COMM 1061: Creative writing and literature: an introduction
What do you need to do?
It's important to understand your assessment before you start searching. Read through the details in your course outline and course website. This can help you to:
- know what you need to do
- what sort of resources you need e.g. articles, book chapters
- where to search
Throughout the course you can extend yourself and explore the topics further. This page will give you some tips and places you can search.
Course textbook
Don't forget you need to include references to content from the course textbooks in your assignment commentaries.
Plan your search
- Searching for your whole assignment is not very effective
- Identify the key concepts in your question or topic
- Think about what other words (similar words or alternative terms) might be used to describe the key concepts
- Connect your concepts using AND and OR
- You can change your search as you find more information
| Read: How to plan your search [pdf] | |
| View the Writing your assignment page for more info on interpreting your topic and planning your search |
Finding information
The Library Collection is a great place to start finding information.
This example uses quotation marks to search for 2 words "bright star" as a phrase so that it searches for the words together.
Too many search results? Use the Refine my Results menu (on the left hand side) to refine your search.
Want to know more?
Google Scholar searches within academic or scholarly sites, rather than the whole internet. Access via the Library Collection for full text at UniSA links to resources held in the collection.
Want to Know More?
Databases are search tools for finding articles, conference papers, reports and more. We also have specialised databases containing books, book reviews, newspapers articles.
You can find databases by title or browse by subject list try Creative Arts > Literature
- AustLitInformation about Australian authors and their work, covering a broad variety of literary forms (e.g. autobiography, poetry, interview, short story, novel, essay, lyric/song). Excellent coverage of Australian Indigenous authors.
- NewsBank NewspapersInclude national and international titles.
- Multidisciplinary databasesAlso try searching some of the library's multidisciplinary databases which cover a wide range of subjects
Example books from the collection
Watch a video
LinkedIn Learning is an online library of high-quality instructional videos.
Here is a small collection of example titles on creative writing and grammar, find more titles by browsing.
Ted Talks a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks
Here is a playlist of called 12 talks from authors
Useful websites for free books
- Project GutenbergFree eBooks, with a focus on older literary works out of copyright in the U.S
- Loyal BooksFree public domain audiobooks and eBooks to download.
- The Online Books Page (University of Pennsylvania Library)Listing over 3 million free books on the web curated by the Uni of Pennsylvania.
Study support
Need advice on writing or presenting? Not sure how to organise your ideas? The Study help: online resources hub has tools to help you with your assignments and succeed at university!
Want someone to check over a draft of your assignment? Studiosity offers an online classroom where you can chat with a learning adviser. The associated "Check Mate" service helps with English, writing and referencing.
- Referencing Roadmap (Harvard)
Help with the Harvard UniSA referencing style. Find in text-citations and reference examples, from different sources such as articles, books & chapters, websites, and more. - Referencing hub
Information around what is referencing, paraphrasing, referencing rules, referencing styles and Academic Integrity. Also includes a link to the Harvard Referencing Guide UniSA (pdf). - Referencing forum
Discuss referencing, exchange advice and post questions and answers about referencing (facilitated by Student Engagement Unit). - EndNote
What do you do with all those references you have found? Use a bibliographic management software to store, organise and cite your references. The Library supports the bibliographic management tool, EndNote. There are also many free systems available.