Understanding your reading list
This guide is intended to help you understand your reading lists and give you guidance on how to find the items listed in your bibliography on the LRC catalogue Enterprise. It also answers from frequently asked questions on finding reading list items.
All items on your reading lists should have been made available in the LRC by your department - please Contact us details of any items you can't find in the catalogue.
Book references
Book references will usually contain author(s), (year), title, edition, publisher,.
Example:
Begg, D. and Ward, D. (2013) Economics for business. 4th ed. London: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Search the Enterprise catalogue
Just type in one of the author’s last names and one or two words from the title
e.g. beg economics
Enterprise will show you if the book is available in print or online.
More guidance on searching Enterprise for a specific book
Chapters in books
References to chapters in books can take two forms:
Examples:
- Cullen, I. (2010) Constructing a global real estate investment index. In Newell, G. & Sieracki, K. (eds) Global trends in real estate finance. Ames: Wiley Blackwell.
- Newell Global trends in real estate finance (2010) Ch. 7.
Search the Enterprise catalogue
Just type in one of the editor’s last names and one or two words from the title of the book. Do not type in the author and title of the chapter (Enterprise does not hold this detailed information)
e.g. newell global trends
Enterprise will show you if the book is available in print or online.
More guidance on searching Enterprise for a specific book
Journal articles
Journal article references will usually give author, (date), article title, journal title, volume number, page numbers.
Example:
Sharon Yam, (2013) The practice of corporate social responsibility by Malaysian developers, Property Management, 31(1), 76 - 91.
Search the Summon discovery service for online access
Search Summon for the title of the article e.g. The practice of corporate social responsibility by Malaysian developers.
If the article is available online it will appear at the top of your results.
If your article title is very short, or contains common words, try enclosing it in quotation marks, e.g. "The practice of corporate social responsibility by Malaysian developers", or refining your results to view just Journal articles.
Search the Enterprise catalogue for print access
If your search on Summon does not find the article, it is possible we only have it in print. To find printed journals search Enterprise for the title of the journal in which the article was published, in the above example search for Property Management
More guidance on searching Enterprise for a journal
Sometimes your journal title will be abbreviated:
Sharon Yam, (2013) The practice of corporate social responsibility by Malaysian developers, Property Man., 31(1), 76 - 91.
You need to type in the complete words when searching Enterprise. You can often guess the full title. If not, search Google for the abbreviated title and the journal's website will usually come up.
Strange abbreviations on your reading list
You will often find the following abbreviations used in reading lists and bibliographies:
Ibid. is an abbreviation of the Latin ibidem and means "the same as the preceding reference".
Idem. means "the same" in Latin and is used in place of the author's name for more than one reference to works by the same author (eg Austen, Jane. Emma p. 96 ; Idem. Pride and prejudice, p. 135)
Op. cit. is an abbreviation of the Latin opere citato and means in the work cited. Look back in the list for full publication details which have already been given.
No title?
If a book is quoted using just the authors with no title, the full reference may have been given earlier in the list, so it is worth looking back.
Organisations are often referred to by their initials, e.g. AOAC International or MLA. To find out what the initials stand for just search Google to find their website.
Problems?
I can't find the book on Enterprise...
- You might have mistyped your search - check the spelling of your search.
- There might be a mistake, or typing error on the reading list - try searching for a few key words from the title.
- The book is not in the LRC- check with your lecturer. You might be supposed to buy your own copy.
- Contact us and we'll see if we can order a copy.
My reading list gives a Call Number, but the book isn't there...
The book could be on loan. Check Enterprise - if it is out, you can place a hold on it. There may also be copies in the Course Collection.
Enterprise says that the book is on-shelf, but I can't find it
Ask at the Information Desk and we will try to help you find it.
The reference on my reading list is not available online or in print
- Contact us - give full details of the reference you can't find. We will explore options for making the item available in the LRC or via Blackboard.