Dissertation Research

Dissertations

FE students are on catch up week (half term) this week but UCP students still have lectures and the LRC stays open for all students and staff who want to use us.

Over the past few weeks, LRC librarians have been in to a number of tutorials at UCP to talk to students about finding information for their dissertations. Here are a few tips from the LRC team for getting started:

Getting started on your literature review/ dissertation research

Choose a topic that you are interested in - you will be living with it for a long time.

If you know a broad area you are interested in, you might find it useful to look in a journal dedicated to the subject (if there is one) and have a look through recent contents lists for issues that are currently topical.

You need to find a subject with enough literature, but not so much that you get too many results and your research becomes unmanageable. Even if you are doing primary research, you will need to find enough literature to show the context in which your research fits.

You can refine your subject by focusing on a particular age range (e.g. teenagers, the elderly), country or area (e.g UK) or a particular time period (since 2000), for example.

Before you start searching

Plan your search terms - list synonyms (words that mean the same), acronyms (and what they stand for), wider concepts (things that affect/ are affected by your topic), narrower subjects (specifics), different forms of a word (woman, women).

Set up a system to record everything you find which is useful -why not decide to write a Harvard reference for each source you find as you go along so that it isn't a massive task at the end. Note key page numbers too so you can find sources again.

Laptop image from www.pixabay.com (Stocksnap) CC0

Searching for information

Combine the different terms you listed in your planning in different combinations and search the ARU Digital library and the PRC LRC catalogue on Moodle.  (You can also use Google Scholar if you prefer but you won't find links to the PRC catalogue on there and you need to log in to the ARU Digital Library first to view anything, anyway. Note down other keywords and phrases that you find authors have used as you discover them and integrate them in to your searches. There is always likely to be some trial and error involved and different search terms will yield different results.

Books are a good starting point to familiarise yourself with a topic. Use the bibliographies in these to find other authors and sources which might be useful (note them down as you find them).

For success in your dissertation, you want to be using a range of different, yet appropriate, resources. Have you tried searching for theses or conference proceedings, for example? How about open access databases or  websites of accredited organisations?

Get a quick idea of whether a resource is relevant by reading the abstract.

Be disciplined - it is easy to go off on a tangent - keep to your topic. Only reassess what you are searching for if you are getting too few or too many results.

Asking for help

Remember that the librarians in the LRC at PRC are here to help you if you are having problems finding what you need or indeed if you are justlooking for some other places to explore. We can also suggest ways to put searches together to retrieve the most relevant results. We can help you quickly there and then or set up a 1:1 appointment for a more in depth session.

National Map Reading Week and Digimap

National Map Reading Week

This week is National Map Reading Week and organisations like the Ordnance Survey are using this to publicise and highlight the importance of having skills like being able to use a compass, plotting a map reference and using the right type of map for different activities.

• The latest research suggests the average British person ends up going the wrong way, or getting lost, 24 times a year.
• Mountain Rescue England and Wales call outs were up 170 in 2016 on the previous year and of the 1812 call outs, 360 were serious or fatal.

Given that we live in the age of the Sat Nav and smartphone, is it still necessary to know how to use a map? The statistics above suggest it is.

Being able to read a map and plan a route is still an invaluable life skill and maps can give us a lot of information. For example, a map will help you visually plan your route and see where you are in relation to other places. It can give you an idea of distance or how a hill is as well as what features are found in different areas.You do not need a battery, a mobile/ satellite signal or the ability to hear.

Sometimes a map or diagram is the best way to present information so directions can be understood easily.

Imagine explaining to someone new how to get from the Learning Resource Centre to Parcs Restaurant. Perhaps the best solution would be to take them there yourself. 

However, the alternative would be to explain to them that they need to turn left out of the LRC, past the Apprenticeship Centre, then turn left, follow the corridor round past the Enterprise lounge until they get to Alexandra Foyer when they need to go past the entrance gate and take the corridor to the left of the Pantry and follow this down to Parcs!

Or… you could draw a map!

Resources for learning map reading skills

For the beginner, Ordnance Survey provides a range of guides and videos to show you how to read maps. For example, understanding contours so you know whether you will be walking up a steep hill or not.

