Ask the Library

A good place to start your search is the Library Catalogue.

When searching for information, think about the keywords or phrases that describe your topic. You can combine your keywords to enhance your search using connectors such as AND, OR.

For example:

• "global warming" AND Australia
• "global warming" OR "climate change"

Handy Hints:

• To search for phrases, use double quotes. E.g. "global warming"
• To find variants of a word, use the * symbol. E.g. ethic* finds ethic, ethics, ethical etc.
• To find different spellings of a word, use the ? symbol in place of a letter. E.g. organi?ation  finds organisation or organization
• To exclude words or phrases, use the connector NOT. E.g. Java NOT Indonesia
• In the catalogue, as well as many databases, you can use the advanced search option to search within specific fields such as title, author, keyword or subject term

For further information, have a look at the range of How To guides

• Plan your search [PDF]
• Save Time Searching Databases with Truncation, Wildcards and Phrases [PDF]
• Plan your Search [video, 2 minutes]
• Learn to Search the Library Catalogue [interactive tutorial, 15 minutes]

More help is also available under 'How do I refine my search?'.

For help getting started with your assignment, check to see if an Assignment Help has been developed for your course. 

You can also have a look at the Subject Guides for broader help in your area of study.

If you need further help with understanding your assignment question and how to get started, check out the range of Study Support resources and services offered by Student Support Services.

To find peer reviewed journal articles, start by searching the Library Catalogue using your keywords. When your search results appear, you can refine them to show only peer reviewed.

From the Refine Search options on the left-hand side

• Under Show Only select Peer-reviewed Journals and
• Under Resource Type select Articles

For more information, see our How to find scholarly sources guide.

eReserve is the new reading list management system at UniSA.

To learn more, see the following articles:

• How do I access my ereadings?
• I am staff, how do I manage my ereadings?

Having trouble issues accessing an ebook, journal, article or database?

Try the following:

• If the article or ebook has more than one access link, try another link in the list:
  
• If an article, try searching for it within the journal itself. You can find the journal details in the information beneath the article title in the listing. Search for the journal title using our Journal Search:
  

If you’re still having trouble, please contact Ask the Library to report any problems.

The Referencing Roadmap can help you reference a wide variety of resources in the Harvard-UniSA style.

If you need more help with referencing or using other referencing styles, you can use the Referencing section of the Study Help webpage.

If you have a difficult question, you can post it on the Referencing Forum and the UniSA Learning Advisors will provide assistance.