Advanced Pathway conversations

Anna  0:33   

So hello Victoria thanks for agreeing to be interviewed today. 

Firstly, could you just introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your role? Perhaps explain what an academic liaison librarian is?  

Victoria  0:48   

Yes, of course. Hello. Thank you for having me. My name is Victoria Rees. And my role in the library is to be the point of contact between the academic school which is soft in my case, and the library to ensure that we are providing the tailored library services needed to support yourselves and the academics in your school. In other words, I am your link to the library and the aim to support your research and help you explore your subject via the library's physical and digital collections. It will be useful for you to find out who your academic liaison librarian is, as a team, we work with your academics and the wider library to provide you with the access to the resources that you need.  

Anna  1:30   

Well, that's great. So you act as a kind of bridge between the library and students and staff really?  

Victoria  1:36   

That's right. Yeah. 

Anna  1:38   

So the next thing I wanted to talk to you about really is the support that the team offered to students. So perhaps you could tell us a little bit about the support that you and your colleagues often,  

Victoria  1:49   

Of course, essentially the academic liaison librarian team will support your locating, retrieving and evaluating information using the catalogues and databases we have in place by the library. In today's society where information is everywhere, thinking and analysing what you are presented with is a great skill to obtain, especially with the possibility of fake news that we are all too aware is out there. We offer support in many formats. We work with your lecturers to provide information sessions within your courses. We also offer standalone sessions called the bite size that are great for giving you the information you need to fully utilise the library and a well worth a look. All the information on these sessions can be found on the website. We also offer 40 minute one to one appointments with students like yourselves, where we can sit and focus specifically on the topic you're studying and come up with keywords, search strings and search techniques to help you navigate the resources available. These are offered both in person and online depending on how you learn best to book these you just need to head to your school department page on the library website. Further to this we also offer library dropping sessions. These are weekly during term time and a great to help you with those quick research queries you may have.  

Anna  3:12   

So there's a lot of support out there for you to access yes with lots and lots of ways that students can meet the team and get support. So that's really useful to hear about and yeah, so they just need to go to the website to find out about all the different ways if they forgotten them later. That's right. 

And as I'm just talking about online support Are there any other things that you wanted to mention about support students could access online?  

Victoria  3:41   

Well, other places that students could explore would include the subject guide pages on the library website. These are created by your academic liaison librarian and will help you to identify really relevant and useful materials specifically for your subject. They are a great source to begin to immerse yourself in your subject. The study Hub Pages are another extremely useful site to look at, full of information on research and assignments and well worth an investigation if you have the time. And there is also the library pathway, which is a design set of steps to take you through using the library and researching full of hints and tips, videos and podcasts. This is a great place to go. 

Anna  4:25   

Feedback does tell us actually that the subject guides are really valued and a really brilliant place to start. So make sure you find your subject guides that are relevant to you if it's what I'd say. And hopefully students will see you as an academic liaison librarian at some stage anyway, as you mentioned earlier, so hopefully one way or another they will get the support they need.  

Victoria  4:49   

Yes. And I'd like to add Do not be afraid to get in touch with your librarian. Even if you think your query is small or it's not for your main assignment, we are there to help so never be cautious to get in touch and just ask.  

Anna  5:03   

Brilliant. 

So finally, I just wanted to talk to you about whether you had any top tips for students who were starting a research project or a dissertation and what would they be?  

Victoria  5:17   

Well, I am glad you asked me that. I always get students coming to me stressed or overwhelmed and so some top tips from my time in this role supporting students as well as based on my own experiences of writing research projects, would be initially discover who your academic layer liaison librarian is. That has to be one of my first tips so you know who to get in touch with if you need help, then look for when the dissertation bite size is running. This is a session designed to get you started with your dissertation and is jam packed full of useful information. And then I have a series of top tips.  

So number one would be to start small. Sometimes one of the hardest things to do is just to get started. So my advice is make your first task an easy one that you can tick off the list. Maybe it is create some keywords for search and with possibly as a mindmap. Maybe it's read that chapter that was recommended by your tutor or print off those articles suggested for reading whatever that small task is once you've done it, congratulations, you've made a start.  

Anna  6:26   

Well, yes, that's that's one of the things that students do tell us once they've completed a dissertation is their tip would be just get started whatever it is. Just get over that initial inertia and get going and you'll you'll feel a lot better.  

