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General Resources

FAQ's

What is an e-resource?

A lot of the information accessible to you whilst studying at Edge Hill is available in an electronic format, these are known as e-resources and are available 24/7.

What is a Journal?

An academic journal is a regular publication that contains articles relating to a specific area of study. Most journals are usually published at monthly or quarterly intervals. The articles are written by experts in the field, and often go through a process called ‘peer review’ which means that you can be sure that journals contain good quality academic information. Academic journals are an essential source of information as they provide accurate, reliable and current research in many areas of study.

How do I find my reading list?

Go to the basic search page of the library catalogue. Choose Readings Lists under the Search options list. Type your module code into the search box, e.g. SPE4002. You then click the Submit button and your reading list will appear on the screen. Important Tip: there is no gap between the subject code and numbers, please see the example above.

How do I find the journal articles that are in my reading list?

When looking at your reading list in your module handbook, you can identify a reference to a journal article as you will be provided with additional information other than the journal and article title. In order to locate a specific article in the library catalogue, you will also be provided with the year the journal was published, the volume or issue number of the journal and the page numbers.

To find journal articles from your reading list on the library catalogue, first you need to find the specific journal in which the article is written. This can be done by a module code search, where the items on your reading list will be displayed or by simply typing in the title of the journal. Once you have found and clicked on the link to the journal, you will be able to see if we stock the journal in print format, electronic format or both and you will also be able to see the publication date range that we have access to.

If the journal is available in print format only, you will need to go to the 1st floor in the University Library and locate the particular issue of the journal you require. If the journal is electronic, you need to clink on the link to the journal from the library catalogue and select which year and issue number you require. Once you have done this, you can then scroll through the articles until you see the title or pages numbers of the article you are looking for.

Are e-resources in the library catalogue?

All of our e-resources are available from the library catalogue. If you are using e-resources off campus you will need to log in to the catalogue using the My Library link on the home page of the library catalogue before you start searching.

How do I know what e-resources you have?

All our e-resources are in the library catalogue and are searchable by title or keyword. A good starting point is the Learning Services web pages where you can see the resources by subject areas. There is also an A-Z of ejournals within Discover More.

How do I get better results with my searches when I use e-resources?

E-books

Picking up a print book off the shelf is something that is familiar to us. An e-book will have all the same information as the printed version it is just the way that it is accessed electronically that is different.

When searching an e-book collection keywords can be entered as a simple search.  Browse through the search results and select a relevant title to enter the actual e- book to read it.  To find a required chapter use the contents page or search for a particular word within the text of the e-book.

The advanced search within an e-book collection will allow you to perform a more focused search for a specific book title or author. You can also search for more than one keyword. Some e-book collections also present an option to focus a search to a specific subject.

Databases

When searching the databases it is keywords that you need .  Avoid typing in a whole question, leave out words such as, in, at, the. Also leave out words such as discuss, evaluate and analyse as this is what you are going to do with the information once you have found it.

It may be that you do not find what you are looking for straight away so it may be necessary to use alternative keywords. Be aware of different spellings and terminology.

Think about ways to revise your search, not enough results and you may want to broaden out the search or too many results and then the search needs to be narrower.

Ways you can limit:

  • Date range (what years do you want to cover?)
  • Geographical region
  • Only search for full text in the database
  • Only search for peer review journals
  • Search for a phrase (use quotation marks round your phrase “  ” )

The advanced search feature of a database can help frame your search when using more than one keyword. You could try searching by combining your keywords using AND, OR, NOT between them.
Use AND between your keywords to narrow the search.
Use OR between your keywords to broaden a search.
Use NOT between you key words to restrict your search by eliminating these words from your search. 

Other advanced search tips include truncating your words. Many databases allow you to use * (astrix) for example, a search for child* will search for child, childs, children. Use ? to replace a single character for example a search for organi?ation will search for both organisation and organization (the US spelling)

All the resources also have help sections which can be very useful, and can be found on the top tool bar.

Journal Collections

Journal Collections tend to be a database that contains journals from one particular publisher. Searching a journals collection uses all the same principles of searching a database. Search the journals collections for an article by keyword or a phrase, by putting quotation marks around your phrase “  ” .

What is a search strategy?

Your tutors or staff from Learning Services might ask you about your search strategy.  This is a key part of your research and something that you need to spend time planning before you search our e-resources.

A search strategy begins by you identifying what your key themes are and then you choose your key words.  For every theme there will be a number of keywords and you will need to search all of these to ensure you have captured your subject area. You will also need to decide which resources you are going to use.  Many of our e-resources offer help with searching and you can also see information on these pages about getting better results from your searching.

How can I search for just journal articles in the Wiley Online Library collection?

In the collection there are over 1200 interdisciplinary journals with articles published after 1997. There is an open padlock symbol next to the articles for which full text access is available. We do not have access to the e-books on Wiley Online Library.  You must filter these out.
Tip: You can filter your results to journals only by choosing the filter option on the right hand side AFTER you have done your search. 
Chose an Advanced Search
Search by Keyword
Filter to journal only (right hand side)
Sort by date rather than best match (this way you will not get any pre 1997 articles at the top.  If the best match is displayed, this can be misleading as we don’t have full text access to journals pre 1997)

How do I get help with my searching?

There is help in these Frequently Asked Questions which might help you get better results when you use a journal collection or a database.  All the resources also have help sections which can be very useful, and can be found on the top tool bar.

