Library Services

Finding quality information for your courselibguides.rhul.ac.uk/English22 October 2014Kim Coles @RHUL_Library

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Types of Information

Books Newspapers

Academic journals

Websites

Databases

Encyclopaedia

Dictionary

…

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Primary, secondary, or tertiary sources?

A primary source is first-hand information. It could be a novel, poem, interview in a newspaper, letter in an archive…

A secondary source is an analysis or commentary on existing information. It could be a review in a newspaper, criticism in an academic journal, a book on an author/novel/poem…A tertiary source is a summary or collection of primary and/or secondary sources. It could be a dictionary, encyclopaedia, bibliography…

Primary

Secondary

Tertiary

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Types of Information – and where to find them

Books- Library – use LibrarySearch ‘Books, Music and Films’ search to

check- Databases such as EEBO, LION, etc.

Newspapers- Library – use LibrarySearch or the Nexis database to find

specific articles- General web – search for newspaper titles (limited access!)Dictionaries, encyclopaedias, other reference material- Use the English Subject guide to find a full list under ‘Reference e-resources’

Databases- Library – use the English subject guide to find a full list

Academic journals- Library – use LibrarySearch ‘All’ or ‘Journals by Title’ search to

check- Databases such as JSTOR, ProjectMUSE, MLA International

Bibliography, LION, etc

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Key Library Resources

Use LibrarySearch for items on your reading list: http://librarysearch.rhul.ac.uk

Use your Subject Guides for databases, including reference material: http://libguides.rhul.ac.uk/English

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Your reading list

On your laptop, tablet, smartphone, etc… please go to

socrative.com

1. Go to Student Login

2. Type RHULLibrary into this box, and Join Room.

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Finding primary sources - Literature Online

Try http://libraryblog.rhul.ac.uk/2014/09/25/literature-online-lion/

Access Literature Online via the English Subject Guide

To find a specific work

• Use the Quick Search bar – type the title in quotation marks to search for a phrase, use the ‘Narrow results’ options to limit by type of text

• Use the Texts option to browse or search

To find phrases/quotations in a particular work

• Use the Texts options to search

• Include Keywords in the Keywords search box, and as much other information as necessary e.g. author, title…

Using the Look Up options helps to narrow your search quickly.

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Finding William Carlos Williams ‘Spring and All’ recommended on your reading list

What do the quotation marks do?

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Finding William Carlos Williams ‘Spring and All’ recommended on your reading list

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Finding William Carlos Williams ‘Spring and All’ recommended on your reading list

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How to find the Search/Browse Texts option

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What does the protagonist of Northanger Abbey have to say about history?

Why is this better?

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What does the protagonist of Northanger Abbey have to say about history?

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What does a particular author have to say on a topic?

Click on the Biography icon next to an author’s name for information, a list of texts, and the option to search all full texts by this author

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Finding primary sources – Early English Books Online (EEBO)

Access EEBO from the English Subject Guide

Early English Books Online provides copies of works published between 1475 – 1700

To find a specific work

• Use the Search option

• Select Author and Title details ‘from a list’

• View text, scanned images, bibliographic information…

To search within a work

• Include the keywords you are interested in in the Keyword(s) search

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Why ‘select from a list’?

Variations in spelling will make accurate searching difficult

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Finding Christopher Marlowe’s ‘Hero and Leander’ recommended on your reading list

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Icons

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Icons

Record: bibliographic information from the British Library on the physical item

Document images: a scanned, downloadable, copy of the physical item to browse

Illustrations: view any illustrations in the document

Full text: a plaintext copy of the document with links to document images

Thumbnails: thumbnail versions of all of the document images, which link directly to the relevant pages

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How many times is Leander mentioned in Marlowe’s ‘Hero and Leander’?

Use the arrows in the text to skip between ‘hits’/instances of the word

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Don’t forget! Primary sources are available online, but also in the Library!

The English Literature collection is spread across all floors of Founder’s Library

Ground Floor East

Literary Criticism and American Literature

Old English, Middle English, and Shakespeare

17th Century English Literature to present day

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For next session – evaluating information

Please work through the presentation at

http://libguides.rhul.ac.uk/EnglishYearOneAnd complete the exercise on the same page.

You will find a link to this page under ‘Training’ on the English Subject Guide: libguides.rhul.ac.uk/English

Any questions about accessing the presentation, email Kim at k.coles@royalholloway.ac.uk

See you on Wednesday 12th November at 12pm in the Windsor Auditorium

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Questions?

Kim Coles

Information Consultant

2-07 Bedford LibraryRoyal Holloway University of London

k.coles@rhul.ac.uk

01784 404107

libguides.rhul.ac.uk/English

23 Leo Reynolds. Flickr. CC-BY-NA

Library Services

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What did you think?

Please use your phone, laptop, tablet etc to go to this page, and complete a form.

http://tinyurl.com/nyuhvqq

It’s totally anonymous and helps to make sure Library sessions are better in future.

Thank you!