Victoria  6:39   

Great. I guess my next tip would be to have a plan. Each stage of your project will take time. Make sure you have a rough plan in place to give you the time you need to do it all I would suggest that you start early research always takes longer than you think it will and that you make sure you have enough time for proofreading and editing as well. The last thing you want is to run out of time on an extended research assignment. And there are lots of planning tools on the study hub to help students with that as well. So do have a lunch. Thanks, Tori. Sorry. Excellent. That's great. My next tip would be where do you start? Well begin with Library Search. Go to your university library homepage. You'll be able to do a broad search across a wide range of resources all in one go. Use the filters to narrow your results. Use key words and combine them with an or a not terms. Attend an introductory bite size on how to use the library search to learn about all these features, you'll find is a great place to begin your research and begin with what we call a background or a scoping search. By starting nice and broad. You'll be able to see the amounts and types of information on your wider topic and then you can narrow down from there. Thanks Victoria. And there are videos on the pathway about how to search library search and also about search techniques as well to help you so do have a look at those. Excellent. My next tip would be reference as you go. This may seem obvious but we have all been there where we have read something key to the argument we're making and where was that? Where did I find that? My recommendation is have a system to record items as you go. It can be as simple as a photo of the cover and publication page. You could use a reference management tool or you can write down the full bibliographic reference as you go along. Whatever your system keep a track of the items using the study hub has some fantastic referencing guides that you can access so do look there for more information on this.  

Anna  8:51   

Yeah, that's a really good tip Victoria. And if people do get stuck with referencing as well, they can talk to the academic skills team about some support with that. So do look at the StudyHub. 

Victoria  9:05   

My next thing I would say is be critical. What do I mean by that? Well, essentially, think more and maybe read less. Make sure you don't lose sight of your focus when reading. How relevant is this item to your research? If it isn't relevant, then do you want to be spending time analysing it? Yes, it's also necessary to maintain an open mind and be flexible in your project so you can change it as needed. But always keep a focus in mind. Now a good way of thinking about this is to ask yourself the question, what would you like someone reading your dissertation to understand by the end of it?  

Anna  9:44   

Yeah, that's really good. And I think as well it's just keeping an eye on the focus as you're reading and writing and when you're writing if the focus changes a little bit, don't be afraid of that. Don't be worried by that. But just evaluating the focus as you go along is really good.  

Victoria  10:00   

Definitely. 

Next, I would say don't compare. This research journey is completely your own. Do not compare your progress with others. It could overwhelm you and it could cause anxiety, stick to your plan. Be true to your own topic. And remember, any work you do that maybe doesn't make it into the final cut is not wasted because it all adds to the wider concept, context and your greater knowledge of the subject and yeah, that's a really good tip. 

Anna  10:31   

I like that one. 

Victoria  10:33   

And then I would say enjoy it. This is your opportunity to use the skills and knowledge you've gained so far on the course and to apply it to a topic that interests you choose something you are genuinely interested in and the rest will fall into place and visualise how proud you will feel once you have completed it. Yeah, that's that's really good. And one of the main tips we got from a student survey about dissertation was to choose something you're really passionate about and you're really into otherwise it's just going to be told tedious and stressful. So really think about something that really interests you definitely. And finally, remember you are not in isolation. If you feel you are struggling at any stage of the process, or need a pointer just to get you back on track. Then do ask for help. You have the subject expertise from your personal tutors. You've got the research expertise of the librarians and you've got the academic skills expertise from the Ask team. There are opportunities to engage with all these people throughout the process by a sessions one to one appointments, drop ins and emails. Never be afraid to come forward for assistance. And good luck.  

Anna  11:48   

Well thanks so much Victoria and yeah, so please, please do ask for help if you if you get stuck on on along the way. 

And we will have those top tips available separately as an audio device so he just wants to listen to those tips again another time you can find them on the pathway as well. But Thanks Victoria so much. That's been really great. Thank you 

Anna  0:07  
Let me introduce you to Carol, current Archives and Special Collections officer. Carol, could you briefly introduce yourself, please?

Carole  0:16  
Oh, yes. Yeah, as you said, I'm the current Archives and Special Collections officer. I've worked with the archive service for around 10 years now in different paths.

Anna  0:26  
Thats a long time!

Unknown Speaker  0:28  
I've only recently taken over the role of archivist in the last year with when a colleague was on maternity leave, and  I'm really enjoying it is fantastic. And I'll carry on working with Sara who has recently come back off maternity leave and also Rowena, who's our archives assistant so quite a small team. But we've worked with each other quite a long time. So we know each other really well and our collections.

