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ELISE | Informing your studies tutorial: Understanding your course resources

Using my course resource list

Your list of course resources has been created online by your lecturer and is accessible on any device. You can comment on readings, make recommendations and build a personal collection of materials.

This list is on a system called Leganto. Using it you can:

Add items

  • from your course lists to your personal collection
  • from the Library collection
  • from the internet when you add the Cite it! button to your browser
  • from EndNote or Zotero 

Collaborate

  • like your favourite resources
  • discuss items with your classmates and lecturers
  • make recommendations

Get help

Where are my course resources?

Find out how to get course resources.

Your lecturer will provide you with a link to your course resources:

  • link to online items directly from the list of course resources
  • come to the Library to find print items
  • use the item number to find the item on Library shelves

Tip  the item number tells you where print copies are located, e.g.

Recognising citations

Your courses will usually have lists of course resources that are compiled by your lecturers. They provide you with introductory information required for the course.

You may also find relevant resources in the references of the articles you find for your assignments.

Learning to recognise the different types of resources that are included in a list of resources will make finding them easier:

Books

Academic or scholarly books provide in-depth coverage of a topic. They are:

  • written for an academic audience including university students
  • can often be recognised by their extensive footnoting and referencing
  • may not provide up-to-date information on a topic

For current information on a topic, journal articles may include more recent research.

Book chapters

Some books are made up of a collection of chapter or articles, each written by a different author, and usually compiled by an editor.

Your list of course resources may include a reference to a particular chapter in a book. See the list of resources below.

Journal articles

Academic journals are important because they publish the results of current research on very specialised topics.

Scholarly journals are published for an academic audience:

  • they are often peer-reviewed
  • they often contain articles on very specific subjects, and
  • may be the primary source of information on new developments

Journals are likely to be more up-to-date and relevant to current issues. Books generally take longer to be published.

Journals are also called periodicals or serials. They are published on a recurring basis.

Reports

A report may be produced by a government body, a private organisation or it may be a working paper on a topic.

Conference papers

Papers presented at a conference or seminar are collectively known as conference proceedings.

A conference paper could be published in a collection of conference proceedings or as an individual publication. See the list of resources below.

Understanding the elements of a citation

Tip  Roll your mouse over this example list of resources to see the different elements of each citation:

Text version:

Format Citation example Identifying features
Print books Dalby, S. (2022). Rethinking environmental security. Edward Edgar Publishing.
  • publisher
eBooks Mutter, J. C. (2020). Climate change science: A primer for sustainable development. Columbia University Press. https://doi.org/10.7312/mutt19222
  • doi or digital object identifier - a unique alphanumeric string which provides a persistent link to the book
Book chapters Etsujiro, T. (2021). The co-benefits of renewable energy policies in Japan: Barriers and ways forward. In H. Farzaneh, E. Zusman, & Y. Chae (Eds.), Aligning climate change and sustainable development policies in Asia (pp. 97-108). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0135-4
  • usually compiled by an editor
  • chapters are written by different authors
  • 'in' indicates a citation for a book chapter
Print journal articles Oosthoek, S. (2016). Murky waters. New Scientist, 229(3055), 34-35.
  • volume number, issue number or date
  • page numbers of article
eJournal articles Kovaleva, M., Filho, W. L., & Borgmeister, C. (2021). Gender issues within climate change research: A bibliometric analysis. Climate and Development, 14(8), 725-740. https://doi.org/10.1080/17565529.2021.1980365
  • doi or digital object identifier - a unique alphanumeric string which provides a persistent link to the article
Conference papers Albuquerque, F. D. B., Maraqa, M. A., Chowdhury, R., Mauga, T., & Alzard, M. (2020). Greenhouse gas emissions associated with road transport projects: current status, benchmarking, and assessment tools. Transportation Research Procedia, 48, 2018-2030. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trpro.2020.08.261
  • includes words like conference, proceedings, symposium, congress, papers presented at, etc.
Technical reports Chand, S., Webb, L., Grose, M., & Gooley, G. (2022). Tropical cyclones and climate change: Implications for Pacific Island countries. CSIRO. https://doi.org/10.25919/pbtc-1y82
  • includes report title and sometimes includes a series title and number