It's not always easy to find the content you need in specific books. Sometimes there will be books that are exactly about what you are researching. Other times, there may be chapters or mentions of a topic somewhere within the text. Knowing where to start is difficult and searching the titles of print books in our collection isn't always going to find what you need straight away.
If you are a final year student or a post-graduate student, you can request a book from the Interlibrary loans service (you can also request a chapter if that is all you need and it will be attached to an email directly to you). The downside to interlibrary loans for physical books is that we don't set the loan period and they have to be sent back.
You can find ebooks just by searching the main library website but it can also be useful to search one of the ebook platforms to find extra book material. The advantage of doing this is that you can search for keywords within the text and find reference to your topic area within the chapters. I would recommend a search on Ebook Central to find extra book material for your dissertation/final year project.
Another place to look, especially for RIBA titles, is the Construction Information Service database.
Provides access to a huge collection of full-text eBooks across a range of subject areas.
On-campus:- You may see an OpenAthens login screen when accessing Ebook Central on-campus. See our FAQ - How do I login via OpenAthens?
A collection of databases specialising in technical data, product / supplier information, and industrial standards worldwide. Access to the Construction Information Service (CIS), the Occupational Health & Safety Information Service (OHSIS), and the Environment Online Service.
Art & Architecture Source includes 1,115 active indexed and abstracted journals, more than 63,000 images provided by Picture Desk and other sources, more than 14,000 indexed art dissertations and more than 556,000 indexed art reproductions.
We have a great range of journals and magazines on the third floor of the main library. Journals are more academic and contain articles by experts in the subject field. Magazines tend to be more related to current awareness in the architecture and design fields and might contain articles about architects, designers, artists, exhibitions etc. We subscribe to these resources and there will always be the newest issue to browse. They are all shelved alphabetically by title. You can also search the Library Website and do 'book search' to see if we have a particular magazine or journal in print format.
You can use keywords to search various databases that act as indexes to many journal articles. The 'Advanced Search' on the main Library Website is a way of searching a lot of databases at once but it is worth remembering that it doesn't search everything and it is useful to go directly to particular databases for focussed searches. It is recommended that Art and Architecture Source is the go-to database for searching for journal articles in the architecture discipline.
You can also browse the content of the latest issues or create a collection of journals or articles you are interested in on Browzine (which can also be downloaded as an App on your own device)
You can also take a look at the recommended databases on other subject guides. For example, if your dissertation/final year project is related to health or education or has a historical angle, it might be useful to see what other databases are available for these disciplines.
Art & Architecture Source includes 1,115 active indexed and abstracted journals, more than 63,000 images provided by Picture Desk and other sources, more than 14,000 indexed art dissertations and more than 556,000 indexed art reproductions.
It's really useful to make an appointment with your Subject Librar to talk about finding resources but then also there is a useful overlap when thinking about referencing and writing. Talk to your librar about integrating in-text citations and how you can practice this alongside working on your writing skills. The Writing Development team can then help with advice on your written work, planning and structuring it and how to think more critically as part of this process. Make appointments with a member of the team either on-campus or online.
Use Truncation (putting * at the end of a word stem will search all forms of the word). * within a word can be used to search both American and English spelling:
"...." (inverted commas) use for a phrase
If you are struggling with finding information, newspapers can be a great starting point. You might find reference to an exhibition or discussion about a topic. This can help identify keywords which you can then use back in the more academic library databases. It is fine to use some newspaper references in your assignment or dissertation. Just make sure you have got other more academic citations and references from journals and books.
Lexis+ UK Newspapers provides full text access to UK national and regional newspapers. Date coverage varies by individual title from 1980s to today.
For international newspaper content visit Nexis.
Full text access to business information and major international newspapers including foreign language sources. Date coverage varies by individual title from 1980s to today.
In a similar way to using newspapers, TV and radio programmes can provide extra material or insight into a topic, artist, architect or social and historical context within documentaries. BoB National allows you to search for programmes and also record programmes that are on in the future. Each programme also has a transcript to help you find text to cite in your work and the full citation is listed - it gives you all the details you need for your reference list but you do need to alter it to fit in with the University of Lincoln Harvard system.
Shared off-air recording and media archive service. Programmes can only be viewed in the UK.
You will need to register with the site before you can access the content.