Anna  0:52  
That's brilliant. And could you give a brief overview of Archives and Special Collections. Now, what are some of the collections you hold and what does the team do?

Unknown Speaker  1:04  
Yes. And so we look after and provide access to collections owned by Falmouth University and the University of Exeter on this campus for use in learning, teaching and research. We have over 40 archive collections and nine special collections. And this is either unique rare or specialised material. So that can encompass anything from photographs to diaries, to film, to posters, manuscripts. You name it, we've probably got it in the archive, and a whole range of different subjects so anything from history to art, writing, politics, photography, theatre. Yes. So yeah, we've got collections of individual people, so things like the Cornish playwright Nick, dark and right Patrick Gale, also institutional records of the history of the university Falmouth University. Archive, the Campbell School of Mines archive, through to business archives, such as for theatre companies, such as kneehigh and wild works as well.

Anna  2:13  
Right. Very varied collection there. And what does the team do? Is there anything tell us about your roles?

Unknown Speaker  2:24  
Obviously, we provide access to those collections in a variety of different ways. So that can be through teaching, which I'm involved with and have support from the archival system with through reader appointments in our reading room where people can request items and come in and view them and also, we offer student placements as well. So students get to do some of the behind the scenes work on collections or create exhibitions of materials. So it's kind of learning transferable skills that they can use elsewhere in their career moving forward.

Anna  2:58  
Brilliant. I didn't know that. So that's really interesting. And how might students find out more about the collections before they get in touch with you? Can they do anything online or look up information about the collections before they get in touch? Yes.

Unknown Speaker  3:18  
There's a broad overview of all of the collections available on the website and the briefest introduction. There's also for more detail, you can look on the catalogue. So we have a catalogue for the archive material. And there's also you can look at the Special Collections and rare books come from the library catalogue. So you can search through those right. But you can and we also have a set of research guides. Yes, subject specific so if you're interested in Cornish festivals, for instance, there'll be a research guide that pulls resources from across our collections quite varied a different formats of materials that relate to that. So that's the basic thing is if, if you don't know specifically what you're looking for, don't worry about that. You can drop us an email, or you can put by the office and have a conversation we provide access to a lot of our material, it's uncatalogued, and we know our collections really, really well. So if you come and talk to us, we can usually suggest something that would be appropriate or if we don't have it, we normally know who might have it. 

Anna  4:27  
So that's the best thing is to get in touch. If they're not sure really. And one of my questions was about how you can help and support students with their research and access but basically they get in touch and tell you what, what they're interested in and then you can take it from there. 

Unknown Speaker  4:44  
Yeah, so make an appointment. We get the material out for them to look at. We give them help and support with handling it because as often handling requirements around some of the specialised material, I certainly say a bit of a chance to talk to the person so sometimes initially, we get a selection of material out for first appointment and then the person says well, actually, I'm quite interested in this particular aspect. And then we can suggest things that they come in for the next visit. And we can we have that kind of bit of dialogue so that we can students find the thing that they're looking for and the relevant thing for the piece of work that they're working on.

Anna  5:22  
Right? Yeah, well I was going to ask, you know how students might find the collections useful for the dissertation or research project. And I wondered whether you had any examples in which students have used collections in a research project previously?

Unknown Speaker  5:39  
Yes, we actually run a brief every year with a textile students where we select we operate as a client, and we get the students to create a piece of work based around specific archive collections. So from a creative point of view, they're actually quite extended project that lasts a whole module. So that's quite a significant piece of work for their portfolio. Other ways we work with the students say we work with them and teaching them they often have an assignment attached to that and they'll come in so that might be an extended essay, or it might be a dissertation that they come back for, we often give help and advice around, you know, the resources that we have for that and what materials might be appropriate, or we can we can suggest different avenues because a lot of our collections are connected, right? So you can approach one subject from a variety of different angles. And because we know our collections so well, we're often helped to a, you know, can advise on that. We often find that students that use the collections because it's really good to have primary sources, particularly when you're writing dissertation. They do quite well that really go with it often really, it's reflected in the results that they get. So we've had quite a lot of students that have done really quite well at UCL. 

Anna  6:59  
That's fantastic to hear. So, we we recommend you get in touch everyone and if students are on campus, where are you based?

