Finding and using information

Introduction

During your time at university, your ability to independently find, evaluate, and use scholarly information will be key to producing high quality work. Techniques such as identifying relevant keywords before you start searching and taking good notes as you read can help you manage this process. These guides will help you with the process of planning, searching, evaluating and getting the most out of the library's resources. 

Self-help guides and video guides

Our downloadable guides are available mostly as Word and PDF documents. If you need an alternative format, please email librarians@beds.ac.uk


Discover allows you to search across multiple library databases at the same time. These guides will show you how to get the most out of Discover.

DISCOVER in 5 steps [PDF]

Searching effectively for information [PDF]


These guides will introduce you to a range of key databases and searching skills

Searching effectively for information [PDF]


These guides will help you evaluate search results and choose the most effective resources to support your assignments.

Evaluating sources [PDF]

Evaluate with ACORN [PDF]

Academic reading [Reading list]

Evaluating information [Reading list]


Having searched for and evaluated key resources for your assignment you will need to think about how you will store, manage and use them. These guides will help you with that process. See also our guide to referencing

Getting started with RefWorks [PDF]

Be cautious when using free referencing tools online [PDF]

Referencing Journal Articles: finding reference info [PPTX]

Referencing (Harvard) Proofreading checklist [PDF]


study help

Search for guides in the Study Hub Self-Help repository



Our guides are available as Word documents. If you need an alternative format, please email studyhub@beds.ac.uk