 

Finding resources using the A-Z Database List

Library Search is often a good starting point for introductory material, but if you want to research the global literature on a topic, and go beyond quick full text results, then you should follow up with a database search. 

You can tailor your search more precisely using all the sophisticated functionality available on the research databases.  

To find databases, use the A-Z list.

See the next tab for help with finding the best databases for your topic.

 

You can browse or search the database list.   The description beneath each database title indicates the content and coverage of the database. 

 

A-Z List

 

Select databases by Subject

You can select your subject from the drop down Subjects menu to see a subset of resources in that category.

The subject listings will highlight the 'core resources'; these are key databases that are likely to be of interest to anyone studying and researching in that area.

Your Subject LibGuide will also highlight recommended databases for you to explore.

 

Select databases by Type

You can select a database type from the drop down Types menu to see a subset of resources in that category.

For example, you may want to focus on news or official publications etc

 

Research material can be drawn from a wide range of different types of information. You may wish to use specialist sources such as news items, statistical data, archival and audiovisual materials.

Find out more by visiting the Searching for specific types of information libguide

Searching library resources at the Penryn Campus

To search the full range of print and online resources available through the University of Exeter always use Exeter Library Search

Watch this video for guidance on how to search library resources as a Penryn campus student

 

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