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Maybe you are feeling a bit overwhelmed by the vast amount of information suddenly available to you? 

In our Information Literacy guide we'll point you to useful resources and strategies to help you navigate with ease. It will help sharpen your skills in evaluating, accessing and using information from different sources - especially useful if your tutor has indicated your sources need to be "more academic".

Learn how to spot top quality and reliable sources, making well-informed choices and developing critical thinking skills.

Searching for Information is the first thing you will want to do when tackling an assignment.

Library Search provides a single search box for finding most of the library resources: print books, e-books, journals, articles, digital media and more.

Current issues accessing eResources:  Please see our Current Issues guide for details of any current issues and workarounds.

Google Scholar is a fantastic tool to search for journal articles and all kinds of academic resources.

Setting up Google Scholar with Staffordshire University links

You can configure Google Scholar to recognise content we subscribe to as well as having access to thousands of free high quality (open access) online journal articles.  Once you do this then in the results list Google Scholar will display a link when it finds content we subscribe to and will take you directly to that content.

Our guide to Google Scholar has instructions on how to do this, plus help on using an advanced search.

Databases

Structured sets of digital data accessible in various ways. Often focusing on specific subject areas for example Westlaw for law or SPORTDiscus for sport.

Books

You may also have an online reading list for your module which will link you directly to the details of all the books you need.

Academic books contain research and discussion among professionals within disciplines. You can find all our print books and eBooks via our discovery tool called Library Search.

Many of our books are available as eBooks which can be accessed online from anywhere. See the eBooks guide for more detail.

For print books, Library Search will show which library the book is kept at and the loan period. If the book is already on loan you can request it.

Journals

We subscribe to most journals digitally but we do have a small reference only collection of printed journals. You can find journal articles using Library Search or via online databases on our eresources a-z. To see if we take a journal title in digital format search via journal title. Printed journals cannot be borrowed.

Accessing and Borrowing

To access eResources you will need your University username and password.

Students and staff can borrow up to 17 items. All books renew automatically unless they have been requested or reached the maximum renewal limit.

Using resources you find on the web for yourself

There is a lot of information on the Web but is it good quality? Ask yourself:

• Who put it there?
• Why is what they have said worth using?
• When was it written? Lots of information on the web is out of date and inaccurate. Check before you use.