Category Archives: undergraduates

Information for undergraduate students

Would you like help with referencing?

Posted on by
Reply

It’s not too early to start thinking about your referencing. Once you have researched and begun writing your dissertation or project you must remember to correctly acknowledge the sources of any information which you refer to. This allows readers to trace the original material while also ensuring that you avoid potentially committing plagiarism.  

To help you with your referencing, Library staff have prepared several online guides with useful examples. We have a generic guide on Referencing and Citing as well as other guides on specific referencing styles or subject areas:  

A grey scale image of a tall pile of books.

Please be sure to look at the referencing guidance which has been provided by your department. You can read advice on avoiding plagiarism on the Student Learning Service’s website and you can check in MyAberdeen for materials on academic writing and avoiding plagiarism. 

We also have access to a really useful book by Colin Neville called Complete guide to referencing and avoiding plagiarism which goes over topics from why you need to reference, where, the different referencing styles, plagiarism and how to express your own ideas in an assignment. 
Cite them right: the essential referencing guide by Richard Pears is another great resource, available to access online or in print from Floor 4 at shelfmark 808.027 PEA in The Sir Duncan Rice Library.

If you need any help with referencing your dissertation or project please feel free to contact Library staff with any questions you may have or come and speak to us in the library.

Live Q&A sessions for UG and PGT students: Library resources and services

Posted on by
Reply

Struggling to find library materials to support your studies? Unsure what a Shibboleth login is? Want to find out about the Click and Collect service if you are in Aberdeen? How to access and find e-books?

If the answer to any of those is “Yes” then come along to one of our Question & Answer sessions next week for some short demonstrations of library resources. Ask us questions and we’ll do our best to answer them.

The sessions will take place on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday next week (13, 14 & 15 October) and are open to all UG and PGT students regardless of whether or not you have received previous instruction on using the Library’s resources.

The sessions will be delivered via Collaborate. To find out more and to book a place on one of our sessions, visit: abdn.ac.uk/coursebooking and change the category to ‘Library Information Skills’.

Please get in touch with us if you have any questions.
s.mmcourt@abdn.ac.uk
eleni.boro@abdn.ac.uk

We look forward to seeing you next week!

Library Skills workshops to help you ‘Find it Fast!’

Posted on by
Reply

fif front slide cropped.fw

We believe that you should be spending the majority of your time reading materials and not looking for them, so we have a range of workshops to help you learn how to get your hands on the best books, articles, reports and other information in the shortest time possible.

Our Find it Fast! workshops will be running between October 15 and November 7 to help all undergraduate and taught postgraduate students navigate the library landscape, which can at times seem filled with so much choice.

The workshops are held over lunch time in The Sir Duncan Rice Library and are a great introduction to the resources we provide and the ways in which you can make best use of them. They cover:

  • using Primo, our online resource discovery tool for locating physical and electronic resources
  • how to search for the hundreds of thousands of electronic books which we have access to
  • using the many online databases which we subscribe to. They contain important resources which you cannot find by searching in Google!
  • how to manage your references using RefWorks
  • getting the best out of Google

Invest one hour of your time over lunch to learn tips and techniques that will repay you with time saved when searching for the materials you need for your assignments and exams.

To find out more and to view the full list of Find it Fast! workshops on offer please go to www.abdn.ac.uk/coursebooking and search for Library Information Skills courses.

The Library looks forward to welcoming new and returning students next week

Posted on by
Reply
The Sir Duncan Rice Library

This coming Monday and Tuesday we will be showing hundreds of new students around The Sir Duncan Rice Library on the Library & IT Essentials Talk and Tour. This very popular event within the University of Aberdeen’s Welcome Week is fully booked. We will be running more tours on the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of next week, for which there is no need to book. More details on these additional tours will be publicised soon but all new students are very welcome to come in and have a look around the stunning building anytime we are open.

SCONUL Access Scheme

Posted on by
Reply

Did you know you may be eligible to borrow material from other UK University libraries? Our University is a member of the SCONUL Access reciprocal scheme. SCONUL Access grants borrowing privileges to various types of library users working or studying at participating higher education libraries in the UK and Ireland.

Who’s eligible?

SCONUL Access provides borrowing privileges for most:

  • academic staff
  • postgraduate research students registered for a PhD, MPhil or similar qualification
  • part-time, distance learning and placement students
  • full-time postgraduates

SCONUL Access also provides for a reference only service for most full-time undergraduate students and staff of a few higher education libraries not participating in the reciprocal borrowing arrangements.

Borrowing entitlements – e.g. number of loans, loan period and types of material may vary among institutions.

Please note that access to IT facilities and electronic resources are not normally included in the scheme. You may however be able to access the wireless network on your personal device while visiting other university libraries if they use the same Eduroam wireless network as ourselves. See the university’s guide to Eduroam to learn more.

Click here to find out a bit more about the scheme and how to apply!

Eleni Papadakou, e.papadakou@abdn.ac.uk

Library Skills workshops to help you Find it Fast!

Posted on by
Reply

fif front slide cropped.fw

We believe that you should be spending the majority of your time reading materials and not looking for them, so we have a range of workshops to help you learn how to get your hands on the best books, articles, reports and other information in the shortest time possible.

