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Research Support@HKU Libraries

The HKU Libraries provides support in different stages of your research cycle.

Literature Review

HKUL subscribes to a rich collection of print and electronic resources in support of the literature review process.  Resources range from multi-disciplinary to subject specialized databases.

Electronic Resources

There are myriad resources each with its specialty or purpose.

► Subject Guides: Refer to Subject guides for the pertinent resources on a discipline or topic.

► Accessing e-resources:  HKUL authentication is required for access to e-resources.  However, if you access a resource directly from the publisher’s page bypassing the library, the HKUL authentication page will not appear.  Please install the HKUL Search Assistant or Reload via HKUL to trigger the authentication page.

Below is a simple overview of the resources for different stages of research:

 

Stage of research Tools Hints

Beginning your research


Find@HKUL The discovery tool at HKUL to find books and articles on a topic.  See Guide
Google Scholar With special settings, you can link directly to ViewIt @ HKUL for full-text access.  See Guide
For inter-disciplinary topics
Multi-disciplinary databases

Try the following key databases:

Ebscohost research databases

JSTOR

ProQuest

Scopus

Web of Science

中國期刊全文數據庫
E-Theses Databases Help discover research beyond journal articles and explore the extensive bibliographies of each thesis. Get Hints.
For a specialized discipline
Databases Choose databases by subject or by database type.
HKUL Digital Initiatives The databases produced through HKUL digitization open up online access to local collections originally in print format only.

Stay up-to-date on new publications


BrowZine Track new publications by journals.  The tool offers desktop, Android, and IOS platforms.  See Guide
Alerts in databases Track new publications on a topic by setting up email alerts or RSS feeds in selected databases.  Sample Guide

Pre-prints

 

Pre-prints servers also provide previews of papers going to be published. See Guide

Get materials beyond HKUL

 

Beyond HKU (HKALL + Interlibrary Loan)

Request books, book chapters, journal articles, and other reading resources beyond the HKU Libraries' collections from local and overseas partner institutes.
JULAC Card Access and borrow books from other UGC-funded Libraries. 
Recommendation Online

Book Recommendation Online: recommend books (print or electronic) & audio-visual items for all HKU Libraries borrowers. 

Electronic Resources Recommendation Online: recommend electronic databases by academic staff only.

Journal Recommendation Online: recommend journals (print and/or electronic) by academic staff only.

Watch this video, to learn how to get access to library subscribed databases.

Skills

Simply entering keywords into a search box might work.  However, building a good search statement would help gain better success when searching the databases.  Below are some general tips:

Search tip Function Example
Boolean operator: AND Both terms to appear  energy AND pollution
Boolean operator: OR Either term to appear solar OR sun
Boolean operator: NOT Exclude a term energy NOT nuclear
Truncation and Wildcard Search variant spelling cultur* to get culture, cultured, cultural
Wildcard organi?ation to get organisation, organization
Brackets Group terms pollution AND (fossil fuel OR petroleum)
Quotation marks Phrase searching law and order

Summary of the Boolean operators:

    

 

    

 

How to build a search statement

Watch this video, to learn more about how to build a search statement.