If you need more in depth help to gain skills in creating a search strategy and using the most appropriate subject resources, you can get a one to one session to help with your searching by booking an hour long appointment at the Inclusive Services Enquiry Desk on the first floor of the University Library on the Ormskirk Campus. You can make a booking by phoning 01695 584372 or emailing inclusiveservices@edgehill.ac.uk
One-to-one information skills sessions are also available at our sites.

Do I need a special username and password for e-resources?

Almost all of our electronic resources do not need a username when accessed on campus. When used off campus you will need to authenticate with your Edge Hill username and password (library number and pin for staff).  A very few do require a specific username and password. You will find a link in the library catalogue next to these titles, click the link and it will take you to a secure page on the Edge Hill web site where you can find these usernames and passwords.

Do I need an Athens account?

Edge Hill staff and students no longer need an Athens account to access the electronic resources off campus. All our e-resources are in the library catalogue and you will need to use your Edge Hill username and password (library number and pin for staff) for access off campus.

Why can’t I see the full text of an article?

The most common reason is that you are trying to access an article which falls outside the Learning Services subscription dates so we don’t have it. Or it could be we don’t have the current year (some of our packages have an embargo of the last 12 months of a journal). The library catalogue displays the correct dates for each journal, please check the catalogue.  Or you have not gone thought the library catalogue and the publisher/provider does not recognise you as an Edge Hill user.

Why am I being asked to pay for a journal article?

The most common reason is that you are trying to access an article which falls outside the Learning Services subscription dates so we don’t have it. Or it could be we don’t have the current year (some of our packages have an embargo of the last 12 months of a journal). The library catalogue does have the correct dates for each journal, please check the catalogue.  Or you have not gone thought the library catalogue and the publisher/provider does not recognise you as an Edge Hill user.

Can I print off from an e-book?

All of our e-books have print restrictions in accordance with copyright. Sometimes you are allowed to print off 5% of the book or sometimes one chapter. Each e-book platform clearly indicates against each title how much you can print from that particular book.

The e-book I want says it is in use?

Ebsco Ebook collection only allows one simultaneous user to access a title at any one time. When a user has logged out from the Ebsco collection, the book will become available again.

Why can I not get into an e-book?

This could be for one of several reasons. Some of our e-book providers only allow a limited number of simultaneous users. Ebsco ebook collection is one simultaneous user and Taylor and Francis allow 5. We have over 65,000 Ebooks from Ebrary. Ebrary do allow unlimited simultaneous users. Ebrary are continuing to add titles to the collection which is wonderful but they also "lose" books because a particular publisher might decide to remove a title from the collection. We do try and keep up-to-date with the additions and deletions but if you get a "Document not available" message from Ebrary do let Learning Services staff know.

Myilibary can lock out e-books for 12 hours if they feel users are printing or downloading more than the licence allows. This can include turning the pages too rapidly. You will receive an on-screen warning you not to continue printing or downloading from the current e-book at this time, you should wait a while or log in later to try again. If you ignore this warning and continue printing/downloading (or turning the pages too quickly) the book can be locked for up to 12 hours for all Edge Hill University users.

Can I get University Exam papers on line?

We provide access to past exam papers from the previous three years. By typing your module number into the library catalogue you can see if we have past exam papers for that module. The collection is not exhaustive as some lecturers do not want to make their exam papers available in this way.

I use Google at University but Google won’t give me what I need at home?

When you are on an Edge Hill University computer, publishers and suppliers of our e-resources recognise you as a member of Edge Hill University – whether you have gone in through Google or the library catalogue. We only allow Edge Hill users to log into our network. However when you search Google or Google Scholar from your own computer and your internet provider, you will not be recognised as being an Edge Hill user. That is why you must always access the e-resources via the library catalogue where you will be prompted to enter your Edge Hill username (library number and pin for staff)

What is an abstract and index database?

Many of our journal collections and databases will provide you with the full text of the journal article as these are what we call our full text collections, but we do have some databases which do not contain full text.  These are abstract and index databases.  These databases are very important and can be the starting point of your research.  You search them with your key terms as you would other collections but the database is only an index, so provides you with the article details and maybe a short abstract, but not the full text journal article. 

If you search the index fully you should be provided with a list of articles you are interested in reading.  The next stage of your research is to find the journal article.  Learning Services doesn’t have all journals published but we do hold many key titles for your subjects so you should be able to find the journal.  You can use the link to icon which checks our library catalogue for the title of the journal.  Please see the question about link to icon if you need more help or information.

What does the link to Lincsource mean?

In some of our databases which are not full text or only partially full text, the linksource button is an easy way of seeing whether we do have access to that particular article via another database or directly from the publisher's web site.

How can I get the full journal article if Learning Services does not have the journal?

If Learning Services does not have the journal that you are looking for, we can get a copy of the article for you via what is called an Inter Library Loan. The journal article will be sent as a photocopy to your home address. You can place the request after you have logged into My Library in the library catalogue. Please see the Inter Library Loan page for more information on the service including the charge.

I am a member of NHS staff and use the Aintree LIRC. Can I access the Edge Hill e-resources?

You can access them from the Aintree LIRC when logged into an Edge Hill networked machine. Trust users from Aintree NHS trust and Walton Centre NHS trust do still need an NHS Athens account for all the NHS resources and they should contact the library help desk in the Aintree LIRC. Details can be found on the Aintree LIRC web pages.

Can I use your e-resources if I'm not a member of Edge Hill University?

No, our license agreements with e-resource publishers do not allow us to grant access to anyone other than Edge Hill members. If you are a member of another library, we suggest you check with them if they subscribe to the resource you would like to access.

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