7 tips to find the literature you need

News | Posted on Tuesday 28 January 2025

Tools, strategies and resources to spend less time searching and more time finding.

Shelves on the Morrell 2nd and 3rd floors

As you work on your dissertation, project or other assignments this semester, you’ll want to make best use of the library’s wide range of resources. Like other areas of the University, the Library has needed to look for new ways to provide resources as we seek to manage our costs. We want to reassure you that we will still be able to provide you with all the materials required for your assignments; the tips below suggest useful tools, strategies and resources to enable you to find the literature you need as efficiently as possible.

1: YorSearch is your searching friend

YorSearch, the library catalogue, enables you to search through our resources at once, including books (either online or in print), journal articles, research reports and much more. If you’re not already using it, YorSearch is a great place to start searching, either for specific items or to search across a whole subject area. You can narrow results by publication date, type of material or subject, plus YorSearch can save details of resources you want to revisit later. Our guide to searching for information has lots of helpful tips on making the most of YorSearch and other search engines.

2: Install LibKey Nomad for one-click access to journal articles

If you’ve ever been stuck behind a paywall on a publisher’s website or not sure about whether we have access to an article, LibKey Nomad is the tool you’ve been waiting for! It’s a browser extension which automatically detects when you’re on a page with a library-subscribed article or freely available content, then provides a link to the full text PDF. Simple! Believe us when we say you won’t regret installing it. Look out for similar options on other search engines, such as the option in Google Scholar to create a ‘Library Link’ to the University of York. Read more about how to set this up on our Google Scholar guide.

3: Get inspired by browsing journal content in BrowZine

Looking for inspiration for where to start with your reading? BrowZine, our online journal browsing tool, can help. Use it to flick through the latest issues of relevant journals, or explore the subject categories for suggestions on journals to read.

4: Up your searching game with library databases

You’ve mastered YorSearch and you’re a Google Scholar pro. What next? The library’s range of databases can help you to stand out from the crowd and take your searching to the next level. Databases allow you to search across many hundreds of journals at the same time, giving you unparalleled access to high-quality research articles. They include details of the literature in either specific subjects or across a range of disciplines, including material not covered by the library’s journal subscriptions. Why is that important? If you’re doing any sort of literature review, or just need to find out the most important research in your field, you want to cast as wide a search as possible, whether we subscribe to that content or not. See the next tip for how to source extra material quickly and easily. You can explore our eResources Guide to see all of our databases, or access your Subject Guide for a curated list of subject-specific resources.

5: If we don’t have something you need, request it!

In your wider searching you might come across books, journal articles or other resources not currently available in the library. Fear not, we can get them for you! All you need to do is complete our Tell Us What You Need form and we’ll take care of the rest. For books we’ll either purchase a copy for the library or borrow a copy from another library. For journal articles we’ll source a PDF copy for you. If you can include the journal ISSN in your request that speeds up the process; the ISSN is an eight-digit code unique to that journal (e.g. 1234-5678) which you can usually find on the journal’s website. Don’t worry if you don’t have it to hand; place the request anyway and we’ll take it from there. This service is free for you to use and there are no limitations, but we’d ask you to double check YorSearch or for free versions of an article online before placing your request.

6: Keep track of your reading to save you time and effort

During your searching you’ll come across a lot of resources, some of which you’ll cite in your final writing. You’ll need a method to keep track of all of these useful materials, either to cite them accurately or to revisit them later in your assignment. There are lots of ways to do this: keep a list by hand, save items in YorSearch, or make use of reference management tools. The choice is yours, but you’ll find that you save a huge amount of time, effort and stress by coming up with an approach that works for you.

7: More help is at hand

You’re not in this alone: the library has a lot of additional help to guide you. Your Faculty Librarians can provide support with searching the literature, developing your search strategy or referencing your work appropriately. You can find their contact details or book an appointment with them via your Subject Guide. We offer a range of other one-to-one appointments for academic writing, maths and stats help and study coaching. We also run a varied programme of training sessions to deepen your knowledge and skills; explore the full range of sessions and book your place.

Good luck with your assignments this semester, you’re going to smash it!