Unknown Speaker  7:13  
 You go to the ground floor of the exchange. So if you through the main entrance of the exchange, go past careers, and then there's a small corridor? Would that the end pass the study pots, so you'll find our office there and then next to that is our reading room. Where you would come for appointments? Were always on hand. Should should we be?

Anna  7:36  
But for any of our students who are online, predominantly, I mean, are there any digital collections they can still access?

Unknown Speaker  7:46  
We're get we're getting increasingly more content available online. So we did a series of online exhibitions, which contain material from the archives. We've also done quite a lot of during COVID. We did a lot of digital resource packs, if you are looking to me was to serve those that have archived materials within them and they get quite a lot of use by students online. We also have now a large photographic collection that's completely catalogued and available through JSTOR so brilliant 13 and a half 1000 images of porn between the early 1950s and early 1980s. Wow. But it covers a huge variety of different subjects, from anything from Corniche events and festivals to built environment to flowers. Whether, yes, a sport it's very very diverse. So there's normally something in there that will appeal to most people if they're particularly if they're researching things to do with Cornwall. 

Anna  8:48  
That's brilliant. Thanks. Well, thanks for that Carol, and I'm sure lots of people will be in touch now to to explore your collections but that's brilliant.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai
 

0:07   

Let me introduce you to Alana Bardill, our collections manager. I wanted to chat with Alanna to highlight some of the collections you may not be so aware of as you approach your research project. 

0:19   

Hi Alana. Firstly, could you introduce yourself?  

0:24   

Yes, I am the library collections manager. I work as part of the content and discovery team. I manage the collections the journals collections, part of my role is liaising with suppliers to get the best kind of deals for resources for the library. I also work closely with the academic liaison team and sourcing materials for the library and making sure that we get what the students need what's particularly what's on the resource list and what's available for research.  

0:57   

Thanks, Alana. 

0:59   

Now, I dare say most students will be aware of our huge collections of books and journals, which are available but there are some parts of our collection which they may not have discovered yet. And I was hoping to chat with you about some alternatives to print sources, which students might not have encountered yet. So I wondered could you share some starting points for exploring some of our other collections? 

1:26   

Well, yes, I mean, I've worked in the library now for more years than I care to remember. I've worked in lots of guides, it's my, my previous role to this. I've been doing this role for a couple of years just under a couple of years. So before that, I was a multimedia librarian. So I kind of know quite a bit about the multimedia collections. And I think sometimes you don't always find stuff from reading material. So sometimes you might find interesting items in the video and DVD in streaming collection. We've got a huge DVD collection. of documentaries, animated films, World Cinema, all sorts of subject areas. It's a hugely diverse collection. So that's one that can be tapped into. We also have an archive going back to the 1980s with the videos. Some of the collections now are quite rare. Particularly. I think, actually in the 1980s. For instance, there was a channel four, there was an editing Commissioner, who commissioned unknown animators to produce work for television, and this was something that was had a lot of funding so we have a great collection that we've managed to stream most of it to Libplayer.  

2:50   

That's what I was going to talk to you about. So how people can access many things online.  

2:54   

So yes, I mean, live player is the library's own streaming platform. And it's the titles are discoverable within library search itself. So all of the items are, gosh, over 8000 items, which people can access, and it's all available via the library search because we catalogue each item as well so it's discoverable through the collection for your general searching when you're searching for all items.  

3:24   

There's also a collections button on the library service that gives you access to all 8000 If you wanted to browse that shelf collection is available on all platforms, on all browsers, from all devices, internet enabled, so that works really well it's really good quality video playback. External fast. Yeah, they can. It's very good for if you want to do some presenting using that material it's really good for because it's good quality. It's good. It doesn't over pixelate when you're watching on a big screen, for instance, in in a lecture theatre, or some other video resources.  

4:09   

Yeah, there's something else that we subscribe to called Box of broadcasts and that's available for all students and staff. They just need to log on. It's searchable through Library Search and also database lists as well from their lovely website and you can find on there it's it gives you kind of three things that you can do. You can search an archive, which goes back to 2007 or, I believe, but actually box of broadcasts have just acquired the BBC archive. So it's not all on there, but you can request on putting us to do that through the library. Just use the library chat or send an email and we can sort that out. So So box book has we call it Bob for short. So Bob allows you to actually have your own personal Bob so you can have your own personal playlists. You can also make clips as well which is really good. And the beauty as well off of Bob is that it's your own collection. So you're kind of developing your own collection you can also each each recording has a transcript so you can search a transcript. So if you're looking for a particular subject, you can search that and what it will do is quite clever, it'll go to that piece in the way that word is spoken in the video plays from that point, which is great as well. And you can just make it your own kind of personal and also because we pay a licence. We pay an ethical educational recording agency licence fee each each year. And that allows as students for instance, if they don't have a TV licence, they can use us proper personal TV. And it's also radio broadcast as well.  

