Library Guides: Bachelor of Dermal Sciences: Overview

About this Guide

This guide has been designed to assist students studying the Bachelor of Dermal Sciences in developing research skills and locating sources of information

Steps to a successful assignment

1. Collect all your information about the assignment

the handout on the assignment (due date, word limit, formatting, presentation, marking rubric)
the type of resources required for your Reference List e.g. books, journal articles
notes from classes on how to do the assignment

2. Analyse and prepare

read your notes and class readings for direction
do a mind map on the topic- use questions to expand the ideas and knowledge you already have
do some preliminary research to expand your ideas
from your mind map write some points grouped under general headings (see the free mind map software)
where there are gaps in information (or more detail or examples needed) write down some questions that you can research
identify keywords and alternative search terms and search the Library for additional resources e.g. books, journal articles (see the video in this guide on searching for journal articles). If you can't think of any synonyms or related terms yourself, try searching a thesaurus, dictionary or encyclopaedia.
write a plan for your essay
what information do you already have? what further information do you need?

3. Read for Information

read Required Reading and make notes
read the additional articles etc. for information not in the Required Reading
prepare each Reference as you read it, ensure it is written in the APA referencing style. See the APA referencing guide for further assistance

4. Start writing

collect notes from your reading and start to build your essay
write the correct References for each of your readings for your Reference List

For more tips on writing better university assignments, check here

Keywords and search tips for finding information

Watch this video to learn how to identify keywords when searching for information on a topic

Successful keyword searching requires applying search techniques such as using operators to join search terms, specific phrases or relevant word variations. Use the tabs at the top of the panel to explore them.

The three most commonly used operators are AND, OR and NOT. They can broaden or narrow your set of results and exclude unwanted search terms and concepts.

For example:

AND will narrow your search returning results that contain all of your search terms

poverty AND homelessness

OR will broaden your search returning results that contain any but not all of your search terms. It is useful for finding synonyms or where different words are of equal value in your search

poverty OR low income OR poor

NOT will narrow your search by eliminating words from your search results. It should be used with care as it can easily exclude relevant results.

homelessness NOT mental health

To search for two or more words in exact order, place double quotation marks " " around the words. The database will only return articles containing that specific phrase rather than articles containing each word found individually anywhere in the text.

Example:

The phrase "low-income groups" will retrieve articles with all words as you typed them in with no other words in between.

Truncation is also known as stemming, is a technique that broadens your search to include alternative word endings and spellings.

To use truncation, enter the root of a word and put the truncation symbol * at the end.
The database will return results that include any ending of that root word.
For example:
child* = child, child's, children, children's, childhood

It is important not to shorten the root too much as it may retrieve too many irrelevant results. For example chil* will bring up childless, chiller, chilly, and Chile.

Writing Skills e-Books

How to fix your academic writing trouble : a practical guide by Inger Mewburn, Katherine Firth, Shaun Lehmann This book is an easy-to-use resource for postgraduate students and researchers in all disciplines, and even professional academics, to diagnose their writing issues and find ways to fix them.
Publication Date: 2019
What Is good scademic writing? Insights into discipline-specific student writing by Whong Melinda. "Each chapter provides an answer to the titular question by an EAP expert based on research which includes analysis of student writing and interviews with academics from around the world, as they are the people who determine what 'good writing' is in their discipline. Chapters look at established disciplines which have had less attention in the EAP and academic writing literature to date, including music, formal linguistics, and dentistry, as well as new and growing fields of study such as new media"
Publication Date: 2020