Research support

Registered students involved with research have various resources available to them to get everything they need out of the Unisa Library. Students can access a series of online tutorials on essential topics and have personal librarians on hand to assist.

Research skills

• Have a broad overview of the resources the library has to offer
• Develop browsing and search skills to ensure that you use the databases effectively
• Find relevant material on your topic
• Obtain your identified material
• Use RefWorks to build a personal database and be able to use it to create in-text citations and a bibliography in your preferred referencing style
• Stay up-to-date with the latest trends in your research

Click on a link below to read through tutorials on the following topics.

• Using the Unisa Library homepage
• Researching your topic 
• Using the library's subject databases
• Finding books
• Finding journal articles 
• Finding theses and dissertations
• Finding other electronic material
• Finding legal information
• Evaluating your information
• Managing your references
• Keeping up-to-date with your research
• Citation resources

Personal librarians

Personal librarians provide:

• Assistance with research needs
• Training in the use of the subject databases
• Support in setting up alerting services
• Compilation of subject-specific literature lists
• Partnering with academics in the structuring of study material
• Gathering subject-specific input for collection development
• Promotion of the library’s services and information resources
• Developing partnerships with the academics, researchers, graduate students and other library staff

For more information on personal librarians you can contact the library via e-mail perslib@unisa.ac.za or see contact details below for college-specific personal librarians.