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School of Design

The creative Library

Final year project - where to start

I can't find a book on the topic I'm researching

 

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 we don't have the book in the Library

 

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.

 

Where to look

Searching for Design related topics in books

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 great place to search are the Bloomsbury databases Berg Fashion Library and Bloomsbury Architecture Library.  Both of these contain ebook chapters and encyclopedias.

Finding and using print journals and magazines

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 design field and might contain articles about 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.

Finding and using electronic journals and magazines

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. 

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)

Look at the databases recommended for your discipline under 'Finding electronic resources' on this Subject Guide or take a look at the recommended databases on another guide.  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.

If you only search one database make it this one! 

Newspapers

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.

TV and Radio

In a similar way to using newspapers, TV and radio programmes can provide extra material or insight into a topic, artist, designer or design movement.  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.

A combined approach

It's really useful to make an appointment with your Subject Librarian to talk about finding resources but then also there is a useful overlap when thinking about referencing and writing.  Talk to your librarian 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.

Tips and tools

 

Extra hints for Graphic Design

In addition to the main databases recommended on the School of Design Subject Guide it might also be useful to search the following:

Extra hints for Fashion

In addition to the main databases recommended on the School of Design Subject Guide it might also be useful to search the following:

Extra hints for Product Design

In addition to the main databases recommended on the School of Design Subject Guide it might also be useful to search the following:

Extra hints for Illustration

In addition to the main databases recommended on the School of Design Subject Guide it might also be useful to search the following:

Extra hints for Creative Advertising

In addition to the main databases recommended on the School of Design Subject Guide it might also be useful to search the following:

Library database tips AND will find results with both terms​  graphic design AND comics​  ​  OR retrieves results that include either term​  graphic design OR visual communication​  ​

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:

  • sustain* (sustainable, sustainability)
  • design* (design, designer, designed)
  • behav* (behaviour, behavior, behave, behaving

 "...." (inverted commas) use for a phrase

  • "fashion design"
  • "vinyl records"

Harvard Referencing System

The three places to look for help on referencing are:

 

Harvard referencing guide circle design with tree  Click for the main library - with webinars, PDF guide and more

Picture of hand holding pen on notebook with the words 'Referencing!' Read more on top   Click for the Subject guide - more on paraphrasing and citing in-text

 

Section of images guide with Images: finding using and referencing words on white and coloured background  Click for the Images guide - how to use captions and cite your images