Wednesday 19 October 2011

Help With Essay Writing

By now most of you will have been given your first assignments to complete. If you find the task a bit daunting it might help to have a look at some of the books listed below. They take you through the process of writing academic essays and critical analysis and evaluation. Remember that PAD can alos offer you help with essay writing. You can book an appointment with a PAd tutor at the Bedford, Polhill Campus on 01234 793 081 or at the Luton, Park Square Campus on 01582 489 202

Setting Up A Personal Account in Ebscohost Research Databases

You can set up your own personal account with Ebscohost Research Databases - (it's free!). Once you've done this you can:
  • Save your search results - so they're still there waiting for you next time you log in
  • Set up search alerts - the database will email you (or set up an RSS feed) each time new records matching your search terms are added to the database
  • Create your own folders - to organise the results you've found & share your folders with other people if necessary
To set up a personal account with Ebscohost:
  1. Access Ebscohost Research Databases in the usual way & go to the Advanced Search screen.
  2. Click on the Sign in link (top right of the screen)
  3. Untick the box for "Load preferences from My Ebscohost" & then click on the "Create a new account" link (right of screen, near the top of the page).
  4. Fill in the form & click the Save Changes button to set up your account.
You can now save your searches & set up alerts by performing a search in the usual way & then clicking the Search history link (underneath the search boxes). See the Help pages in Ebscohost for further instructions.

Some Useful Readings For Level 1 Sociology & Criminology BA Students

A number of you have been asking me about material on crime statistics in the UK. Below are listed some useful electronic materials which you may find useful. You will need to login with your library account to view them off-campus.

Tuesday 18 October 2011

Useful Reading for Undergraduate Dissertations

I put a list of useful books (both print & electronic) about researching your social science dissertation & doing a literature review on the Further Help section of my guide. Login to any of the electronic books using your username & password.

Equal but different? New report on alternatives to custody for women from HMI Probation

A new report from HMI Probation has been published on: Equal but different? An inspection of the use of alternatives to custody for women offenders.

4 In Every 10 Disabled Children Living in Poverty Report


A new report from the Children's Society has revealed that 4 out of 10 disabled children in the UK (a staggering 320,000) are living in poverty. Nearly a third of those 320,000 are living in severe poverty. Alarmingly, when a disabled adult also lives in the household, around half of all disabled children will be living in poverty.You can read the full report here: 4 in every 10 disabled children are living in poverty.

Live Twitter Debate on Social Workers' Role & Identity

There will be a live debate on Twitter today (Tuesday 18th October) 2011 from 20.00-21.00 GMT (15.00-16.00 EST) covering social worker's roles and professional identity. The debate is sponsored by the Social Work & Media Network, Goldsmiths University of London and the Open University and will address such questions as:
  1. How should we define the role of social workers in our society (Are statutory social workers’ an agent of state? and What is the role of non-statutory social workers?)
  2. Are social workers such a consistent failure or is social work the easiest “Social Scapegoat”?
  3. How can we establish and sustain a more engaged and positive role and identity for social workers?
Anyone is invited to join in. You can find out more & join the debate here: Social Work /Social Care & Media.

Wednesday 12 October 2011

Preparing for Your Dissertation Workshop

I am holding an additional workshop on "Preparing to Write Your Dissertation" on Monday 17th October 1.00-2.00 pm in Library ICT Training Suite 1 (top floor of the library).

The workshop will cover:


  • Choosing a topic

  • Doing a literature review

  • Resources for research

Please come along if you're interested.

Monday 10 October 2011

Finding Ebooks

If you're a new student you might be unfamiliar with using ebooks. An ebook is exactly the same as the printed version - except it's available via the web. Many of the core texts on your reading lists are available as ebooks.

You can find ebooks via the Library Catalogue. Any book with the little red ebook symbol (shown above) is an ebook. If you want to find only ebooks use the Advanced Search tab in the Library Catalogue & select "ebooks" in the Limit to: field.

New Report From the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on Education & Achievement

A new report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation investigates how parents, place and poverty all impact upon the aspirations of young people and how this influences educational attainment. You can read the full report here: The influences of parents, places and poverty oneducational attitudes and aspirations.

Wednesday 5 October 2011

Pop-up Blocker Problems!

A number of you have been reporting that you've been unable to view some of our electronic resources online, e.g. ebooks, electronic journal articles. In each case the problem has been that you have the pop-up blocker turned on in your browser. As ebooks and ejournal articles open as pop-ups they will be blocked too.


The pop-up blocker is located under "tools" if you're using Internet Explorer or Firefox. Google Chrome can't cope with our electronic resources so don't use it!

Tuesday 4 October 2011

Website of the Week: Justice

The Justice website is a UK Government website aimed at all those working within and reliant upon information produced by the justice system. The site contains many free to download publications and reports including:
  • The latest justice related news
  • Court, criminal justice and prison statistics
  • Research and reports
  • Guidance on a wide range of policy areas including freedom on information, human rights, prisons and probation, youth justice and protecting vulnerable adults
  • Consultations on reforms & changes to the law

What every social work student should know!

Here is an interesting article that I found in The Guardian. Social Work teacher, Peter Beresford gives his top five tips for this year's intake of social work students in an article entitled "What every social work student should know". You can read the article here.

Monday 3 October 2011

New SCIE E-Learning Resource on Parental Mental Health & Familes



SCIE have just launched a new, free e-learning resource providing audio, video and interactive technology to explore the nature of parental mental health and its impact on families. You can view the resource here: Parental Mental Health & Familes.