Quick Tips

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• Using the Library Catalogue

  The DBS library catalogue is called Heritage.  It can be accessed online from anywhere in the world, 24 hours a day.  The catalogue allows you to search and locate the details or materials held at both library sites.

  It is advisable to use the Advanced Search option in the catalogue.  This allows you to focus your searches to specific book titles or authors.  It also allows you to narrow your search to just books, or DVDs, or dissertations… whatever it is that you are looking for.

  For more details, check out the Library online catalogue guide in the Getting Good Grades series of Library Guides
  

• Library Databases – what are they? & how do I use them?

  The library databases are vast containers of information that hold a huge variety of materials, including:

  • Journal Articles
  • Case Reports
  • Company and Country Reports
  • SWOT Analyses
  • Newspaper and Magazine Articles
  • Podcasts
  • Education Videos
  • And much much more...

  The library databases are accessible via the Library website.  You can access them from anywhere in the world, 24 hours a day using your Student Number and Date of Birth (dd/mm/yyyy) as your log-in.  You can search all or some of the databases with one search using the EBSCO Integrated Search or you can search each one individually by selecting the title from the list of databases.

  For more details, check out the Library’s guides on using the online databases – Online Database Series.

• Top Tips for Essay Writing

  Essay writing is a key skill which you should start to perfect from your earliest days in college.  An academic essay at third level is more than just a piece of good writing on a particular topic.  Your essay should be your own opinion on a topic, fully researched and written with style and clarity.

  Two key elements to a good academic essay:
  

  1. Research
  2. Your own critical thinking, opinions & insights

  One of the most important things to remember when writing an essay is that when you use the words, ideas, research or any material that belongs to someone else, you must reference the original author!  Leaving out references or including incomplete references is an act of plagiarism.  It is important to learn how to research, write and reference in order to avoid committing plagiarism in your assignments.

  For more details, check out the Library’s guides on Essay Writing, Avoiding Plagiarism & more – Getting Good Grades Series.

• What is Referencing?

  
  

  Referencing is a standard method of acknowledging the sources of information you have consulted in compiling your assignment.  Anything – words, figures, graphs, theories, ideas, facts – originating from another source and used in your assignment must be referenced (i.e.acknowledged).

  In your assignment (e.g. essay, seminar paper, dissertation, project, etc.) you must provide the reader with precise information pertaining to every source referred to in your written work or consulted as part of your research.

  There are various styles or ways of formatting references.  In DBS the following three styles are used:

  • Business students use Harvard
  • Arts students use APA
  • Law students use OSCOLA.

  For detailed instructions and examples of each referencing style, check out the Library’s guides – Referencing Series.

• Avoiding Plagiarism

  
  

  Plagiarism is using the words and ideas of others without acknowledging the source of the information, in other words passing another person’s work off as your own.

  NOTE:  Plagiarism is a serious act of academic impropriety and will be dealt with accordingly.

  In order to avoid committing plagiarism, you should:

  • Learn how to make comprehensive notes when researching, noting down the details of the source in full – in this way you will have the relevant referencing information to hand when writing your assignments.
  • Familarise yourself thoroughly with your referencing style.  In DBS the following three styles are used:
    • Business students use Harvard
    • Arts students use APA
    • Law students use OSCOLA.

  Detailed guides on each referencing style are available here.

  • Learn how to use quote, paraphrase and summarise sources correctly.  Details on each can be found in the Library’s Getting Good Grades series of guides.

  An online tutorial on how to avoid plagiarism is coming soon.