Behind the magic button: peer review

 

Students often tell us they’ve been asked to find ‘peer reviewed’ journal articles for an assignment. Librarians and academics sometimes talk about peer review in very general terms – ‘rigorous editorial process’, ‘evaluated by experts’, ‘reliable academic standard’ and so on. The language we use to talk about peer review  tends to be quite positive and therefore it’s no surprise that on campus there seems to be a general consensus that peer review is a good indicator of high quality information. Continue reading

Trials and tribulations of new ventures

A Wellcome Trust Research Resources Project

The School of Health and Life Sciences at Glasgow Caledonian University offers a number of undergraduate and postgraduate courses in nursing.  What is perhaps less well known is that its predecessor institution, the Glasgow and West of Scotland College of Domestic Science (GWSCDS), had ventured into nursing-related courses as early as 1925.

image of a page from the prosectus with details of the course for sister tutors and dieticians

GWSCDS 1926/27 Prospectus

The Diploma and certificate course for sister tutors and dietitians was developed in response to a shortage of nurses and dietitians in the workforce. It was open to trained nurses who would gain the qualification to enable them to teach nurses in training schools.  It was also open to Group I diploma students (diploma in cookery, laundrywork and housewifery) who could qualify as hospital, hotel or institutional dietitians.  Classes started in September Continue reading

Hi-Tech

Until the late 1980s, the current location of Glasgow Caledonian University was known as Glasgow College of Technology.[1] Upon sorting and listing recently, I came across several issues of Techbeat – the magazine for and by the students of GCT.

Cover of ‘Techbeat’ January/February 1987

The student union magazine is a venerable staple of many higher education institutions. They were (and are) a chance for the student body to put its point of view across, to cover the issues that they find relevant, and hold power to account. To read one is to be exposed to a specific mind-set of youthful idealism mixed with scabrous humour.

The four issues of Techbeat span from Autumn 1986 to January/February 1987. They offer quite the insight into student life of the time. Some things it seems remain perennial – witness the sport page’s focus on all matters football (what we would give now for the luxury of bemoaning a poor performance by Scotland in the World Cup!). There are reviews of contemporary films (Tom Cruise in Ridley Scott’s Legend anyone?) and live music. A gig at the Edinburgh Playhouse by Christy Moore was described thus: Continue reading

What is PRISMA?

What is PRISMA?

Are you undertaking your dissertation or a major piece of research?

Looking for a diagram/flowchart to evidence your search strategy?

PRISMA is a recognised tool designed to improve the quality of reporting primary systematic and meta-analyses. A common question to the Academic Librarian team is “What is PRISMA and how do I complete the flowchart?”

Continue reading

Free open access publishing for BPS members

BPS logo

 

 

 

Until September 2019, the British Psychological Society will cover 100% of open access fees for articles accepted for publication in their 11 journals:

  • British Journal of Clinical Psychology
  • British Journal of Developmental Psychology
  • British Journal of Educational Psychology
  • British Journal of Health Psychology
  • British Journal of Social Psychology
  • British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology
  • British Journal of Psychology
  • Journal of Neuropsychology
  • Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology
  • Legal and Criminological Psychology
  • Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice

Continue reading

Web of Science scheduled maintenance/ upgrade

Please be advised that Web of Science (WoS) is undergoing scheduled maintenance from 1.00 pm on Saturday 21 April until 1.00 am on Sunday 22 April.

Access to the service may be intermittent during this time. Clarivate Analytics apologise for any inconvenience as a result.

During the maintenance period there will also be an upgrade of WoS. A summary of the new features can be found at the following:

https://clarivate.libguides.com/wosupdates/whatsnew

As ever, please feel free to contact your librarian for assistance in making the best possible use of WoS and the Library’s range of electronic resources.

The EAW and educating women on the power of freedom

image of a blue magazine with title "The Electrical Age" in a spiky futuristic-looking font

EAW Magazine, Summer 1937

A Wellcome Trust Research Resources Project

Sorting through the records of the Glasgow and West of Scotland College of Domestic Science my eye was caught by the striking blue cover of a magazine, The Electrical Age.  It had the feel of an early Flash Gordon film title about it. On closer inspection I discovered that it was a 1937 publication about electricity which was aimed at women. Immediately I wanted to find out more.

The Electrical Association for Women (EAW) was founded in London in 1924 with the aim of helping women Continue reading

Read all about it! Digital newspaper collections

Whether you are looking for last week’s stories on the “Beast from the East” or how suffragettes were portrayed by contemporary British cartoonists we’ve got you covered.

Current Newspapers:

LexisLibrary gives you access to nearly 700 current UK newspapers from 1982 to present.  You can search across all the titles, or select a range of titles or a specific newspaper. For example you can compare the differences in coverage of a story between tabloid newspapers and broadsheets. Continue reading

It’s all in the chemistry: Mary Andross and food research

black and white photograph of woman pouring milk into a pan with a laboratory display around her.

Mary Andross  demonstrating her research at the College’s Nutrition Centre, The Empire Exhibition 1938

A Wellcome Trust Research Resources Project

Mary Andross (1893-1968) joined the staff of the Glasgow and West of Scotland College of Domestic Science (GWSCDS – later named The Queen’s College, Glasgow) in September 1924 as lecturer in Chemistry but her influence extended far beyond its walls. She is remembered more widely for her pioneering development of training for dieticians and the research she carried out on the nutritional content of foods.

After graduating with a BSc from the University of Glasgow, she worked with Professor George G Henderson, eventually becoming a Chemistry Assistant Continue reading