See below for Steve Backshall's short video guide to taking a 4 digit map reference.

Ordnance Survey have also devised a short quiz for you to test your map reading skills. Have a go!

Digimap

The Learning Resource Centre subscribes to Digimap which is an online service giving access to Ordnance Survey mapping of Great Britain. Students and staff can access it from the Electronic Resources Page under the Learning Resource Centre tab on Moodle. It is only accessible in College. Students and staff can save and/or print out their A4 maps.

The great thing about it is that you can search by postcode or place and then once you have centred your map, you can annotate it with shapes, labels, photos as well as measure distances. You might want to add starting points, places to camp, places to stop for lunch based on how long a walk is. Will you have to cross a river? Will you walk through woodland? Will there be steep hills? Will you pass through any villages? 

Public Services students have used this when planning for their week away walking the Pennine Way in the past.

Libraries Week

Libraries Week

PRC Learning Resource Centre Facts

This is week is the first ever Libraries Week and so this We hope you will forgive us this slightly self-indulgent blog post. We are using it to promote what we do for students at PRC and UCP and the difference we can make (not that we can be complacent - we always aim to improve!).  During the week we have been tweeting (@lrc_prc) a number of facts about the LRC throughout the week. Here are some statistics for you.

• At PRC we had 14,000 visits to the Learning Resource Centre in September this year.

Last academic year

• we had 118,342 visits between September 2016 and April 2017. March 2017 was the busiest month with 21,966 visits.  
• we had over 8000 visits to our Moodle pages.
• there were over 10,000 search sessions on our electronic databases. (Apart from e-books, Childlink is our most-used database).
• of these, over 3600 were for access to e-books.
• we loaned out laptops over 6500 times 

So what does the Learning Resource Centre at PRC do? (This is not an exhaustive list)

We help students (and staff) learn by

• providing an environment and equipment for independent learning
• help students find resources for their assignments/ courses.
• purchasing print resources to help students research and learn including books and a number of magazine subscriptions.
• delivering training sessions and activities to give students the skills to research and find information
• providing blended learning activities or training on Harvard Referencing
• helping students navigate the internet and promote e-safety.
• purchasing and set up access to quality electronic resources (including authentification in and outside college)
• providing and administering a computer system which manages the loan of books, fines, overdue letters and notifications  and includes providing a catalogue of everything available so it is searchable.
• promoting literacy and reading to help improve language and vocabulary as well as for pleasure/ wellbeing and as a way to relax and unwind (e.g. our Loyalty scheme)
• helping with queries around using the PCs.

Library quotes

The author Neil Gaiman has said "Google can bring you back 100,000 answers, a librarian can bring you back the right one". See the video below.

Stephen Fry has said "Libraries are where minds flourish and grow. They are like a kind of water supply".

See  #librariesweek on Twitter for more quotes, events and a general celebration of libraries. You may be surprised what goes on in a library and what librarians do! See the video below to see what one group of American librarians did to promote their library catalogue (and no we won't be doing anything similar!)

LRC Grand Opening and Student Feedback on new LRC

LRC Grand Opening and Student Feedback

On Monday we hosted the official opening of the newly refurbished Learning Resource Centre. We were privileged to be joined by Fiona Onasanya, MP for Peterborough, who cut the ribbon for us and local author, Eva Jordan.

Eva Jordan, Terry Jones (PRC Principal) Louise Auckland (LRC Manager) and Fiona Onasanya
at the official opening of the newly refurbished Learning Resource Centre.
Photograph used with permission of Peterborough Telegraph

Fiona Onasanya was given a tour of the centre and Eva Jordan signed copies of 183 Times a Year, a teenage novel about relationships between mothers and daughters.

Eva Jordan signing copies of her book
Photo: Peterborough Regional College

Thank you to PRC hospitality students who provided a super buffet for everyone who attended. You did a splendid job!

Student feedback on the new LRC (and other issues!)

We used Thinglink to create this image from our comments board to put on our Moodle pages. Roll your mouse over the information hotspots to see our responses.