Where you search depends on what type and how much information you need.
Try looking at our online dictionaries, encyclopedias and other reference sources:
Find print and e-books by searching for your topic keywords in the Enterprise catalogue using the search box below. Remember to keep your search quite general as you just searching the titles of books, not their contents.
Find journal articles using our Summon Discovery tool and searching relevant databases. See guidance below.
Journals, and the articles contained with them, are one of the most important forms of published information in many disciplines. They are the best place to find up-to-date research and reviews of developments in a field.
Our Summon discovery service gives you quick and easy access to online articles and other materials covered by the Library's subscriptions, so you should be able to access everything you find on there.
Type your topic keywords in the box below to find articles, e-book chapters, newspaper articles and much more:
The Library subscribes to databases which you can search to find relevant articles. These allow you to run more precise searches than is possible in Summon, and will extend your search beyond our collections (vital if you are doing a literature search for your dissertation or PhD).
Databases will give you references to journal articles, book chapters, books, and other types of publication. Some will give you full-text. Some databases will cover different types of materials, others will give access to only one type e.g. Index to theses. As the subject and journal coverage of these databases varies, you will need to search more than one database to ensure you don't miss useful references.
Find out which databases are relevant for your subject via the link below:
Although books and journal articles are the most commonly used types of information depending on your specialism you might need to find others. There are often specific databases which specialise on certain publications e.g. theses, conference papers, standards. For instance if you are starting a PhD you should check the thesis databases to make sure someone hasn't already researched your topic.
See our guides to help identify which databases to use:
Google and other search engines are not recommended for literature searching because you can't be sure of the quality and reliability of the information you find. They don't have the facility to construct a comprehensive search or filter results in the way that you can on databases.
Google Scholar is an alternative but there are still quality and reliability issues with using this for your search, so proceed with caution! However Google Scholar covers academic websites including institutional repositories, such as the University's own CentAUR repository, which can give you full-text articles written by academics at that institution. You can also set up your preferences on Google Scholar to show you when the full-text is available to you via our subscriptions. Beware that not all publishers allow their content to be indexed by Google Scholar, so you will need to search other reliable databases to ensure you don't miss vital publications.
