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Design Research GuideThis guide is for those studying all design courses including product, engineering, industrial and interior design. This web page has been created by your Subject Support Team and it aims to introduce you to:
If you need basic help to find and use information refer to the InfoSkills online tutorial. For advanced help contact your Subject Support Team for subject advice. The main sections of this web page are:
Books and E-booksBooks E-books
If a book is not available in print or electronically, if you're a member of BU staff, a postgraduate or final year student you can request a copy via Inter Library Loan. This process can take from a few days to a couple of weeks depending on what you require and its availability, so it is important to consider this when planning your research. Journal articlesAcademic Search Complete - covers full text of many articles from a wide range of subjects. Business Source Complete - multidisciplinary. Design and Applied Arts Index - the largest index of its kind in the world, it contains references to a range of different resources in design, computer aided design, product design, interior design. ScienceDirect - search or browse the content of Elsevier journals. Further stages to search for a journal article
Tips on searchingAnalyse your research topic Begin by writing a sentence summarising the topic you want to research (this could be your actual assignment title for example). Your topic might be create a design for a kettle . Identify from your topic the key words and phrases that represent the principal ideas: design - kettle Write down these keywords and at this point consider spelling, synonyms and related words or phrases. When searching, try mixing and matching different combinations of search terms:
Plan your search You need to express your search in a way that the computer can interpret. Do this by linking keywords using the Boolean logic operators AND, OR, NOT. AND retrieves all the records that contain all of the keywords. OR retrieves all the records that contain one or both keywords.
NOT eliminates a keyword or group of keywords. Truncation This is used to allow for variations in word length or spelling. Truncation allows you to search for words that begin with the letters you specify. The truncation character is usually a * e.g. design* will retrieve design or designs or designer or designing Specialised information sourcesThis section includes:
CompetitorsThe Directory of UK Design Consultants Construction data
Design and engineering data
Ergonomics
ImagesThe following website provides free use of images for educational and research purposes
Market research
* Passwords required. Ask for a password sheet at any Library information point. PatentsDefinition: A Patent is a monopoly right to the exclusive use of an invention. Patents cover products or processes that possess or contain new functional or technical aspects; patents are therefore concerned with, for example, how things work, what they do, how they do it, what they are made of or how they are made. For more information on Patents go to the UK Intellectual Property Office - Designs.
Professional associations
Registered designsDefinition: A Registered Design is a monopoly right for the appearance of the whole or a part of a product resulting from the features of: contours, lines, colours, shape, texture or materials. You can find registered design on the UK Intelligence Property Office registered design database. You can search using the Locarno Classification or by name of the registered design Proprietor (e.g. dyson) or by a combination of both. For more information on Registered Design go to the UK Intelligence Property Office. StandardsDefinition: The British Standards Institute describes a standard as "a published specification that establishes a common language, and contains a technical specification or other precise criteria and is designed to be used consistently, as a rule, a guideline, or a definition". British Standards Online* - full text BR, BS EN and BS ISO * Password required. Ask for a password sheet at any Library information point. Various BS are also available in print in the libraries. Check the Library Catalogue for availability.
Statistics
Citing references and writing your dissertationCiting references When writing your work you will need to refer in your text to material written or produced by others. You need to reference the materials you have used according to Bournemouth University's Harvard style. Details are in the BU Guide to Citation in the Harvard Style (PDF 198kb) produced by the Library which can be found in the Citing References web section. Writing your dissertation Amongst others, the following titles provide help on writing you dissertation. They are shelved in The Sir Michael Cobham Library, check the Library Catalogue for availability (those marked with an * are also available as an e-book).
Previous PhD thesis and research Masters dissertations are not held in the Library. If you wish to consult these materials you need to contact your programme administrator for access. Other sources of informationmySearch The Internet Using other academic libraries – SCONUL Access Scheme Access to other libraries will normally exclude use of computer-based information services. See the Using other libraries web page for further details and registration, or ask your Subject Support Team for advice on registering for the scheme. Plagiarism E-newspapers |
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