Research support

Where should I start? 

Discovery is a good starting point. On here you can see all of our available print and electronic resources. You can also widen your search to view materials that are outside of our collections (please note that this is not extensive) by clicking on the Expand My Results toggle. Open Access resources will be shown with the Open Access symbol .

How do I find a particular journal article?

Use Journal finder to locate and search individual journal titles and their contents.

How do I find a particular database? 

Use A-Z Databases to access all the databases that Teesside University has access to. You can also look at Subject LibGuides to identify relevant ones for your topic. 

How do I access other theses?

Yes you can use Ethos a British Library database which allows you to search search for and download electronic theses produced by UK HE institutions. Please note: Following a cyber attack on the British Library the EThOS service is currently unavailable. Teesside University Doctoral theses can be searched on the Teesside University Research Portal. You will need to register and log in if you want to download a thesis. You can also access many international theses from Europe, Canada, Australia, and the USA. Access to most theses is free and indicated by the open access symbol but if you are asked for payment or need any further information please contact libraryhelp@tees.ac.uk.

What if I cant get access to something I want? 

There are increasingly more research outputs being made Open Access within the UK and globally. There are several useful browser plugins which can indicate if an item is available legally Open Access these include: Unpaywall, Open Access Button, CORE Discovery, EndNote Click (formerly Kopernio).

If there are no open access versions of the item you can request an item via our interlibrary loans service. 

Please note that if you are a PhD researcher please make sure that you are using your student number not your staff (U) number to access resources: this includes logging with your student credential on eduroam when trying to access library resources on campus via a personal device and if using a networked PC please log in with your student credentials.

I am doing a systematic review and not sure where to start?

A great starting point is our Systematic Review LibGuide. The guide takes you through every step of the process of conducting a systematic review. Another useful guide is our Structured searching for health students (using CINAHL and other databases) LibGuide, this is especially helpful if you are new to database searches.

I am looking for policy documents that relate to my research area?

There are lots of ways to look for policy documents, one option is using the Overton database. Overton is the world’s largest searchable policy database. It includes access to over 5 million policy documents and guidelines from over 29,000 organisations in over 185 countries. The database extracts key terms and topics; it also maps citations to show the pathways to impact in policy.