Researching information for the extended essay
Using Primo
Primo is the University’s library search engine which will search through the library’s book collection and electronic journals. To access Primo you should click on the drop-down menu ‘My Edesk’ and then click on ‘Library, Media and IT (ILS)’. Scroll down and click on the Primo icon (shown below):
It is recommended that you always use the advanced search in Primo to select your sources more precisely.
Searching using a keyword or key expressions:
Search for all the articles with ‘sustainable development’ somewhere in the title.
1. Set the first box displaying ‘Any’ to ‘in the Title’ using the drop-down arrow to the right;
2. Type ‘sustainable development’ into the box to the right of ‘contains’;
3. Click on the orange Search button below.
How many articles does it list?
To refine this search try:
· Restricting the search to articles published in the ‘last 2 years’ by setting the Publication date;How many are listed now?
· Now restrict the list to just books by setting the Material type;
How many are listed now?
How many are listed now?
How many of the books provide the full text online?
Viewing the text of electronic books
To look at the book by Peter Brandon, namely ‘Evaluating sustainable development in the built environment’:
1. Click on the title in blue. This takes you to the Myilibrary page. Do not try to log in with your username and password – it will not work.
2. Scroll down the page until you can see the text:
Click on the orange text.
(Athens is an identity management service and allows you access to the full text of a range of books and journals available only to subscribers, in this case it is the University of Plymouth. You must be logged on to the University of Plymouth website to be able to use Athens to access texts online)
3. You should now be able to read the text of the book. If not, it means that only a limited number can view the full text at the same time.
On the left of the text is a panel which allows you to view the Table of Contents (TOC tab) of the book, or you can search for text using the Search tab.
Above these tabs are three green tabs. Click on the one labelled ‘Bibliographic details’ to open it up to show the reference information. If you click on the Citation link then a box will display the correct form for the reference section of you work (choose APA).
On the left of the text is a panel which allows you to view the Table of Contents (TOC tab) of the book, or you can search for text using the Search tab.
Above these tabs are three green tabs. Click on the one labelled ‘Bibliographic details’ to open it up to show the reference information. If you click on the Citation link then a box will display the correct form for the reference section of you work (choose APA).
4. When you have finished viewing the text, you should log out of Myilibrary by clicking on Logout in the top right corner of the page.
Finding a book in the Library using Primo
One of the sources in the text book ‘Extended writing and research skills’ is taken from the book ‘An introduction to sustainable development’ by Jennifer Elliott. This is a useful text which gives a good description of three aspects of sustainable development. To find this book use the advanced search in Primo and:
1. Search for ‘sustainable development’ in the Title and ‘Elliott’ as Author/creator and set Material Type to ‘Books’, as shown below
2. Click on the book icon for the book in the list of books returned to get more information.
3. Using the tabs ‘Find it’ and ‘Details’, answer the questions below:
What is the maximum period that you can take this book out?
How many copies are available to borrow?
What is the subject code of the book which you need to find it?
On which floor will you find this book?
What is the maximum period that you can take this book out?
How many copies are available to borrow?
What is the subject code of the book which you need to find it?
On which floor will you find this book?
Floor
|
Book codes
|
2
|
001 - 499
|
1
|
500 - 639
|
0
|
640 - 999
|
Task 1:
1. You need to find a copy of an item whose title contains ‘blueprint for a green economy’ but you do not know the name of the author. Search for this item.
What kind of item is it (journal article, book etc)?
Where can you find it (online, on a shelf etc)?
How many are available?
How long can you book it out for?
What kind of item is it (journal article, book etc)?
Where can you find it (online, on a shelf etc)?
How many are available?
How long can you book it out for?
2. By clicking on the Details tab, you can:
Note the details of the item:
Click on the ‘Table of contents’ link in the Links box on the right to get a description of the book:
Note the details of the item:
Click on the ‘Table of contents’ link in the Links box on the right to get a description of the book:
3. Read the description of the book and consider whether you think that it would be useful.
4. Using the details of the item, write out the correct form of these for adding to a reference section in an essay.
Task 2:
1. Search for an item by author Zhu Yongguan and others which is about health effects of urbanization in China.
2. What is the actual title of the item?
3. What kind of item is it (book, journal article etc)?
4.
5. View the full text of this item (you will need to click Go beside the section ‘Full text available via American Chemical Society Journals’ on the Metalib page, shown to the right)
6. The text of this item contains an interesting section on ‘Features of Urbanization in China’ which has some useful comments. Fill in the blanks in the text below:
“The proportion of the urbanized population in China has increased from _____ in 1978 to_____ in 2009 (Figure 1). It is expected that some _____ million people will be added to the country’s urban population by 2025, and 1 billion people will live in Chinese cities by ______.(8, 9)”
“The proportion of the urbanized population in China has increased from _____ in 1978 to_____ in 2009 (Figure 1). It is expected that some _____ million people will be added to the country’s urban population by 2025, and 1 billion people will live in Chinese cities by ______.(8, 9)”
7. This item also has some useful diagrams which can even be downloaded. How many diagrams does it contain?
Task 3:
1. Use Primo to search for an article in the journal Nature, published in 2010 by Jane Qiu with the title ‘Q&A: Peter Hessler on urbanization in China’
2. Write down the full reference for this article that you would put in the reference section of an essay.
3. View the full text of this article – you will need to find the link to ‘login via Athens’ to get the full text.
Using Google Scholar
Google Scholar is an academic search engine that limits its searches to academic articles on the web.
1. Search for an article by Hinrichsen and Robey on population and the environment
(Hinrichsen & Robey, 2000).
(Hinrichsen & Robey, 2000).
2. Look at the full text and answer the following questions:
a. What do we know about the authors?
b. Is this an academic text?
c. Does it have some helpful facts and statistics?
d. Which sources have these authors used to get their information?
3. What is your opinion of this article?
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