Step 2 – find a book

Hopefully you will get chance to visit the campus Library in person but, even if you can’t, it’s a great idea to start becoming familiar with all it has to offer.  The Library has thousands of academic books, articles and other resources, all written by experts, which you can’t access through Google.  It can seem overwhelming, but you will get lots of help from your course and from the amazing Library staff.

As part of your course, your tutors will expect you to read the resources they select for you – you can find these in the ‘resource list’ for your module on Learning Space (Falmouth University) or as ‘reading lists’ within your modules on ELE (University of Exeter).

You will also be expected to read widely around your subject, beyond the books and articles cited on your resource list.  Now is a good time to hone those search skills.  Check out Library Search and track down something intriguing.  If you get stuck, there are videos, guides and your Subject Librarians to help you.

Remember, the Library has physical stock – books on shelves – but there are also tens of thousands of e-books and articles that you can access online.

Ready to go deeper?

Falmouth Students - check out the Library Pathway for a walk through of the what, why, where, when and how of finding and using information.   Exeter Students – your Subject Guide will talk you through how to carry out research in your subject area.  There’s also the StudyHub research skills pages for general guidance.