These are our Find it Fast! workshops, and they will be running between January 22 and February 6 to help all undergraduate and taught postgraduate students navigate the library landscape, which can at times seem filled with so much choice.

The workshops are held over lunch time in The Sir Duncan Rice Library and are a great introduction to the resources we provide, and the ways in which you can make best use of them. They cover:

  • using Primo, our online resource discovery tool for locating physical and electronic resources
  • how to search for the hundreds of thousands of electronic books which we have access to
  • using Google cleverly to get you to the information you need more quickly
  • using the many online databases which we subscribe to. They contain important resources which you just cannot find by searching in Google!
  • how to manage your references correctly when writing assignments to ensure that you do not fall into the trap of plagiarism

Invest one hour of your time over lunch to learn tips and techniques that will repay you with time saved when searching for the materials you need for assignments and exams.

To find out more and to view the full list of Find it Fast! workshops on offer please go to www.abdn.ac.uk/coursebooking and search for Library Information Skills courses.

Exam Revision: finding silent study spaces in our libraries

Posted on by
Reply

Across our three libraries our silent study rooms are popular places to study, and they prove even more popular as the exams approach. See below for help in locating these silent study spaces at this important time, and remember that you can speak with library staff if you are being disturbed by others while you study.

The Sir Duncan Rice Library

There are a range of study spaces across this library, including silent ones. Many of our silent study spaces have recently had power sockets and USB charging points installed, meaning that you can now study in silence and still use your laptops and other electronic devices. We still ask that you do not eat in any of the silent rooms as that can be a great distraction to others. For full details of our silent study spaces see below:

  • Floor 1 – south west corner (overlooking Bedford Road). Room 124. No power sockets. Forty two study spaces.
  • Floor 3, 4 and 5 – south east corner (overlooking Meston Building). Rooms 312, 412 and 512. Power sockets on each study desk. Twenty study spaces per room.
  • Floor 3, 4 and 5 – south west corner (overlooking Bedford Road). Rooms 324, 424 and 524. Power sockets and USB charging points assigned to each study desk. Twenty study spaces per room.
  • Floor 6 – south west corner (overlooking Bedford Road). Room 624. No power sockets. Twenty study spaces. This space is designated a “no devices” location throughout the year to support those who wish to study in this way.

Medical Library

The whole top floor of the Medical Library is designated as silent study space. You are permitted to use laptops and other electronic devices in that area.

Taylor Library

You will find the silent study areas within the Taylor Library in the D Block sections. There are silent areas on both floors of D Block, with different rules around laptop use in different areas. Each desk is clearly marked, to let you know whether or not you can use latops or other electronic devices.

Good luck to everyone with their exams!

Improvements coming – power being installed in more Silent Study Rooms during Easter break

Posted on by
Reply

During the Easter break we will be installing power and USB sockets into three Silent Study Rooms in the Sir Duncan Rice Library which currently have no such sockets. There will, therefore, be no access to the West Silent Study Rooms on floors 3, 4 and 5 between now and Friday April 13.

In the meantime, please feel free to use the other Silent Study Rooms still available on floors 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6. The rooms on floors 1 and 6 do not permit the use of any electrical devices within them.

Once the work is finished we’ll have 60 additional desks across 3 further silent study rooms to better support access to online materials. Especially useful for the upcoming exams.

Apologies for the noise and for any inconvenience caused while this useful work is carried out.

Free Library Skills workshops to help you Find it Fast!

Posted on by
Reply

fif front slide cropped.fw

At the Library we believe you should be spending the majority of your time reading materials and not looking for them, so we have a range of workshops to help you learn how to get your hands on the best books, articles, reports and other information in the shortest time possible.

These are our Find it Fast! workshops, and they will be running between February 20 and March 8 to help all undergraduate and taught postgraduate students navigate the library landscape, which can at times seem filled with so much choice.

They are held over lunch time in The Sir Duncan Rice Library and are a great introduction to the services and resources we provide and the best ways in which you can make use of them. They cover:

  • Using Google cleverly to get you to the information you need more quickly.
  • Using the many online databases which we subscribe to. They contain important resources which you just cannot find by searching in Google!
  • How to search for the hundreds of thousands of electronic books which we have access to.

Invest one hour of your time over lunch to learn tips and techniques that will repay you with time saved when searching for the materials you need for assignments and exams!

To find out more and to view the full list of Find it Fast! workshops on offer please go to www.abdn.ac.uk/coursebooking and search for Library Information Skills courses.

Come and learn about the Library on a tour

Posted on by
Reply

New student? Current student who has just realised that it would be useful to find out more about library and information services? Come along to a tour and discover what is available to you from The Sir Duncan Rice Library and beyond….

WHEN: Monday 15 – Friday 19 January, 10.00 and 14.00

WHERE: Welcome Desk on ground floor of The Sir Duncan Rice Library

WHAT: Short tour of the library lasting around 30 minutes, introducing you to the building, services and facilities, to help you make the most of the resources available to you from the library.

No booking necessary – just come along on the day and time that suits you best.