Boost your research skills for your Built Environment dissertation

Reading is a skill which we use every day.

There are lots of reasons why we read and different ways to read depending on purpose:

• necessity - think furniture assembly.
• relaxation or fun - think model building with small bricks and recreational reading.
• wellbeing - think health and stability.
• to learn about the world - think study and becoming an informed global citizen
• to find out how to navigate or complete a task - think practical and goal orientated.

At university, reading is focused on developing your understanding of your subject. It is about making connections between ideas and processes and understanding how a field has developed. 

Reading can also be very practical and technical for example reading to decipher a British Standard. To get the most out of your reading, we need to be active and engage with the information. This could be making notes or highlighting text or pulling apart articles into themes.

Be study kind!

Sometimes we are too tired to read and engage with the text. It is OK to take a break and come back to reading when you are refreshed. 

Academic reading is an important part of the research process during your dissertation.

At first, the volume of content you need to read may seem like a daunting prospect, especially if you are new to your subject. Your tutors are aware of this so to help get you started on the research process, each module that you take has an online reading list, known as Reading List Online (RLO).

 Activity 1: Use your dissertation reading list.

• Sign into Blackboard.

• Go to your dissertation module site. 

• Your module reading list is on your module homepage

• Click on the Module Reading List link and explore your reading list.

Decide what type of information you need to answer your research question.

• What type of literature sources do you need e.g. original research or data?​
• Do you need literature that professionals working in the field would use? 
• ​Do you need secondary sources e.g. information that summarises topics or developments?​
• ​Do you need technical, legal, regulatory or government information?​
• Do you need information about recent advances in the field?

Make sure that we are all familiar with academic literature terms.

• Academic journals are publications that bring together research papers and articles written by researchers from a particular field, subject or discipline. Think of these as magazines for academic researchers- each publication has a theme or title that helps researchers identify where their research would fit best, with each issue focusing on a different sub-topic within this area.

• A journal article is the individual paper, written by researchers, that report on the findings on research projects.

Let's build on the above and make sure that you know the specifics about the different sources of information we may need for our dissertation!

 Activity 2: Know your terms.

You can find feedback on the quiz in Box 4. Answers in the Support section.

If you still are unsure why you should use journal articles in your research...

Lets see if we can persuade you with this short quiz!

 Activity 3: Answer the question below.

You will receive responses based on the tick boxes you have selected.

The responses appear in the order in which you ticked the boxes.

Journal articles.

There are lots of different types of journal articles and it is useful to understand this and know what article type you are reading!  It can be difficult when you begin working with journal literature to work out what type of article you are reading.

There are clues on the journal article to help you:

• the article type may be mentioned in the article title.
• there may be information under the abstract that lists what type of article it is.
• there may be an article information or publication type section which has this information.

Where should I begin with journal articles?

Begin by reading review articles to help build up your knowledge and then move onto original research articles. Original research articles may be a little harder to read as they are written by experts within a field and assume a level of understanding that other researchers in this field have as standard.

It is useful to understand what the peer review process is and why it is important.

Here, we are describing the peer review process in relation to academic publishing. 

If a journal is peer reviewed, articles are reviewed by peers (experts) within that field as part of the process for deciding if an article will be published in that journal. The peer reviewers may make recommendations for changes to be made to the article before it is accepted for publication. 

The peer review process is meant act as quality assurance for journal articles. However, with any process, there can be errors and sometimes even journals that use the peer review process will have to make corrections to articles or retractions.

Can Library Search help find peer review journals and articles?

That is a great question! Yes, Library Search does indeed include a peer review filter to help you narrow your search results and ensure you find peer reviewed content.

Is there anything I need to be aware of if I do this?

There is! If you use this filter, you will exclude publications that do not have a peer review process and this may exclude some publications aimed at professionals or trade magazines.

These publications will still have an editorial process but it will not be as rigorous as a peer review process. This does not mean you should disregard non peer reviewed material as you would be excluding some really relevant content. Instead, you make sure that you evaluate the content as you would for any other format of information!

 Activity 4: Try this peer review filter exercise in Library Search. 

Step 1: Go to Library Search.

Step 2: Type - self healing concrete - into the search box. Click on the magnifying glass or press return to run the search.

• How many search results did you get?
• On the 16th July 2024, Library Search returned 4,074 results.

Step 3: Now apply the peer review journals filters by selecting this filter in the Availability section.

• How many results did you get when you applied this filter?
• On the 16th July 2024, Library Search returned 2,448 results.

Step 4: Now narrow the results by choosing Articles in Content Type section. 

• How many results did you get when you applied this filter?
• On the 16th July 2024, Library Search returned 2,377 results.

It is clear from above that Library Search filters (peer review and articles) will help you narrow your search to the type of information you need.

Using filters can help you feel more confident in the quality of the information you are using but you still need to evaluate the content and the claims made for yourself! You need to be a critical consumer of knowledge!

If you prefer to digest your information in a more visual way.

There is a really good chapter in this academic comic that covers and explains the peer review process. The book is related to science but the explanation will work and help you understand the process!

Reading does not always mean text! Pictures and text can covey information in academic way!

A dissertation requires you to engage fully with lots of literature.

Here are a range of resources to help you understand how to read journal articles and engage critically with the texts.

 Activity 5: Learn how to maximise your time and get help from experts!

Doing this now, may save you time when you are reading journal articles and making notes. Choose a resource to help you connect to the literature.

Congratulations you have completed four sections! 

Time to take a break - maybe find a book on one of the curated reading lists to unwind with!