This guide will get you started with finding academic references for your essay.
It's important to understand your assessment before you start searching. Reading through the details in your course outline and course website will help you:
Planning your search will help you find information more efficiently. Start by:
A table or mindmap - PDF (323.76 KB) can be a useful strategy for doing this.
For example, you could create the table below if your topic was
How does the avant-garde (& Modernism) relate to comics?
Main concepts |
Concept 1 |
Concept 2 |
Synonyms (similar concepts) |
experimental modernism |
funny papers funnies strips |
Tip: As you search, you may come across more concepts or synonyms you can incorporate. Don't be afraid to change or modify your search as you go.
Now you need to connect your search concepts together to form different search strategies. The below table summarises how they work:
Operator words | What it does | Example |
AND |
|
comics AND avant-garde |
OR |
|
comics OR funny papers OR funnies OR strips |
NOT |
|
comics NOT anime |
Watch or read the below for more information on how to put together a search using operators:
More help
Watch Plan your search (2 min 26) |
Read: How to plan your search (pdf) |
View the Writing your assignment page for more info on interpreting your topic and planning your search |
After you build up a search strategy, you can start to apply them in search tools, such as the example searches below.
The Library catalogue can be a useful starting point in locating information.
Put your search in the basic search box, group your alternative keywords inside brackets
For example, (avant-garde OR experimental OR modernism) AND (comics OR "funny papers" OR funnies OR strips)
Alternatively, use the advanced search to split your concepts on to different rows
Put (avant-garde OR experimental OR modernism) in one row AND (comics OR "funny papers" OR funnies OR strips) in another row.
Use Refine my results on the left hand side to narrow your results. Here are some examples:
The Library catalogue does not list everything we have access to. Try a database when you are not finding relevant results in the Catalogue, or in order to restrict your results to a specific discipline, topic area or material type.
Here is an example within ProQuest Central Proquest Central is a multidisciplinary database which covers 160 subject areas including film, media, screen and cultural studies. Ensure that you only use references from this database that are from the relevant subject areas, however, as you may find a seemingly relevant reference from a source from an unrelated subject area which would not be appropriate to include within your literature review.
Example Advanced Search
avant-garde OR experimental OR modernism
AND
comics OR "funny papers" OR funnies OR strips
Try Google Scholar to find scholarly information. An advantage of Google Scholar is that it provides access to the full text of many UniSA scholarly (academic) articles if you connect via the link above, or from the Library home page.
The Advanced Scholar Search option gives more flexibility when you search. To access it select the menu (three lines) in the top left hand corner of Google Scholar. This menu will appear once you do an initial search in Google Scholar.
Here is an example:
Enter the term 'comics' in the 'with all of the words' field, and enter the terms 'avant-garde experimental modernism' in the 'with at least one of the words' field.
You need to find scholarly references to support your assignment. To learn more about what scholarly sources are, watch this video (video length: 2 min 22 sec):
It is important to evaluate the information you find. Watch this short video ( video length: 3 min 16 sec) for more information view the Evaluate page.
Now that you have done your research it is time to put all of your information together.
Study Help is an online hub packed with resources to help with assignments and study skills. Watch the below short video (video length: 2 min 26 sec) on Essay writing.
This page will help you to understand what an essay is and how to prepare one.
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.