Where to look - digging deeper (UWS) - Dissertation Support - Library Guides at University of the West of Scotland

Digging deeper - journal articles (bibliographic databases)

Prefer a more focused search for journal articles?

Try the Library's bibliographic databases. Some index articles by type, e.g. primarily research studies, while others focus on publications in a specific subject area.

The articles indexed in the databases are primarily academic and professional level in some subject areas, e.g. education and nursing. Trade/ industry publications dominate though in others, e.g. Computing, Business.

Commonly used resources include:

Multidisciplinary

EBSCOhost Research Platform This link opens in a new window
Searchable via One Search.
Use your student/staff email address and password to access the resource.
ScienceDirect This link opens in a new window
Searchable via One Search.
Use your student/staff email address and password to access the resource.
Scopus This link opens in a new window
Not Searchable via One Search.
Use your student/staff email address and password to access the resource.
Web of Science This link opens in a new window
Not Searchable via One Search.
Use your student/staff email address and password to access the resource.

Region or topic-specific

African Journals Online

Bioline International This link opens in a new window
Bioline International provides open access to quality and peer-reviewd research journals published in developing countries (e.g. Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Egypt, Ghana, India, Iran, Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Turkey, Uganda and Venezuela). BI's goal supports a global understanding of health (tropical medicine, infectious diseases, epidemiology, emerging new diseases), biodiversity, the environment, conservation and international development.
Cambridge Core This link opens in a new window
Not Searchable via One Search.
Use your student/staff email address and password to access the resource.
Cochrane Library This link opens in a new window
Not Searchable via One Search.
All residents of Scotland can access the Cochrane Library for free, thanks to funding provided by NHS Education for Scotland.
Emerald Insight This link opens in a new window
Not Searchable via One Search.
Use your student/staff email address and password to access the resource.
Learn more from our LibGuide created by expert librarians.

Europe PMC

IEEE Xplore This link opens in a new window
Not Searchable via One Search.
Use your student/staff email address and password to access the resource.
Lexis+ UK This link opens in a new window
Not Searchable via One Search.
Use your student/staff email address and password to access the resource.

PubMed

SAGE Journals This link opens in a new window
Searchable via One Search.
Use your student/staff email address and password to access the resource.
Taylor & Francis Online This link opens in a new window
Not Searchable via One Search.
Use your student/staff email address and password to access the resource.
Westlaw Edge UK This link opens in a new window
Not Searchable via One Search.
Registration is required - use your University of the West of Scotland email address.
Wiley Online Library This link opens in a new window
Use your student/staff email address and password to access

Also see subject specific recommendations in our subject guides

Digging deeper - journal articles (Google Scholar)

Google Scholar is another recommended source for academic journal articles.

An option is included to link results with your library subscriptions for easier access.

Open the Settings section (action will depend your browser but may require selecting the 'three lines' icon):
Select 'Library Links'. A search box will appear with any pre-selections listed below.
Enter 'UWS' in the search box.
Select 'University of the West of Scotland - UWS' from the list.
Click 'Apply' to save.

When you next run a search, you will see "Available from UWS Library" on the right when UWS has access to the article.

Click this (and login to One Search if prompted), to navigate to the full text.

Preferably conference papers or proceedings?

Conference papers are made available from multiple sources. Many are indexed by relevant bibliographic databases.

Some databases offer a filter option to limit your search to conference papers.

Sources include:

IEEE Xplore This link opens in a new window
IEEE Xplore provides full text access to the world's highest quality technical literature in electrical engineering, computer science, and electronics. Access is to the full text published since 1988 and select content published since 1913 from: IEEE journals, transactions, proceedings, and magazines; IEEE conference proceedings; IEEE published standards; IEEE Spectrum Magazine; IEEE-Wiley eBooks collection; IET journals; IET conference proceedings.
Not Searchable via One Search.
Use your student/staff email address and password to access the resource.
Web of Science This link opens in a new window
Web of Science provides subscription-based access to multiple databases that provide comprehensive citation data for many different academic disciplines. It was originally produced by the Institute for Scientific Information.
Not Searchable via One Search.
Use your student/staff email address and password to access the resource.

