Accessing available resources. A guide on how to access online resources that are available

Transcription

1 Accessing available resources A guide on how to access online resources that are available

2 VUT Library resources The Da Vinci Institute and VUT have been in partnership for the last few years There is a wealth of information available through the VUT library that is at your disposal through the course of your studies Registration is easy simply check the details typed in on the application form included in your welcome pack, sign and date it If for some reason you do not have an application form, you can get it from your Key Account Manager, or it can be downloaded from: (only typed applications will be accepted by VUT) These applications will be collected and sent to VUT for registration Registration can take up to 2 weeks but you will be notified by me, the Information Officer once you have been registered

3 Planning your search Until you do get registered on the VUT library, there are many other resources you can make use of, for example Google Scholar Before you begin any search (either through VUT, Google Scholar or any other database or resource), we suggest that you develop a search plan Consider the words, phrases, terms, etc. that adequately describes your topic In some cases, the terms you ve listed might have synonyms that could be valuable to use during your search. If you go to you can insert the applicable search terms and review the synonyms that appear, to evaluate if there is anything of relevance or value

4 Effective search techniques Let s say you are looking for content about a specific phrase, project management for example. Instead of just typing in project management in the search field, type it using inverted commas, so project management so that the system knows you are searching for those 2 words together, i.e. as a phrase If you want to exclude certain words from your search, simple use a dash. For example, project management public sector Let s say you want to include a word in your search, but also want to include results that contain similar words or synonyms. To do this, use the symbol ~ in front of the word. E.g. project management ~risk If you are looking for results with specific document types, you can use filetype:pdf or filetype:ppt or filetype:book etc. If you want your search terms to be restricted to the document name, start the search field with intitle: project management Let s say you want a certain word, but also variations of that word, you would use * in front of the word. For example, if you search for *manager the system will also search for manage, management, managerial, etc. For more information, go to:

5 Putting it into practice In this example, I ve searched for research methodology and it s yielded hits

6 Putting it into practice As soon as I add my hits are down to This is still a lot, so let s see if we can narrow it down further.

7 Putting it into practice I ve now added in a second search phrase, also within inverted commas, and my hits are now This is probably still too much to go through

8 Putting it into practice Let s say I want to exclude any information with the term quantitative. I then use a dash before the term, and my hits are down to 780

9 Putting it into practice I ve narrowed it down to 152 results, once I put in that I only want filetype:pdf

10 Accessing the VUT library Once you ve been registered, go to: and then click on VUT.ac.za.

11 A database example: Accessing the VUT library

12 Accessing the VUT library Once you ve clicked Remote Access for the database you d like to access, a login page appears where you will need to type your surname and Da Vinci student number in and click Submit

13 Accessing the VUT library In this case, I want to search for an ebook

14 Accessing the VUT library I can choose a category, or search for specific terms to download or read an ebook

15 Important to remember After logging in to a specific database, you can only access that database If you would like to access another database, you would need to go back to the page with all the available databases and follow the same steps once you ve selected which database you would like to access If you have any issues on the VUT library website, please contact your Key Account Manager who will then put a support request through to me

16 Other resources available There are a multitude of other resources and databases available through the Da Vinci e-resources portal accessible through the Student Zone. This can be accessed using:

17 Thank you and all the best with your studies! Dewald Kruger Information Officer