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For UNSW Students
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 Subject dictionaries
Use subject dictionaries to find definitions of key terms.
Example: Oxford Dictionary of Biology |
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 Subject encyclopaedias
Covering a broad discipline, subject encyclopaedias explain concepts in greater depth. They often have references to additional sources listed at the end of each entry.
Example: Encyclopedia of Life Sciences
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Electronic dictionaries and encyclopaedias
The Library subscribes to a range of electronic dictionaries and encyclopaedias. Some are general, e.g. Oxford English Dictionary (OED), Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, and some quite subject specific in coverage, e.g. Encyclopedia of Earth. |
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Monographs
Monographs are books, or, any individually
published works. Examples include non-fiction books,
textbooks, conference proceedings, theses, government
reports. These will often be a major information
source for an assignment, and are useful for a body
of information about a subject, and standard methods
and techniques used in particular disciplines. You'll
find monographs by searching the Catalogue. |
1:25 mins |
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 Hints & Tips 1
Reference collection
The newest dictionaries are usually Not For Loan. They're held
in the library's Reference collection, (Main Library, Level
3; COFA, Level 1; and UNSW Freehills Law Library, Level 2),
so that many people can access them. |
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Hints & Tips 2
Very new terms
As subjects develop, new terms are created. If you're looking for a very new term, be sure you're looking in a recently published dictionary. It's possible that terms may be "too new" to be included. |
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Hints & Tips 3
Electronic dictionaries and encyclopaedias can be accessed
via the Catalogue and Sirius.
In Sirius,
 click on Find Resource, then
click on Locate, then
from the drop-down Type
menu,
Select Type Dictionary or Encyclopedia,
and
click on Go.
Select from the list that appears. |
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What is a journal?
A journal is a publication that is produced on a recurring
basis (weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.) and may contain
articles, reviews and letters. Journals are sometimes
called serials or periodicals. As well as the print
format, many journals are now available electronically
over the Internet only, or have an electronic equivalent
as well as the traditional print format. Most of these
journals are not available freely to the public, but
by subscription only.
The UNSW Library holds over 50,000 different print journals, has subscriptions to over 9,000 electronic journals, and provides access from about another 40,000 journal titles via electronic databases.
Characteristics of journal articles
Compared with books, journal articles are more up-to-date as they take less time to publish. Journal articles focus on a very narrow and specialised subject area. They often require familiarity with scientific terminology and complex concepts.
Finding them...
You can find relevant journal articles in a number of ways:
Browsing through
journals in your subject area can sometimes be productive to find
material by chance, to maintain your awareness
of current issues in a subject area. You can locate
journals in your subject area in the Library, and browse
through the contents pages. You can also browse in electronic
journals by choosing a title in the Catalogue
or Sirius, and looking through the issues online.
You
can also use the bibliography or list of references at the end of another relevant article or book to refer
you to further relevant articles.
Systematic searching is best done by searching a database. For further details, see Module 4:: Searching databases . |
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Specialist Internet sites are written by subject experts, often in educational or research institutions. They may include overviews or background information for some topics.
 The Web contains millions of sites that are not suited to University studies. To find suitable Internet sites see Module 6:: Yahoogle Wise.
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