Finding resources for your assignment – where to start!
Start your search on the Library catalogue.
You can find the Library catalogue by logging on to the University
intranet and then selecting ‘Library’ from the options near the top of
the page. You will now be at the Library homepage, where you will see
a link to search the Library catalogue.
The catalogue has two options:
Use the local catalogue
option to search for
books; use the journal
article option to search
for journal articles.
Searching for an eBook by author & title:
If you know the title of a book and its author (for example, from your
Reading List) you can search on the catalogue to find it.
Enter the surname of the author and the title of the book (use the
‘local catalogue’ option).
For example:
Northedge, A. (2005.) The
Good Study Guide. Milton
Keynes: Open University.
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Search for: northedge, the good study guide
On the results page select the specific book which you want by clicking
on the title (in
this case, the
eBook.)
Then select ‘click here’
to be taken through to
the eBook.
Click on the writing to be taken
to The University of Winchester
login page. Enter your
username and password where
prompted.
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You can choose to either read the book online or download. If you
choose to download, you will need to select the number of days (up to
7). Once your selected number of days has ended, the eBook will
delete itself. If you want to download it again you will need to repeat
the process. There is no limit to the number of times you can
download the book.
Searching for an eBook about a topic:
You can search for books about a general topic, without needing to
know specific titles or authors’ names. (Use the ‘local catalogue
option’.) Make sure to keep your topic very broad and general (for
example, research methods).
On the results page you can use the options on the left hand side of
the screen to narrow down your
results and make them more
relevant for you:
For example, you can select all
results which are eBooks (found
under Format), or use the
options under Subject to narrow
down your search.
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Searching the catalogue for (physical) books:
You can also search the catalogue for physical books. You can either
search by author / title or by a general topic, as described above in the
eBooks search (again, use the ‘local catalogue’ option)
Unlike the eBooks, a results page for a physical book will tell you the
shelf mark. This represents the location on the Library shelves.
You may be able to request a
physical book as a postal loan.
Please see our Distance and Flexible
Learning policy for full details about
this service.
If you are in a position to travel into
Winchester and want to borrow the
book in person, you will need to make a note of the shelf mark (in this
case: 378.17/COT) You will then need to use this number to locate the
book within the Library building (if you are not sure about how to do
this, please ask at the Enquiries Desk, on the top floor of the Library).
Searching for journal article about a topic:
To search for journal articles about a general topic, return to the
Library catalogue and select the ‘journal articles’ search option.
Enter the general topic for
which you are searching.
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On the results page, use the options on the left to narrow down your
results and make them more relevant for you.
For example, select Fulltext only: Yes, in order to only see results
where you can click through and read the entire article. (If you do not
select this you will find some results where you are not entitled to read
the entire article. If you do wish to read an article which you find in
this way, you will need to request it via our Inter Library Loan service.)
You can also use the options
found under ‘Subject’ to help you
locate suitable articles.
Once you have found an article which you want to read, click on the
title.
This will take you to the results page of the journal article. This page
will give you information about the title of the journal in which the
article is published, the date of publication, the volume, issue and
page numbers. (You will need this information when completing the
bibliography or reference list in your assignment.)
From here, click on the link in the yellow box to log in. You will need
to enter your Library Borrower number.
(This is found on the back of your Student
ID card. It contains an extra digit (or the
letter X) when compared to your Student ID
number.)
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Using the catalogue to find a specific journal article:
You may have a specific journal article which you need to read (for
example, from a Reading List). To start with, you will need to be able
to identify the following information about the journal article:
author(s), title of the article.
For example:
Fox, C. (2013). Optimising primary care for people with dementia.
Mental Health in Family Medicine, 10(3), 143-151.
Search for: Fox,
optimising primary care
for people with dementia
This will take you through to the results page, where you can log in to
view the article.
Other online resources for your course – Library subject page:
From the Library homepage on the intranet you will find links to
subject pages.
On your subject page you will find
a list of specific online resources
for your course (found on the right
hand side of the page). These are
specialist resources. Next to the
title of each resource you will see a
short description of the type of
information which the resource
contains.
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It will be helpful to bear in mind the following principles when
searching these resources:

Start off with a broad, general search. Once you are on the
results page you may be able to narrow down (or refine) your
search to make it more specific. (If you begin with a very
specific search then you may not find any results!)

Look for any options to view full text results only (sometimes
known as ‘refine by full text’). If you do this then you will only
see results where you are entitled to click through and view the
full text. (If you do not do this then you may see some results
where you are not able to view the entire document.)

Look for any options to refine your results by date or
geographical location, to help make the results more relevant
for what you need.

If you are not finding many useful results, try to think of any
alternative words which can be used to describe what you are
searching for (for example, older adults instead of elderly).
Other online resources for your course – all resources:
To find a complete list of all the online resources to which the Library
gives you acces, go to the Library intranet homepage and select ‘all
resources’ (this is found on the left hand
side of the page – you will need to scroll
down).
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From here you will see an alphabetical list of all our resources, along
with a brief description. This list covers more than one page. (Please
be aware that a small number of these resources are only available on
campus. They will have the word ‘yes’ in the column for ‘On-campus
only’.)
If you have any problems accessing a resource please see our guide
(found on the Library page for Distance and Flexible Learners). You
can also contact us by email (Libenquiries@winchester.ac.uk) or phone
(01962 827306).
If you would like some more information about how to search the
Library resources to find information for your course, please get in
touch using the options above.
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