This week we had a session with Lorna Blair about using the library’s electronic resources, which was really helpful for understanding how to find reliable sources for our dissertation. She showed us how to use the library catalogue, USearch, and different databases like Art and Architecture, Scopus, and O’Reilly Learning. I also learned that Mintel and IBIS World are great for market research and industry insights.
Lorna gave some really useful tips on getting better search results like using keywords, synonyms, truncation, and quotation marks to refine searches. We were also introduced to RefWorks, which helps organise references and create bibliographies in the Harvard Ulster AHSS style. It’s not perfect, but it should make referencing much easier.
Overall, this session made me feel more confident about researching and managing sources properly. I’ll definitely start using these tools instead of relying on general web searches.