Starting Your Research
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How do I find books and journals?
Search the S OAS Library catalogue . This will find print and electronic books and print journals. SOAS Staff and students can explore more e-book collections using Ebrary .
Widen your search to include other research libraries in the UK and Ireland by using COPAC . -
How do I find journals articles?
If you know the article you are looking for search the Library catalogue and/or eJournal and eBook finder for the title of the journal. If you want to find what articles have been written on a certain subject then start with EBSCO Discovery searching tool and then move on to more subject-specific databases.
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How do I find multi-media resources?
Majority of music CDs and DVDs are open access on Level E, stack 48 and 49. Music CDs and DVDs are classified according to regions as below. You can also browse by class mark into SOAS Library catalogue
DVDs
Classmark Regions MDVD 3 Sub-Saharan Africa MDVD 4 North Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia) MDVD 5 Near and Middle East, (incl. Israel) MDVD 15 South Asia MDVD 20 South East Asia (incl. Oceania) MDVD 24 East Asia incl. China (incl. Tibet, Mongolia) MDVD 25 Japan, Korea MDVD 34 Asia and Africa in general (i.e. cross region) MDVD 40 Other regions of the world Music CDs
Classmark Regions MY3 Sub-Saharan Africa MY4 North Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia) MY5 Near and Middle East, (incl. Balkans) MY6 Jewish Music MY15 South Asia MY20 South East Asia (incl. Oceania) MY24 East Asia incl. China (incl. Tibet, Mongolia) MY25 Japan, Korea MY34 Asia and Africa in general (i.e. compilation, cross region) MY40 Other regions of the world (i.e. World music, Cuban music, Latin Music) or Non-regional Closed Access Materials:-
To consult ‘Reference Only’ CDs and DVDs, requisition slips are available at Issue Desk. The form should be completed and returned to the staff. You may submit up to three slips for each collection.
Collections of closed access materials are made four times per day (10 am, 11.30 am, 2 pm & 4 pm)
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How do I find newspapers?
- World-wide newspapers 1996- (including UK) on Access World News
- UK Newspapers on Lexis Library
- Times of India Digital Archive provides access to local, regional and national news for publication in India from 1838-2003. It is a good place to look for historical events.
- North China Herald is the prime printed source for the history of the foregn presence in China from around 1850 to the 1940.
- More newspapers from Asia, Africa and the Middle East are available in print or microforms. Search for ‘country name, newspapers’ in subject filed on SOAS Library catalogue
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SOAS Research Online
SOAS Research Online - Open access e-print repository of academic publications (articles, book chapters, theses etc.) by SOAS staff.
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What if SOAS Library does not hold what I need?
Search other libraries’ holdings using COPAC (Research Libraries UK Union Catalogue) & SUNCAT
For Music resources, the following libraries are recommended
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How do I cite and reference sources?
Citing and referencing is the way in which you provide details of quotations, arguments and ideas of others that you included in your own work. To avoid plagiarism, always keep notes as you go along of what you have been reading. Using a reference organising software (e.g. Zotero and Endnote Web ) would be recommended.
There are a number of different citing and referencing systems. Check with your Department and Academic which referencing system they prefer being used. The key is to be consistent.
Reference Guide (pdf; 452kb) are available from the Help yourself Study Resources site
A comprehensive guide to the Harvard system has been created by Anglia Ruskin University.
guidelines of citing audiovisual materials.