Skip to Main Content

Creative Audio: Project or Dissertation Support

Useful general books on research report writing

Document Delivery

If the item you want is not available from Ulster sources,  the Library's Document Delivery service can request material from the British Library and elsewhere.

You may request books and articles using the Online Request Form

Article requests will usually be sent to you electronically for download so you must register for British Library's On Demand service prior to requesting and read the guidance on Secure Electronic Delivery (SED). Book requests will be supplied as loans.

There is no charge for either service, although weekly limits may apply.

Not many books on your topic?

You may not find a complete book on your chosen topic, but there may be sections or chapters WITHIN books which you might find useful.

Google Books is a good way to find books with find matching text or chapter headings. See the search box below. 

Once you locate a relevant text, check the Library catalogue to see if we have the book in stock or request it via the Document Delivery service if we don't.

Google Book Search

Conference Papers

High quality research often appears first in the form of conference papers or posters. There are a number of sources you can check to locate conference papers or set up alerts to papers matching your research topic.

Managing your References

Dissertations require a significant number of information sources - books, journals, online sources. You should decide, at the beginning of the research process, exactly how you are going to store, organise and ultimately use the references, in your final bibliography.

Find a method that works for you, but make a point of recording the full bibliographic details of anything you plan to use WHEN YOU FIND IT - don't wait until the end of the process when you may have forgotten.

See the Referencing tab above for more information and tips, as well as the complete Refworks Guide.

A shorter more basic guide to Refworks is also available for easy download..

Full-Text Theses & Dissertations available online



The British Library's EThoS service provides abstract records for over 500,000 UK doctoral dissertations. Once registered, you can get full-text access to approximately half of these by limiting the keyword search to those theses 'available for immediate download'. Registration is free. Many records also have the symbol indicating that they are freely available from the relevant University's repository. Even if the doctoral level is more advanced than you need, they are useful sources of ideas and other references.

NOTE: EThOS records are available in USearch Use the Database filter at the bottom left  of USearch results screen to limit to those from EThOS.

Beyond Ulster Library

Although you should search the Library catalogue for books on your topic, your specialised research may mean that we do not have much on your subject.

COPAC gives access to the combined catalogues of over 90 UK academic and research institutions. Search for your topic there and if you find a useful book, you can request it using the Document Delivery service.

Using Google Scholar

Google Scholar Search

Google's Scholar search finds journal articles or other high quality information. It limits results to academic-related sources, such as peer reviewed journals, research based  working papers, books and other scholarly resources.

However, unlike Library databases, it has limited search options, restricted search size and prioritises keywords appearing first in your search strategy, so we recommend that it should not be your sole source of information. Use in combination with appropriate Library databases.

Follow the steps shown in this video http://screencast.com/t/GGEmSfm6 to get links to full text sources held at Ulster. .

To export any references to the Refworks database, go to the Scholar settings, choose the Bibliography Manager option and select 'Show links to import citations into' Refworks.

For more information on Google Scholar, including search tips and citation metrics see: http://scholar.google.co.uk/intl/en/scholar/about.html

If you intend to use the 'full' Google, check Settings for advanced search tips to improve the accuracy of your search. Northampton University also has a useful video - Ten Tips for Google Searching.

Come and see us

Finally: Don't panic.

It's really easy to let the dissertation process get completely out of control
  •  How do you know when have you done sufficient research?
  •  Do you have the skills to evaluate the usefulness and quality of sources?
  •  Is there a simple way to keep track of all the information you have found?

 

Why not make an appointment with the subject librarian at your campus who will be happy to identify good quality sources for your particular research topic?

See below for other recommended links to information about the research process.