Undergraduate Research Resources

Previous research projects

Selected research projects are held in the Library - these are for use in the Library only. 

Useful books held by the Library

Check the Library catalogue for books not listed here.

ACADEMIC WRITING

Cooper, H. (2016). Where’s your argument? How to present your academic argument in writing. Palgrave Macmillan Education.

Shelf number: 808.042 COO

Learn to develop your ideas and to use evidence to structure and present your argument.

Lia, P. (2020). Simplify your study: Effective strategies for coursework and exams. Red Globe Press.

Shelf number: 808.02 LIA

Clear information on how to plan, read and make notes, develop critical thoughts and reflect on your writing, produce essays and dissertations, and revise for exams.

Shon, P.C. (2018). The quick fix guide to academic writing: How to avoid big mistakes and small errors. SAGE.

Shelf number: 808.066 378 SHO

Covers the common structural and grammatical errors that can affect your writing. Other topics:  develop research questions, write abstracts, and critique previous literature.

REPORTS

Reid, M. (2012). Report writing. Palgrave Macmillan.

Shelf number: 808.02 REI

Present data effectively in tables, graphs, diagrams, maps and observations within a report.

Wang, G. T. & Park, K. (2016). Student research and report writing: From topic selection to the complete paper. Wiley Blackwell.

Shelf number: 808.02 WAN

Tips on how to find a topic, write a research proposal and complete the final report.

RESEARCH

Creswell, J.W. & Creswell, J.D. (2018). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. SAGE.

Shelf number: 001.42 CRE

Contents include a literature review, the use of theory, ethical considerations, research questions, hypotheses and method types that can be used to gather data.

Thomas, G. (2017). Doing research (2^nd ed.). Palgrave Macmillan.

Shelf number: 001.42 THO

Checklists and information help you plan, research, analyse data and write an abstract.

Walliman, N. (2018). Research methods: The basics. Routledge.

Shelf number: 001.42 WAL

First part covers research theory. Second part covers specific methods on how to propose, plan, collect and use data then write a research project.

Useful online books

Note that in order to access the Library’s online resources you will need to have an OpenAthens account. Contact the library if you are a current student and don’t have an account. If you wish to download the books, you will need to have Adobe Digital Editions installed on your device.

Berger, A. A. (2008). The academic writer’s toolkit : A user’s manual. Routledge. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xww&AN=398720&site=eds-live&scope=site&custid=s9929458

Mathukutty M. M., & Pawar, B. S. (2010). Academic writing : A guide for management students and researchers. Sage Publications. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xww&AN=323057&site=eds-live&scope=site&custid=s9929458

O'Collins, G. (2011). A short guide to writing a thesis : what to do and what not to do. AFT Press.   https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=421295

Sharp, J. A., Peters, J. A., & Howard, K. (2002). The management of a student research project (3rd ed.). Routledge. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xww&AN=269760&site=ehost-live&scope=site&custid=s9929458

Looking for other online books? Go to Discovery and search there. You can restrict your search to ebooks only by using the filter

Online resources

• Discovery - enables you to search multiple databases at once to find full text articles and books. Note that you can restrict to scholarly articles and use many other filters to help in your searching.
• Google Scholar - this site will show you the number of citations that an article has had. The search functionality is more basic than Discovery.
• Library databases - looking for a list of individual library databases? Go to the Library database page.
• Journals - Looking for a specific journal that is full text? Try Full Text Finder.
• Note that in order to access the Library’s online resources you will need to have an OpenAthens account. Contact the Library if you are a current student and don’t have an account.

Need help in searching?

• Contact the Library for help - we can do face to face or online tutorials
• EbscoHost tutorial on searching in Discovery
• EbscoHost tuttorial on setting up a MyEbscoHost folder - Note that you can sign using your IPU New Zealand details, however if accessing via OpenAthens you will need to sign in first to OpenAthens, and then to MyEbscoHost using Google. My Ebscohost folder can be used to store your searches and articles found using Discovery

Tips

• Need to shrink a really long URL? Try Tiny URL

Microsoft Word

Try these links for helpful guides:

• Page numbering
• Table of contents
• Do you have pages with page numbers appearing which shouldn't be numbered? Try separating them with a section break

APA referencing

IPU New Zealand will be using APA 7 from 2021. The guide is available here  Referencing and style guide APA 7 (0.83MB)

Note that when adding a URL for an article from a database, always look for a permalink or durable link, as the browser link may just apply to that particular web session

Referencing tools

To collect your references check out these free resources:

Mendeley  - store all your references in one place

Zotero - an easy-to-use tool to help you organise and cite your research 

Need help?

Tel: 06 354 0922 ext. 855
Email: library@ipu.ac.nz