6:03   

So yeah, I think that's very popular.  

6:05   

It is very popular actually is one of our most popular databases. If we were to look at all the analytics. Yeah, definitely. 

6:12   

And are there any other resources or collections that you'd recommend for students? Like visual sound collection? 

6:19   

I can I can think of a couple of other so we've got the Alexander Street Press, films collection and audio as well so you can search that from one of the date. Just look up on the street press on the migraine search though you can be able to find that which has got quite a few films and documentaries and such on that. And also, if you come across a title that definitely haven't got you can always request it and we can look into it and access to because you buy sort of a year's worth of streaming, so you can access it for you, that kind of thing. So that's really good if you've got a particular piece of research that your subject that you're looking at, and you can't find anything else but you find something. So it's always worth asking anyway, if you discover something and we haven't got it in the library we can look at getting access to it for you.  

7:14   

And we do have a guided subject guide for the video, image and sound. Uh, yes, we do. There's definitely a guide to all the other sort of databases and so that's a good start. It's a really good starting point. Yes.  

7:32   

And finally, can I ask you a bit about accessibility in the library? So if you wanted to access resources in a more accessible way, how can you go about that? If you've got any tips? Yeah, there's there's all sorts out there kind of software wise to help with accessibility. So we've got reading out software there. There's something on there's a section on the studyhub but is was probably the best place to go because it's got an up to date list of suggestions in there as well. We have a library reader in the library as well. And that can sort of read, read aloud, any print content, and digitise chapters, etc. People have gotten queries on that they can just ask them ask away. Yeah, absolutely.  

8:27   

Yeah. Well, thanks. That's been really interesting. And I hope that's given students a few other places to look when there's, they're doing their research project. 

8:37   

So So Thanks My pleasure. Okay.  

Transcribed by https://otter.ai 

Here are some top tips from other students who've already completed their research project.

Do something you want to know more about, don't bother doing something if you don't care about it, it will be boring and stressful.

Reference sources as soon as you read them, record all your complete references so you just pick them out when you need them.

Definitely use the library staff and book a session with your subject librarian. It was very helpful.

Just start writing. If you're having a mental block, just start writing anything and all of a sudden things will come to you.

Use the referencing guides, they are very comprehensive and break down each reference clearly.

Start researching as early as possible. You don't need to have any idea what your specific topic is going to be but broad research around a topic that interests you will get the ball rolling so much quicker.

Use a variety of sources. I obviously read a lot of books but I also listened to podcasts, watch a lot of YouTube and closely followed the work of artists on Instagram to see what they're talking about. Not necessarily for direct use within the writing, but to understand broader discussions.

Do little by little I really regret not doing that. I overwhelmed myself in week one and stressed a lot. It's good to have a routine. Although I never did. I wish I did!

 Open up your research to many avenues, but ensure it is recognised as academic quality of research.

Don't worry about making Polish blocks of text at the start. Just rough outlines and key points always sign into Library Search. Otherwise it can seriously slow down your access to online sources.

See our Padlet on the Study Hub to find out other top tips from students who've completed their research

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Victoria  0:03  
Welcome to the 10 top tips for your dissertation. 

Victoria  0:06  
1. Tip number one, discover who your academic liaison librarian is. So, to get in touch with us if and when you need any help.

Victoria  0:16  
2. Look for when the dissertation bite size is running. This is a session designed to get you started with your dissertation and is jam packed full of useful information. 

Victoria  0:27  
3. Three, start small, sometimes one of the hardest things to do is to get started. So my advice is make your first task an easy one that you can tick off the list. Maybe it's create some keywords for searching with possibly as a mind map. Maybe it's read that chapter that was recommended by your tutor or print off the article suggested for reading, whatever that small task is, once you've done it, congratulations, you've made a start. 

Victoria  0:55  
4. Have a plan. Each stage of your project will take time. Make sure you have a rough plan in place to give you the time to do it all. I would suggest that you start early research always takes longer than you think it will. And that you make sure you've given enough time for proofreading and editing as well. The last thing you want is to run out of time on an extended research assignment. 

