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School of Public Leadership: Library Training 2024

Welcome

Visit the  SmartStudent workshops calendar for more information on our workshops eg. Find books or articles using the Library search engine or subject specific databases,  Find trustworthy information on Google and Google Scholar, Referencing and more!

Do you want to improve your writing? Are you looking for writing support? The Writing Lab is there for you!  Book a free writing consultation or attend the Writing skills workshops.

Effective Searching

Databases contains articles with information that will guide you to the answers you seek. Instead of searching with questions on databases, you have to search for information using KEYWORDS.

When extracting KEYWORDS from your assignment or essay, you need to look at the key concepts that encapsulate your assignment.

Example:

Is it true that economic growth makes the rich richer and the poor poorer?

KEYWORDS:

  • Economic growth
  • Inequality OR income inequality

Note: The concepts that you are looking for are not always expressed in the
language of the assignment or question, but often through other related terms.

See the Guide for step-by-step instructions.

AND – returns results with both keywords. AND usually limits the search results
OR – returns results with one or the other keyword.It broadens your results by connecting two or more synonyms.
NOT – returns results excluding specific keywords

Use the Boolean Machine for visualizing the effects of Boolean operators .

More tips:

Quotation Marks “ ” – keep keywords together, for exact phrase searching
Brackets ( ) – keep concepts together, used for synonyms

Example:

("green energy" OR "sustainable energy" OR "renewable energy") AND (logistics OR "supply chain")

Endnote Referencing Tool

SU ENDNOTE subscription starts January 2024.

From 2024, the library will offer support and training in how to migrate from Mendeley or Zotero to EndNote, if you wish to do so.  In the meantime, have a look at this video to see some of the new features of EndNote 21, and the EndNote Library Guide for more information

Enquiries: Kirchner van Deventer

How to use PressReader

Google Scholar

What is a Library Links preference on Google Scholar and how can I do it from home?

A Library Links preference allows you set your preferred Library Choice in Google Scholar. It will then automatically detect when an article is freely available via any of the electronic platforms that Stellenbosch University Library subscribes to. Use the guide below to change your Google Scholar settings on your own computer.

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Why cite and reference?

We provide references to acknowledge the persons who are the intellectual owners of the information we are using.

Plagiarism & Referencing

"Plagiarism is the theft and use of the ideas, material and other intellectual property of others that are passed off as one’s own." SU Senate. 1 Dec 2016. Stellenbosch University policy on academic integrity: the prevention and handling of plagiarism [Internet]. Stellenbosch University. Available: Policy document. [2017, 1 February].

Are you plagiarising?

Turnitin

Turnitin is a tool to check the originality of your written work and it will provide guidelines where necessary to you regarding where and how you can improve it. Consult the Turnitin Libray Guide for more detail.

TURNITIN is available via http://learn.sun.ac.za; be sure to use Mozilla Firefox.

TURNITIN login problems & Help:

How does TURNITIN work:
See video on how Turnitin works and an explanation for the colour-coding in the feedback report.