Preparing for Success

SCU Academic Skills - Quick Guides

Download documents on topics such as time management, writing and referencing essays, exam prep etc.

SCU Library Handout

A handout - giving suggestions / strategies / examples to help you search for information on your essay topic - is now available.

To answer your assignment question properly, it is important to identify the key words and concepts in your assignment topic. A quick guide on how to analyse your assignment topic can be found here.

To get the widest range of information, think of alternative terms for your key words, for example career development or workplace development could be used as an alternative to career goals. The word planning may provide relevant information for goal achievement. Once you have all of your keywords and concepts, you are ready to start searching the catalogue.

Use quotation marks to search for a phrase, eg “study skills”.

By using an asterisk, you can search for variations of that word, for example employ* will search for employment and employability.

If you are still having trouble finding the information you need, speak to a reference librarian, who can show you how to use the databases and help you to start searching effectively. 

   Academic Skills Numeracy

SCU Academic Skills website of numeracy resources providing support for topics in mathematics.

SCU Academic Skills - Quick Guides

Download documents on topics such as time management, writing and referencing essays, exam prep etc.

If you are still having trouble finding the information you need, speak to a reference librarian, who can show you how to use the databases and help you to start searching effectively. 

SCU Academic Skills - Quick Guides

Download documents on topics such as time management, writing and referencing essays, exam prep etc.

Sustainable Living - sustaining our towns

'Sustaining our Towns' is a project to help reduce the ecological footprints of individuals, homes, businesses and communities in thirteen Council areas across South Eastern NSW. The project is co-ordinated by SERRROC in partnership with Clean Energy for Eternity, the Southern Rivers Catchment Management Authority and the thirteen SERRROC Councils.

To get the widest range of information for your assignments, think of alternative terms for your key words, for example environmental could be used as an alternative to sustainable. Other words or phrases relating to your topic can also produce relevant information such as social responsibility or greening.  Once you have all of your keywords and concepts, you are ready to start searching the catalogue.

Use quotation marks to search for a phrase, eg “sustainable development”.

By using an asterisk, you can search for variations of a word, for example sustain* will search for sustainable and sustainability.

If you are still having trouble finding the information you need, speak to a reference librarian, who can show you how to use the databases and help you to start searching effectively. 

SCU Academic Skills - Quick Guides

Download documents on topics such as time management, writing and referencing essays, exam prep etc.

To answer your assignment question properly, it is important to identify the key words and concepts in your assignment topic.

To get the widest range of information, think of alternative terms for your key words, for example cellular phone or cell phone could be used as an alternative to mobile phone. The word health is an alternative term for well-being.  Once you have all of your keywords and concepts, you are ready to start searching the catalogue.

Use quotation marks to search for a phrase, eg “mobile phones”.

By using an asterisk, you can search for variations of that word, for example cell* phone will search for cell phone and cellular phone.

If you are still having trouble finding the information you need, speak to a reference librarian, who can show you how to use the databases and help you to start searching effectively. 

Australian Government Science and Technology website

CSIRO

SCU Academic Skills - Quick Guides

Download documents on topics such as time management, writing and referencing essays, exam prep etc.

To get the widest range of information for your assignments, think of alternative terms for your key words, for example Aboriginal could be used as an alternative to Indigenous; biodiversity could be an alternative to ecology; sustainable could be an alternative to environmental.

Phrases relating to your topic can also produce relevant information such as "social responsibility". Once you have all of your keywords and concepts, you are ready to start searching the catalogue.

Use quotation marks to search for a phrase, eg “sustainable development”.

By using an asterisk, you can search for variations of a word, for example global* will search for global, globally, globalisation and globalization.

If you are still having trouble finding the information you need, speak to a reference librarian, who can show you how to use the databases and help you to start searching effectively. 

These news services report daily on scientific issues daily: 

ABC science

Google news (Science)

SBS

BBC science

CNN tech

Books

Crossley, J. (2013). Personal training: Theory and practice.  (2nd ed.). Abingdon,  UK: Routledge. ebook

Plowman, S. (2013). Exercise physiology for health, fitness, and performance (4th ed.). Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health. 612.044 PLOW

Journal articles 

Frick, Malin. (2015). There is something fishy with shark nets. Nature New South Wales, 59(3), 18-19.

Gibbs, L. (2016). More shark nets for NSW: why haven't we learned from WA's cull?. The Conversation, 13 October 1-3.