Victoria  1:20  
5. Five, begin with Library Search. Go to your university library homepage. You'll be able to do a broad search across a range of resources in one go. Use the filters to narrow your results. Use keywords combine them with an or an not terms. Attend an introductory bike size on how to use the library search to learn about all these features. You'll find it is a great place to begin your research and begin with what we call a background or scoping search. By starting broad you'll be able to see the amounts and types of information on your wider topic and be able to narrow down from there. There are also videos on the pathways and top tips on searching on the library pages. 

Victoria  2:02  
6. Six. Reference as you go. This may seem obvious, but we've all been there where we've read something key to the argument we're making and where did I find that? My recommendation is you have a system to record items as you go. It can be as simple as a photo of the cover and publication page to using a reference management tool. To a full bibliographic reference that you write down. Whatever your system keeps track of the items you look at. The study has some fantastic referencing guides that you can access. So do look there for more information on this.

Victoria  2:37  
7. Seven. Be critical. Essentially think more and read less. Make sure you don't lose sight of your focus when reading how relevant is the item to your research. If it isn't relevant, then do you want to be spending time analysing it? Yes, it's also necessary to maintain an open mind and be flexible in your project so you can change it as needed. But always keep a focus in mind. A good way of thinking about this is to ask yourself the question, what would you like someone reading your dissertation to understand by the end of it? 

Victoria  3:10  
8. Eight. Don't compare. The research journey is your own. Do not compare your progress with others it could overwhelm you and cause anxiety. Stick to your plan. Be true to your own topic. And remember, any work you do that doesn't make it into the final cut is not wasted. It all adds to the wider context and your greater knowledge of the subject. 

Victoria  3:32  
9. Nine. Enjoy it! This is your opportunity to use the skills and knowledge you've gained so far on the course and to apply it to a topic that really interests you. Choose something you are genuinely interested in and the rest will fall into place and visualise how proud you will feel once you have completed it. 

Victoria  3:52  
10 And finally, remember you are not in isolation. If you feel you're struggling at any stage of the process or need a pointer to get back on track. Then ask for help. You have the subject expertise from your personal tutors. You have the research expertise of the librarians. And the academic skills expertise from the Ask team. There are opportunities to engage with all these people throughout the process by a sessions, one to one appointments, droppings and emails. Never be afraid to come forward for assistance. 

Victoria  4:25  
Good luck!
 

0:01   

So welcome to this soundbite on the literature review. Now, you may be asked to do a literature review in the run up to your dissertation or as preparation for your research.  

0:11   

So what is a literature review? Well, it's an exploration of a body of knowledge to be found in relevant literature. That means books, academic journals and other significant writing in your topic area. So put simply, it is a critical look what's been written on a topic by scholars and researchers.  

0:29   

So what's the purpose of a literature review? Well, it shows you that you've engaged with a range of knowledge theories and concepts appropriate to your topic. It develops a deeper knowledge and understanding of your topic. It provides a historical contextualization to your area of interest and allows you to analyse and evaluate contemporary debates, issues and questions in a particular field.  

0:54   

You may ask what does the literature review mean for my dissertation or research project in particular? So here are some thoughts. It underpins and contextualise your research. It helps to show gaps in your knowledge that your research will address. It enables you to analyse and interpret the data you collect, and it provides an indication of related research in your field.  

1:17   

And finally, if you're not yet sure of your topic, here are some tips for defining it. Narrow down what you want to research as a narrow topic allows you to focus more deeply rather than skimming the surface. Divide your topic into key themes to make it easier to look up information. Use reading lists to identify key authors or theories that relate to the themes and make them your starting point. Do your key authors suggest any further reading? If so, track it down? Use the library specialist search engines to locate more sources. Ask a Librarian if you're not sure how these work. Organise your literature in folders and files grouped into themes. Read all your key sources and make notes make decisions as to whether you want to follow up more leads. Finally, fit the literature into key themes you've identified, if any don't fit, or they don't seem important enough to include put them to one side.  

