Find journal articles, newspaper articles, book reviews etc.

Note: the search above won't find every article, for a more comprehensive search see the information below on databases.

To find relevant and good quality information for your assignments searching databases is the most effective method. The Library offers you free access to a range of databases though you may need your GUID and associated password to use some of them, especially if you are off campus. Databases usually contain the full text of (or details of) quality-assessed journal articles on particular topics (as well as in some cases books, theses and conference papers). In most cases you will be searching databases in English although many do include details of works in other languages.

Databases

• French: Key databases
• French: All databases
  
• German: Key databases
  
• German: All databases
• Hispanic Studies: Key databases
• Hispanic Studies: All databases
• Italian: Key databases
• Italian: all databases
• Slavonic Studies: Key databases
• Slavonic Studies: All databases

Once you have decided on your topic have a look at the Library's webpages on Information Skills which contain helpful tips on doing a literature review, searching for information, finding theses and dissertations and so on.

If you would like advice on searching for information, please contact me by email Roma.Thompson@glasgow.ac.uk .

You might find some resources useful for your dissertation which we don't have available from this Library. Through our Inter Library Loan service you can request books and journal articles free of charge. See the Need Something We Don't Have section on our website.

Referencing and citing – using your sources

What is referencing?

Referencing is the acknowledgement of items you have read and used while creating a written piece of work for your essay, dissertation, article or thesis.

It is important to keep an exact and complete record of the details of all the sources of information that you use for coursework, essays, dissertations or publications. Sources can include books, journal articles, web pages and legal cases. If you don’t keep a precise record you will have difficulty (and a lot more work) when you need to list the sources in your reference list.

Citations

When writing an essay, report or dissertation, it is usual to cite [mention] the sources that you used, referred to, or took quotes from. These references might describe journal or newspaper articles, books, government reports, web pages

Citing accurate references is important for the following reasons:

• To give credit to concepts and ideas from other authors
• To provide evidence of the extent of your reading
• To use other work to support the arguments you make
• To allow the user to locate the cited references easily
• To help you avoid plagiarism 

Which style of referencing should I use?

To find out which system you should use check your course documentation or ask your lecturer or supervisor.

For detailed information, have a look at these guides:

See Harvard referencing guide from Leeds University

From the University of Leicester - Citing References - Vancouver (numbered) system

Managing your references using Reference Manager or EndNote software

Reference Manager and Endnote - These are reference management software programs [available locally] which help you to record and store references to books or journal articles and many other sources while you are working on a project. You can then use the stored information to generate bibliographies for your essay, thesis or article using a wide range of styles.

How do I get help with using referencing programs?

See our local Support web pages    
IT Services also runs introductory courses where you can make an online booking to attend a training session on an advertised date

Plagiarism – what is it and how to avoid it

You must always acknowledge the sources you use. Use of material without cknowledgement of the sources is called plagiarism which is considered to be an act of fraudulence and an offence against University discipline - see the University Plagiarism webpages
TurnitinUK – in University of Glasgow, Turnitin is a program used by some departments to detect plagiarism in student work submitted for assessment. 

Newspapers

The Library offers access to a wide range of UK newspapers via the Newsbank database. We also subscribe to Le Monde and Libération. In the area of Slavonic Studies we provide access to the Universal Databases of Central Russian Newspapers and the Universal Databases of Regional Russian Newspapers.

The Language Centre Library subscribes to a number of foreign language newspapers and magazines. 

Many newspapers now offer an online version - see the News Collections and News Services section of the Library web site page on Newspapers for more details. 

Dictionaries

Foreign language dictionaries for French, German, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese are located on level 9 of the Library. Dictionaries in the Slavonic languages are located on level 6. Online dictionaries are also available from the Library - to see what we have use QuickSearch to look for e.g. French dictionary, choose E book as the format type and then sort by date.

College Support Librarian for Modern Languages and Cultures

Roma Thompson
Roma.Thompson@glasgow.ac.uk
0141-330-6797
Room 813 (Level 8) 

I'm the Librarian responsible for the School of Modern Languages and Cultures. I work on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. You're welcome to contact me for help with finding information for assignments, projects or dissertations.

For more general information have a look at the Information for students/staff/subscription members pages.

You can also access lots more specific information via the Moodle course An Introduction to the Library for students in the School of Modern Languages and Cultures.