Research skills
Advice, tutorials and support to help you find and evaluate information from the Library and online.
Find books, articles and other information
Our online tutorial will guide you on how to find books, articles, and other information - on the library shelves and online - for your assignments and research.
Finding information for specific subjects
Subject-specific search
Learn how to search subject-specific databases for information that can not be found through Google or the library search.
Resources for your subject
Many of the Library's subject pages have online tutorials offering specialist advice on finding information for your subject.
Evaluate information
Evaluating information: Not everything you find will be useful. You need to evaluate the objectivity, accuracy, authority, relevance and timeliness of the information you've found.
(See also the critical thinking page for help with: interpreting information, questioning assumptions, evaluating evidence and comparing hypotheses.)
Online advice and tutorials
- Literature reviews workbook: An introduction to the process of writing a literature review that includes video guidance with perspectives from each college.
- Literature reviews reading list: Suggestions for further reading to help you when writing literature reviews.
- Research with Children online course: An online course on how to conduct research that involves children and young people: doing ethical research and keeping children safe.
- 1. Go to Research with Children.
- 2. Log in with your UWE Bristol user ID and password.
- 3. Click on the enrol button.
Systematic reviews
Our guide to carrying out a systematic review, including how they differ from literature reviews.
Online surveys
Microsoft Forms
Microsoft Forms is available to all students and staff at UWE Bristol. It allows users to quickly setup and share surveys, forms and quizzes for anonymous or identifiable (if they are logged into UWE Bristol) responses.
Submitted responses automatically populate an Excel spreadsheet for further analysis and can work alongside other Microsoft tools used by the University.
More details can be found on Microsoft’s support pages.
Qualtrics
While Microsoft Forms will be the best option for most surveys and polls, Qualtrics can be used by students and teaching staff for more complex data gathering.
If you still need to create surveys using Qualtrics, visit the website and enter your UWE Bristol login details.
To access Qualtrics support you can log in and close the welcome screen. Then you can:
- Select Help in the top right corner.
- Select Contact Support link to log a support query.
- Choose "Sign in with SSO", enter "uwe" for the Organisation ID, and log in at the UWE Bristol login page if prompted.
Further support
Library study skills support
There are a number of ways you can get support from the library, such as talking to us at helpdesks, using our online chat service, booking 1:1s or attending workshops.
Library study skills supportOther support
College study support
Study support specialists in your college can provide one-to-one support to help you develop your research skills.
Postgraduate researchers and research staff
Extra services and information for researchers from the Research Support Librarians: search for research methods, learn how to measure research impact, stay up-to-date with your subject and connect with other researchers.
You may also be interested in
Critical thinking and writing
Support to help you think critically about information, question assumptions and evaluate evidence.
Study spaces
We have spaces and facilities across all campuses that you can book or just turn up and use.
Study skills
Support to help you study, including referencing, academic writing, research skills, time management, reading, plagiarism advice, and IT.
College study support
College-specific online study support and one-to-one help tailored for your subject.