2:15   

We hope this short soundbite was useful to you 

Rosie  0:06  
Serendipity is a term you may have heard before. It means happy chance encounter. This does not sound like a practical skill on the surface of it. It seems to imply that you conduct your research by waiting for information sources to come to you. This approach does not work well with deadlines, and it's not why me, let me explain. The term supposedly comes from a story about the three princes of SERENDIP who found a lost camel through the power of observation. Serendipity relies on observation, as well as an openness to experience and the ability to learn from unexpected information. When we research we don't want to limit our intake of information to things we deliberately search for potentially governed by algorithms. We want something a bit more holistic. After all, research is about discovery. And we need to find various ways of exploring what we don't yet know. So how do we apply this well, you may have already had many serendipitous experiences. For example, when someone mentions a word, phrase or concept that is entirely new to you. And then in the subsequent days and weeks that follow, you hear or see references to it multiple times. This is not some sort of magic, though it feels like it. It is serendipity. For you to observe these things, they need to be in the forefront of your mind. Think actively about your ideas and avenues of research as you research and as you go about your daily life. This is easier when you're interested or even passionate about your topic. It is then that you'll see connections between your research and other information sources you listen to watch or read. All of these will broaden and enrich your research, often helping you think beyond your discipline or subject area. 

Are there any obvious clues that information is of a good quality?  

If you pick up a book from the library you can be relatively confident of its quality, so you might want to check who the publisher is wherever its current enough field purposes as information books softer less up to date but in other sources. But if you're looking at journal articles by the library databases or from your reading lists, again you can be relatively competent, they are from trusted sources, because they'll have been selected by a lecturer, or by the publishers gone the database, but I think you will find, I certainly as a researcher, even though I'm a librarian did go out on the web. And I think the difficulty when you're doing that is you have to really consider what it is that you found so when I find something I don't know much about I look at things like whether there's a bibliography or a list of references, I'd probably look at who the author is and check whether they're affiliated to a university or some other professional body. And that's a good one, because I think you do need to work out whether they are somebody who you would want to read and know who they might be, but also I think you need to find out wherever you can actually see where it's come from so if it's an article from a journal which journalists from and the full details of when it was published and if it's a chapter in a book the same thing so there are a lot of things that sit on the web, out of context, and you do need to know that context to find out whether they are something you can use or not, if only for the simple reason you've got to reference it at the end of the day when you use it in your work.  

Your Academic liaison librarians have created subject guides for the subject areas taught at Falmouth. These provide guidance and links to specialist resources to help you with your research and can be found on our library website@library.fx plus.ac.uk Exeter, students can also find subject LibGuides via the University of Exeter library. Simply select X university on the library website homepage to find your way. Subject Guides can be really useful starting points for exploring collections relevant to your path of study. Remember, though, that there may be more than one guide that relates to your research, and all our guides are available to explore no matter what subjects you're studying. We have created a video introducing you to film the subject guide which can be found on our library pathway resources. To find the Falmouth Subject Guides, select Falmouth university on the library website homepage and select Explore your subject guides in the Discover Resources menu. You can then select your department to discover the key related subject guides developed by your librarian. We'd recommend familiarising yourself with the guides before you need to use them. So do take time to explore before you have any assignment deadlines looming. And remember the academic liaison librarians are always available to help if you get stuck.
 

The library website is your gateway to all our resources. The library search box can be found on the homepage, enabling you to delve straight into searching our collections. There's also our latest news on the homepage and all our contact information. You can also access the library subject guides by the website and these provide a really good starting point for discovering resources and collections that are relevant to you. All the current information about how to access physical and online library spaces and collections can be found there. So we recommend exploring the website as soon as you can. There's a website search box at the top of all pages. So if you have something specific you're trying to find out, you might want to use that there are videos introducing the website and the subject guides included in the pathway videos. So take a look at those if you want a guided tour of either so please visit the website at library.fxplus.ac.uk or just search for FX plus library via a search engine like Google.

The library is at the heart of the university and your student experience, you will all use it in one way or another. The opportunity to explore and research your fields of interest in depth via the collections we hold is a time limited one. So do make full use of our resources while you have access and whether you use the physical or the virtual spaces and resources that the library provides. Embracing your library will enable you to fully benefit from the learning experiences offered by your course. The library gives you access to a wealth of high quality paid for resources, which are recommended by our academic teaching staff. Many of these cannot be accessed in any other way, at least without great individual expense. Our online collections also provide digital access 24/7 to support your studies and your research wherever you are. Remember too that your library provides access to support from experts, your academic liaison librarians or subject specialists. We're there to support you in your research. Find your librarian on the library website and make use of them either by booking an online appointment, emailing them or attending a drop in on campus if you're nearby. So for success on your course, please do make full use of and value your library and your librarian during your time at university.
 

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