You’ve come up with a great argument for your essay, but how do you prove it one way or the other? Well, one way is by using statistical evidence to support your position, and it might just get you a few extra marks as well.

What statistical sources are available?

The Library can provide you with access to a wealth of statistics covering a wide range of countries and subject areas.

The best sources of current statistics are online. For help on where to start looking go to the detailed guide to finding statistics.

A host of British statistics, covering agriculture, the environment, business, economic indicators, law, health, population and education, are freely available via the Office for National Statistics or as part of the Census data.

European statistics covering many of the same areas as the British statistics are available via the Eurostat service.

Comparative international statistics are produced by a number of bodies, the FAO, UNESCO, the IMF, the OECD and the World Bank amongst others, and many of these are available via the UK Data Service (don’t let the name fool you). You do have to register separately with this provider but it is free.

If statistics are particularly relevant to your subject area, your liaison librarian may have written a guide to statistical sources in your subject – check for one for your subject.

Some historical statistics are available online, for example in International Historical Statistics Online, but you may also find what you are looking for amongst our books and periodicals. Search the Enterprise catalogue and include the words ‘statistics’ with the subject of your choice. Try not to be too specific – a more general search will produce better results.

If you need help interpreting the statistics you find then why not ask for help from Maths Support.

Need further help?

If you need further help contact your subject liaison librarian who will be happy to help!

This is one of a series of tips to help you save time and effort finding or using information.

This tip was written by Gordon Connell, Liaison Team Manager for Business & Social Sciences.

Planning a poster, presentation or report? Adding an image, video or audio clip can help your audience understand your ideas and engage them with your argument.

The Library has a number of sources of multimedia which you can use in your coursework assignments and teaching. Why not explore some of the resources listed below in order to enrich your projects with pictures, audio and video that illustrate your point?

Multimedia can be a persuasive addition to your argument – but remember to consider it critically, as with any source, and reference images and clips appropriately giving credit to the original source.

Images

Our main resource for images is Britannica Image Quest – it includes over 2.7 million images from various collections including National Geographic, Getty Images, National History Museum and more.

University image collections

The University also has several image collections available – Special Collections have many images of the objects in their collections on their website which can be used in unpublished and non-commercial works. Special Collections covers many areas including Samuel Beckett, early English coins, early anatomy books and publishers’ archives. Please contact them if you want to know more about using these images.

Video & Audio clips

Our main collection of videos and clips is Box of Broadcasts (BoB), where you can view over 2 million TV & radio broadcasts from free-to-view channels from the 1990s to the present day. Create a clip from a film, documentary or news item, or search and view clips and playlists from academics at other UK universities. Videos can be streamed for use in teaching materials or student coursework, but only in the UK.

Get on the right side of the law!

All the resources listed here have guidance on how you may use the content on the access page to help you operate within the rules! For further guidance on using multimedia for educational purposes legally, see the University’s advice on copyright.

Citing multimedia

Like everything you refer to in your academic work, you need to cite the author of your image or clip and where you got it from – see our advice on how to cite different types of material or the BUFVC’s guide on citing audiovisual materials.

There are lots of other resources for images, video and audio available – some specifically for certain subjects. See what’s available on our image and sound page.

Need further advice?

For more guidance contact your subject liaison librarian.

This is one of a series of tips to help you save time and effort finding or using information.

This tip was written by Natalie Guest, Multimedia Manager.

Are all the print copies of the book you need to read out on loan? Have you reached the limit on the number of books you can borrow at any one time from the Library but you still need to read more? Is it cold and raining and you just don’t want to leave your room? No problem – the Library may have an e-book! E-books are available to you 24/7 from any device which is connected to the internet so are great when you’re off-campus. If you haven’t used e-books before, or want to make sure you’re getting the best experience, have a look at our LibGuide on e-books.

Finding e-books

You can find e-books using either Enterprise or Summon. Enter your search terms into the search box, then refine your results. On Enterprise you will need to choose the Online and Book filters on the left-hand side; on Summon you can select the Publication Type E-book from the filters on the left-hand side. See the Library’s guide on Summon for tips on how to make your results even more specific to what you need.

Accessing e-books

It’s important to know that our e-books are not all available on the same platform. Take a look at the Library’s page on e-books for a list of the different available platforms and more information on what they will let you do.

Although all our e-books can be accessed from any device with an internet connection, most e-book platforms do not automatically re-format the size of the text to fit your device. For the best viewing experience we would recommend accessing our e-books from a PC or laptop computer.

Most of our e-books use online e-reader software which is integrated into the platform, so you should not need to download any additional software. For some e-books you will need to download the relevant chapters in PDF format to view them. You will need Adobe Acrobat to read these.

Some of our e-books can be downloaded in full, but you may be prompted to install Adobe Digital Editions software to view them on your device. This software is different to Adobe Acrobat.

How can e-books help you to study smarter?

E-books have features which you can use to help you in your studies. For instance, you can search the text electronically to find key words or phrases. You can easily print off specific pages from most e-books, saving you the trouble of photocopying (though remember that rules about Copyright and the amount you can copy still apply). You can also annotate the e-book, writing your own notes which you can print or export. Don’t try doing this on a paper Library book!

If you’re using reference management software like EndNote, you may be able to directly export the details you will need for your citations. Do remember to use details for the e-book version, as page numbers may not be the same as in the print version. For more information on referencing, see our Citing References guide, or the Academic Integrity Toolkit.

