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Ipswich Library User Guide: Support for Postgraduate & Research students

All images included in this guide are available through Creative Commons licensing CC-BY-2.0

The Library at University of Suffolk Ipswich works closely with Academic teams and the Office of Research and Enterprise to develop collections, tools and resources to support you in your research.

Outside of University of Suffolk


University of Suffolk help & support

The Library team is here to help you from the start of your studies. This includes providing:

  • Dedicated silent study space for postgraduate research students
  • Research skills - including group and one-to-one sessions on literature searching, e.g. selecting databases and advanced search skills.
  • The Researchers Toolkit
  • Help in managing your references, including using reference management tools
  • Help keeping up-to-date with information in your subject area through current awareness alerts and e-lists  

When looking for information that is available to you through University of Suffolk Libraries the best place to start is the Discovery search tool. This tool enables you to cross search collections and databases and retrieve results at article level. It also identifies the key databases for your search query. Alternatively you can go directly to the A-Z list of databases and search them individually.

Searching other collections and catalogues

Other resources to search include:

Managing your information

There are many reference management tools available. University of Suffolk has a subscription to RefWorks which enables you to access your collections online, and also share folders of references with collaborators - even if they are outside of University of Suffolk. If you have reference libraries in other tools, but would like to use RefWorks, your libraries can be imported.

Find out more about RefWorks and reference management

Archives, special collections & open repositories can be a rich source of information across many areas of research, and include primary materials such as diaries, letters and manuscripts as well as secondary sources such as printed books and pamphlets, and unpublished research.

Copyright & Intellectual Property Rights

Keeping up to date

Making use of current awareness services and searches can help you monitor research being conducted at other institutions, but also be aware of potential funding opportunities

Through publication

Throughout your research the Office of Research & Enterprise is there to support you. Once you have completed your research you may wish to formally publish it. The Office of Research & Enterprise will support you through this process. The following tools can help you decide which journals to approach, monitor bibliometrics and find out where other researchers in your area are publishing.