Research Resources

Getting Started

• Quick Guide to Library Services and Resources for Researchers
• Tutorial Central is a suite of self paced learning modules designed to assist you to effectively use the resources available through the Library.

Information Gathering

• Literature review
• Resources
• Theses
• Effective searching
• Obtaining materials

Keeping up to Date

It is crucial to keep up to date with current developments in your field of research. One way to do this is by setting up alert services with relevant journals and databases.

Evaluating Your Material

One of the core skills in the research process is the evaluation of material retrieved.

Managing Your Information

A critical component of successful research is the recording of literature searched, read and reviewed. RefWorks and EndNote are bibliographic management systems designed to assist with this task

Intellectual Property

Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce such as trademarks and patents.

• UWS intellectual property policy
• A patent is a right granted for any device, substance, method or process which is new, inventive and useful. Patent searching is critical to determine if an idea is original prior to embarking on the patenting process.
• Plagiarism is presenting someone else's work as your own and is illegal. It can be avoided by referencing all your sources correctly.
• Turnitin is a text matching system designed to assist students to avoid plagiarism.
• Copyright is legislation governing the re-use of the intellectual work of someone else. For further information please contact the UWS copyright officer.

Collaboration

Researchers often collaborate with colleagues from other institutions state wide, nationally and internationally. 2Collab and RefShare are two tools designed to assist in this process.

Research Impact

Measuring research impact is important for many reasons including funding and employment/promotion applications. Impact can be measured by three main methods.

• Citation tracking involves searching for documents that have referenced a particular work to determine the relative importance of the work within the field.
• The h-index utilises citation tracking to formulate a "whole of career" measure of research impact.
• Journal impact involves determining the merit of a journal within a subject field.

Getting Published

• First steps
• Where to publish
• Strategies to increase citations to your publications
• Obtaining ISBNs
• UWS Research Repository

Further Assistance

• Research Services Librarian for research assistance including citation tracking, analysis and targeting where to publish.
• Liaison Librarians for subject specific assistance including database searching and information retrieval.
• Information Central for general assistance throughout Library opening hours, including evenings and weekends.
• Office of Research Services for information relating to grant applications and research policy.
• Student Learning Unit for assistance with academic learning and writing skills

Feedback

The Library welcomes your comments and suggestions