Tag Archives: biographies

Library loves…Dissertations

April is the final push to many dissertation deadlines, and we know that this is a very busy time. For those of you finishing, or even for those of you just starting, this month is about all things dissertation (not forgetting projects and portfolios too!).

Here’s a list of things the library can help with:

  • More Books: if you need a book, just fill in the book suggestions form. In the Autumn Term we bought over 100 individual titles based on your requests, and it’s never too late to ask.

MoreBooks

  • Visiting other libraries: if you want to borrow/visit another UK university Library, SCONUL is a great national scheme that allows you to do so for free. Fill in the online form, and take your approval email with your RHUL RCS card to other libraries taking part in the scheme and you’re in!
  • Inter-Library Loan: did you know you can request to borrow books, journals, journal articles, even doctoral theses from other libraries? There’s lots of information here, and if you’re after something in particular, this can be great.
  • Referencing and bibliographies: referencing is important, but it can be time-consuming. We know you’d rather spend that time reading up and writing, so don’t forget that the Library can help with referencing styles and referencing tools – in fact, we’ve a whole guide dedicated to it! Keep watching the blog for in depth information on the different tools available so you can choose the best one for you and your dissertation.

 

"Bibliography" by Alexandre Duret-Lutz. C BY-SA. Flickr.
“Bibliography” by Alexandre Duret-Lutz. C BY-SA. Flickr.

 

  • Opening hours: Bedford Library is already open 24/5 (8.30 Sunday – 21.00 Friday, 8.30 – 21.00 Saturday) but from Sunday 20th April to Friday 30th May the library will be open 24/7. This is a very busy time for us, so please take care of the space, and yourselves: keep things clean, free up study spaces for others if you don’t need them, keep the noise down, and remember to go home from time to time!
  • Space to Study: if you’re looking for another place to study on campus, be sure to check the Space to Study webpages. We’ve teamed up with departments across campus to free up more study space you can use when inspiration strikes, and the list will continue to grow!
  • Your Librarians: every subject has its own librarian, and our job is to help you find information, get hold of the right books and journals, and help you with those tricky bibliographies. Drop us an email, or pop into Bedford Library for a chat – it’s what we’re here for!

And finally – don’t forget that there’s another department dedicated to helping you write the best essays and build the best study skills. Visit the Academic Support webpages for access to the online skills4studycampus course, help with time management, essay structure, and much more.

Follow the #librarylovesdissertations hashtag and click on librarylovesdissertations tagcloud on the blog for further updates.

Best of luck!

Nexis

Nexis is a comprehensive newspaper database, updated daily, providing full text access to all UK national newspapers, plus regional newspapers, international news providers and a number of trade journals and magazines. Most titles have a twenty year archive. UK newspaper titles include:

  • Financial Times
  • Daily Mail / Mail on Sunday
  • Independent / Independent on Sunday
  • Guardian / Observer
  • Daily Telegraph / Sunday Telegraph
  • Daily Mirror / Sunday Mirror
  • London Evening Standard
  • The Scotsman / Scotland on Sunday

In addition, 2300 international news providers are covered including The International Herald Tribune, The New Yorker, USA Today, India Today and the Japan Times and over 500 UK regional newspapers are also covered.

You can also find::

  • Company Information
  • Industry Information
  • Country Information
  • Biographies

To search these headings select them from the menu at the top of the page.

To Access Nexis:

Select Nexis from the Databases A-Z list or select the link from your subject guides where it appears.

From the first page, click to accept the Terms and Conditions to proceed to the database.

Browsing Nexis

To see a list of all UK newspapers covered by Nexis:

  • Select the Sources tab (at the top left of the screen)
  • From the tabs beneath this select Browse Sources
  • Change Filter by country to the country you are interested in (e.g. United Kingdom).
  • Select the News folder under publication type
  • Select the Newspapers folder.
  • A list of titles will now appear, and you can search these individually or in groups.

Searching Nexis

nexis 5

To search for articles, first check that you have the Search and News tabs selected from the options in the top left of the screen.

Enter your keywords into the search box and select a time period. Using In the Headline orMajor Mentions options from the drop-down menu ensures that your hits will be more relevant. This is useful for when your search is likely to retrieve a great number of articles.

The list of results displayed gives only brief details. To view the full article, click on the highlighted title of the article.

As well as newspaper articles you can use Nexis to gather information about a company, industry, country and people.

How to find articles from a particular publication

  1. Open the News search form.
  2. Select a source from the Sources drop-down list. For example, Irish Publications.
    Note:
    • If the source you require is not included in the list, click on More sources. To select a source, refer to the Browse Sources Page for instructions.
    • If you wish to edit the list of sources, click on Edit this Source List. Then refer to the Edit Sources Page for instructions.
  3. Select a date range in Specify date. For example, Previous year.
  4. Click on Search to retrieve your results.

Find out more about Nexis here:

Using the Biographies Feature in Nexis

 

 

Using the Biographies feature in Nexis

Biographies nexisThe biographies search feature in Nexis allows you to search for people. You can run searches on All Biographies and News which searches both the biographical information at the news information or you can search through the biographical sources (combined or individually).

The Biographical sources are:

  • Biographies de Acteurs Publics
  • Biographies of Ams (Welsh Assembly)
  • Biographies of Civil Servants
  • Biographies of Members of the European Parliament
  • Biographies of MLAs (Northern Ireland Assemblies)
  • Biographies of MSPs (Scottish Parliament)
  • Biographies of Peers
  • Biographies of Westminster Members of Parliament
  • Content5 Personen (Deutsch)
  • Content5 Persons (English)
  • Directory of Directors (Directors Profiles)
  • ICC Directors (Irish)
  • ICC Disqualified Directors
  • Le Trombinoscope
  • London Stock Exchange – Board Membership*
  • Marquis Who’s Who Biographies
  • Producer Sanction Report
  • Standard & Poor’s Corporate Register of Directors & Executives
  • The Associated Press Candidate Biographies
  • The CIO Directory
  • TOP 100 INTELLIGENCE ECONOMIQUE
  • TOP 100 LOBBYING D’ENTREPRISE
  • Top Management Biographies
  • Who’s Who in American Art
  • Who’s Who in American Politics
  • Who’s Who In European Business*
  • Who’s Who in European Business and Industry
  • Who’s Who in European Politics*
  • Who’s Who in France
  • Who’s Who in International Banking*
  • Who’s Who in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States*

This video shows you how to do a basic search.

How do I ensure that my search retrieves all articles containing the different spellings of a person’s first name and/or surname?

To use multiple name variations when searching for a person:

  1. Open the Biographies search form.
  2. In Surname, enter the surname of the person that you are looking for using the wildcard * to account for all single character combinations. For example, to find all variations of the name Clark, enter Cl*rk*, this will search for Clark, Clarke and even Clerk. Where you cannot account for all the variations using the *, use the or connector. For example, to find the surname McCallum enter maccallum or mccallum.
  3. In First Name enter the first name of the person that you are researching using the wild card * to account for any single character differences. For example, Tan*a will search for Tania or Tanya. Where the * cannot account for all the variations of the name, use the or connector. For example, to find the name John or Jonathan enter john or jonathan.
  4. Click on Search to retrieve your results.
How do I search for a person within a specific source?
  1. Open the Biographies search form.
  2. In Surname and First Name, enter the name of the person you are searching for.
  3. From the Sources drop-down list, select the source that you would like to search. It will default to All Biographies + News, but you can select a smaller source such as Executive Biographies.
  4. Click on Search to retrieve your results.