Why can’t I access this e-book?

Some platforms, such as MyiLibrary and EBSCOhost only allow an e-book to be viewed by one or sometimes three people at a time. If you get a message saying the e-book is already in use, take a quick break and try accessing it again after a few minutes.

Any problems?

If you’d like more help on how to find and use e-books effectively, get in touch with your Liaison Librarian. If you’re experiencing technical difficulties accessing e-books, please contact the E-resources Team via the Problem Report Form.

This is one of a series of tips to help save you time and effort finding or using information.

This tip was written by Rachael Scott, Content Manager and Kim Shahabudin, Study Adviser.

If you’ve ever felt a little overwhelmed by the range of resources that the library has on offer then you might like to take a look at your very own subject guide! Every subject has a liaison librarian, and they have put together a guide for each subject with lots of helpful information and advice.

Where do I find my subject guide?

To access the guide for your subject just click on the “Explore your subject guide” button in the Subject Resources section of the Library homepage.

What will I find there?

Each guide is set up in a similar way. It will show you how to find books, reference materials, journal articles, electronic resources and other helpful websites that relate specifically to your subject.
You can find out the latest new books that have been bought, which databases will be the most helpful in your research, and also who your liaison librarian is and how to contact them, so you know who to come to for more help! There’s also our useful guide on citing references in your work.

How do I find the type of information I need?

The subject guides are divided into several sections, each with its own tab at the top of the page.
The Dictionaries and Encyclopedias tab gives links to online dictionaries and encyclopedias as well as highlighting key print titles that are in the reference section in the Library. There are links to general resources such as Credo Reference or Oxford Reference and more specific resources for your subject. It is far more reliable to use these sources than to use Wikipedia for your work.

The Books tab gives you tips on finding books using Enterprise and lists Call Numbers for particular topics within your subject area as well as telling you about new books that have been purchased for your subject.

The Journal articles tab gives you tips on finding journal articles on Summon and gives links to the key databases in your subject.

The E-resources tab will point you toward the key databases, but also suggests other useful resources, such as image databases or company financial databases that may be relevant to your subject.

The Websites tab gives you a list of websites that have been checked by subject specialists and could be useful for your work. There are also hints about how to evaluate a website, so if you run an internet search you can be more confident you are using reliable information.

The Citing references tab points you in the right direction for getting help with referencing and avoiding plagiarism. It also links to our information on using EndNote, bibliographic software which can take the hassle out of referencing.

Contact us!

We want to help you find the information you need. Please contact your subject liaison librarian if you are stuck.
The subject guide has links to their email address and office hours. You can also check out the Help tab for more advice.

This is one of a series of tips to help save you time and effort finding or using information

This tip was written by Karen Drury and Ruth Ng, Liaison Librarians.

Do you struggle with referencing? Have you been marked down for incomplete or inconsistent references? There are some online tools that can help!

Why use online referencing tools?

1. You can use them to store accurate details of publications to use in your assignments.
2. They can save you time compiling, checking and correcting references – just insert the citation and a bibliography is created automatically. You can also reformat your citations in a different style at the click of a button.
3. You can add notes to your references, to remind yourself of specific parts you might want to use.
4. Some allow you to store PDFs of the sources with your references, so that everything is together and in most cases available on any computer.

If you use an online tool you still need to know when to include a citation, and understand the principles of referencing. You can find help on this in Study Advice’s referencing guide or referencing video tutorials. You also need to be aware of which style your department requires you to use – consult your course handbook for details.

Which one should I use?

If you are an undergraduate or masters student…

… we recommend using EndNote Web. This online resource can be used on any computer (including your own PC or laptop) and is free to use.

You can get accurate reference details into it by: using the Online Search facility with the Library catalogue; the export option from Web of Science or EBSCO resources; or by importing records from Summon and other databases.

Once the EndNote toolbar is installed in Word, you can insert citations from EndNote Web into your assignments and it will automatically build the bibliography at the end. Select from a list of common referencing styles (including the University’s own ‘Harvard for Reading’ style) to format your bibliography.

EndNote Web is fully supported by the Library, so if you need 1-1 help, there will be someone here who can help.

To get started, come along to a workshop, try our step-by-step guide to using EndNote Web, or watch an introductory video.

If you are a research postgraduate or member of staff…

… we recommend using Desktop EndNote. This can be installed free of charge on any University-owned computer, and is already available on most campus PCs. A personal copy can be purchased at the discounted price of around £98.

References can be easily captured from many databases, and you can use the ‘Find full-text’ feature to automatically attach article PDFs to those references. A very large number of referencing styles are provided, including those for specific journals. You can download other ones from the EndNote website, or create your own by editing existing styles. It is also possible to share your EndNote library by synchronising with an EndNote Web account – useful for collaboration.

Find out more by coming along to a workshop, trying our step-by-step guides, or watching a brief introductory video.

Other options

There are a number of other referencing tools available, including Mendeley, Zotero and Word’s own referencing facility. Although we do not provide support for these, we have provided links to online guidance and videos via our Managing references guide.

Help

If you need help with using EndNote, or with any aspect of citing references, contact your subject liaison librarian who will be happy to help.

This is one of a series of tips to help you save time and effort finding or using information.

This tip was written by Jackie Skinner, Library Web Manager & Liaison Librarian.