Honours and Masters dissertations

Your lecturers may refer you to specific dissertations held by your School. Selected examples of dissertations are also passed to UWS Library and these are listed in OneSearch.

OneSearch This link opens in a new window
OneSearch is UWS's in-house database. It functions as both a traditional library catalogue and platform to search a wide range of databases to find full-text journal articles. It covers all subject areas.
Open Dissertations This link opens in a new window
Open Dissertations is a free database with records for more than 1.2 million electronic theses and dissertations from around the world.
Not Searchable via One Search.
No login required.
Open Access Theses and Dissertations This link opens in a new window
OATD.org aims to be the best possible resource for finding open access graduate theses and dissertations published around the world.
Metadata (information about the theses) comes from over 1100 colleges, universities, and research institutions. OATD currently indexes 5,218,230 theses and dissertations.
Not Searchable via One Search.
No login required.

PhD theses

You can search for theses from UK institutions in the British Library's Ethos collection.

EThOS e-Theses Online Service This link opens in a new window
The British Library digital repository for UK research theses offering a central access point to UK doctoral theses. The majority of universities in the UK are members. You can cross-search over 500,000 theses including those available for immediate download.
Not Searchable via One Search.
You must first register on an individual basis with Ethos in order to make requests through the Ethos website. The Ethos site provides further information.

Selected theses from international institutions can be searched in the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.

Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
A country-by-country and generic international collection of theses repositories. Search the whole site or an individual collection.

Looking for standards or patents?

Standards are collated and apply at national level.

Patents are registered nationally but collated and applied on a worldwide basis.

Sources include:

BSOL Standards Online This link opens in a new window
BSOL Standards Online provides full text access to British Standards and other international standards.
Please be aware that copyright limits apply to printing, downloading and copying and/or pasting content into other documents. Contact library staff for guidance.

The Lens
Open access full text service for patents and related documents and research literature.
UK Intellectual Property Office
The official UK government body responsible for intellectual property (IP) rights including patents, designs, trade marks and copyright.
World Intellectual Property Organization
A self-funding agency of United Nations, WIPO is a global forum for intellectual property (IP) services, policy, information and cooperation. The service includes a searchable database

Looking for music or sound effects?

British Library Sounds This link opens in a new window
British Library Sounds provides access to the British Library’s extensive collections of unique sound recordings, which come from all over the world and cover the entire range of recorded sound: music, drama and literature, oral history, wildlife and environmental sounds.
No login required.

Finding (archived) news sources

Many news sources are only available to all on the day in question.

Previous content is often archived though and available on a subscription basis. One example is Gale OneFile News

GALE ONEFILE: News This link opens in a new window
GALE ONEFILE: News provides access to more than 2,000 major world newspapers, and includes thousands of images, radio and TV broadcasts and transcripts.
Not Searchable via One Search.
Use your student/staff email address and password to access the resource.

Adding in statistics

Statistics are gathered and published by many organisations. Some, e.g. Registrar General for Scotland, have a legal responsibility to enable a national social and economic record. Others offer more specialist or subject-specific collections.

Your Academic Librarian will be able to recommend subject specific collections.

General interest sources are listed below.

Statista This link opens in a new window
Statista is a great source of global market and consumer data. It includes statistics, reports, infographics, surveys, industry and market reports. The portal is tracking more than 22,000 trusted data sources to help you quickly find and analyse business, social and demographic trends on various topics and industries.
Not Searchable via One Search.
Use your student/staff email address and password to access the resource.

Office for National Statistics
The UK's national statistical institute responsible for collecting and publishing statistics related to the economy, population and society at national, regional and local level.
Scotland's official statistics
Access over 250 datasets from multiple agencies including Registers of Scotland, Public Health Scotland Visit Scotland , SEPA