Gray, G. M. E., & Gray, C. A. (2017). Beach-User Attitudes to Shark Bite Mitigation Strategies on Coastal Beaches; Sydney, Australia. Human Dimensions of Wildlife, 22(3), 282-290. doi:10.1080/10871209.2017.1295491

O'Connell, C. P., Andreotti, S., Rutzen, M., Meӱer, M., & Matthee, C. A. (2018). Testing the exclusion capabilities and durability of the Sharksafe Barrier to determine its viability as an eco-friendly alternative to current shark culling methodologies. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 28(1), 252-258. doi:10.1002/aqc.2803

Pepin-Neff, C. L., & Wynter, T. (2018). Reducing fear to influence policy preferences: An experiment with sharks and beach safety policy options. Marine Policy, 88, 222-229. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2017.11.023

Simmons, P., & Mehmet, M. I. (2018). Shark management strategy policy considerations: Community preferences, reasoning and speculations. Marine Policy, 96, 111-119. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2018.08.010
 

Webpages and web documents

Australian Marine Conservation Society. (2019).   Footage released of dead marine life as shark nets removed from NSW beaches. Retreived from https://www.marineconservation.org.au/footage-released-of-dead-marine-life-as-shark-nets-removed-from-nsw-beaches/

Chapman, B. (2019, June 26). Shark nets: Protecting us or just harming sharks?. Australian Geographic. Retrieved from https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/shark-blog/2019/06/shark-nets-protecting-us-or-just-harming-sharks/

Fuller, K. (2019). Sharks nets 'cruel', catching too many other marine creatures at popular NSW beaches. Retrieved from https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-08/call-to-remove-shark-nets-with-other-marine-life-caught/11396366

NSW Department of Primary Industries. (2017). NSW north coast shark-meshing trial. Retrieved from https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/734535/NSW-north-coast-shark-meshing-trial-final-report.pdf

Sharksmart. (n.d.). SharkNets. Retrieved from https://www.sharksmart.nsw.gov.au/shark-nets.

Journal articles 

   Choudhary, A. K., & Lee, Y. Y. (2018). Neurophysiological symptoms and
   aspartame: What is the connection? Nutritional Neuroscience, 21(5),
   306-316. doi:10.1080/1028415X.2017.1288340

    Crichton, G. E., Elias, M. F., & Torres, R. V. (2016). Sugar-sweetened soft
    drinks are associated with poorer cognitive function in individuals with
    type 2 diabetes: the Maine-Syracuse Longitudinal Study. The British
    Journal of Nutrition, 115(8), 1397-1405. 

    Onaolapo, A. Y., Onaolapo, O. J., & Nwoha, P. U. (2016). Alterations in
    behaviour, cerebral cortical morphology and cerebral oxidative stress
    markers following aspartame ingestion. Journal of Chemical
    Neuroanatomy, 78, 42-56. 

    Onieal, M.-E. (2017). Are Aspartame’s benefits sugarcoated? Clinician
    Reviews, September, 6-7.

    Pase, M. P., Himali, J. J., Beiser, A. S., Aparicio, H. J., Satizabal, C. L.,
    Vasan, R. S., . . . Jacques, P. F. (2017). Sugar- and artificially sweetened
    beverages and the risks of Incident stroke and dementia: A prospective
    cohort study. Stroke, 48(5), 1139-1146. 

    Pistollato, F., Iglesias, R. C., Ruiz, R., Aparicio, S., Crespo, J., Lopez, L. D.,
     . . . Battino, M. (2018). Nutritional patterns associated with the
    maintenance of neurocognitive functions and the risk of dementia and
   Alzheimer’s disease: A focus on human studies.
   Pharmacological Research, 131, 32-43. 

Webpages and web documents

   European Commission, Health and Consumer Protection
   Directorate-General, Scientific Committee on Food. (2002). Opinion of
   the scientific committee on food: update on the safety of aspartame.
   Retrieved from: https://ec.europa.eu/food/sites/food/files/safety/docs/
   sci-com_scf_out155_en.pdf

    FDA (U.S. Food & Drug Administration). (2018). Additional Information
    about High-Intensity Sweeteners Permitted for Use in Food in the
    United States. Retrieved from https://www.fda.gov/Food/Ingredients
    PackagingLabeling/FoodAdditivesIngredients/ucm397725.htm

    Schilling, R. (2017). Dementia and strokes from diet drinks. Retrieved
    from http://www.askdrray.com/dementia-and-strokes-from-diet-drinks/

    Shmerling, R. H. (2017). Could artificial sweeteners be bad for your
    brain? Retrieved from https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/could-
    artificial-sweeteners-be-bad-for-your-brain-2017060711849