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have 24-hour access, both on and off campus

read them online and on mobile devices

print sections within copyright law

read them at the same time as other users

do keyword searches, make electronic notes and export to citation management programmes

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The simplest way to access ebooks is through the University of Nottingham search interface NUsearch.

1. Go to nusearch.nottingham.ac.uk

2. Enter your search terms in the 'Search' box

3. Click on an ebook title. You can ‘Refine’ your results to show only titles that are 'Available online'

4. Click 'Available online' to go directly to the providers site

5. Sign in with your University username and password if requested. Some sites will automatically load the login page, whilst on others you will need to click on a 'Sign in' button.

If you are off-campus or go direct to the provider’s website, look for the Institutional/Shibboleth login option to reach the correct sign-in page for the University of Nottingham.

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Defining the topic and identifying concepts

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Defining the topic and identifying concepts

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Before you start searching, you need to know what you are looking for. One way to define your topic is to write it out as a question you hope to answer in the paper or assignment. For example:

What effect does water temperature have on sea urchins?

Are left-handed people more intelligent?

Are drug-users more likely than non-users to commit robbery?

Next, you need to identify the important concepts included in your question. For example:

What effect does water temperature have on sea urchins?

Are left-handed people more intelligent?

Are drug-users more likely than non-users to commit robbery?

These important concepts provide the terms you will use in your search. Search for the specific words you use in your question plus synonyms, variant spellings and related words from your background reading.

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The connectors AND and OR have special meanings in database searching; they allow you to combine terms in two different ways.

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The term AND

Retrieves records which contain ALL the search terms

Use this to find two or more concepts in the same source

E.g. water temperature AND sea urchins

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The term OR

Retrieves records which contain ANY of the search terms

Use this to find synonyms, variant spellings or related terms

E.g. robber OR theft OR burglary

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Use quotation marks to search for a phrase rather than individual words, e.g. "water temperature" or "to be or not to be."

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If you are not finding enough information, broaden your search to find more sources by using these techniques:

Truncate your search term to find all variations of a term, e.g. instead of crime search for crim* (retrieves crime, crimes, criminal, criminals, etc.)

Search for synonyms and variant spellings of your topic, e.g. work OR labor OR labour

Search for broader or more general terms, e.g. instead of British Columbia search for Canada, or the even broader North America

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If you are finding too much information, limit your search to find fewer sources by including another concept in your search. Often the second concept is what you want to know about the first concept, e.g. reading AND instructional methods.

If you still have too many results then include a third or even fourth concept in your search, e.g. reading ANDinstructional methods AND adult education.

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Google Scholar

JSTOR

Science Direct

PubMed

Directory of Open Access Journals

EBSCO Information Services

Web of Science

ProQuest Dialog

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Like physical books, library ebooks are protected by copyright law, and for many ebooks this is controlled automatically by Digital Rights Management (DRM) software.

The amount you can download, copy or print varies from one publisher and title to another. This information is usually displayed when you use each book.

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Libraries subscribe to databases that provide access to thousands or millions of articles published in journals. You can search these by subject, keywords, author, or by citation if you already have this information.

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1. Go to the NUsearch (https://nusearch.nottingham.ac.uk/)
2. Typing a title in the Journal Search box, suggestions will appear, as shown in the screen capture above.
3. There are options for download PDF as well as online.
4. Click on the "Available Online" link
5.Full text of the journal is accessible on the journal's website or the database.

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Bibliographies, also known as references, works cited or further reading, are lists of sources the author consulted, and are (almost always) found at the end of an academic book, chapter or article, including encyclopedia entries.

Once you have one good resource, check the citations in the bibliography and then use these citations to get more articles.

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Some sources of information are more reliable than others. Check your assignment. Your instructor may specify the types of sources you can use, and will expect you to evaluate the articles you have found to determine their relevance and authority.

For most research papers, instructors will require students to use scholarly or academic articles.

However it may be appropriate to use publications other than academic journals, including blog posts by scholars and reports by associations and government agencies.