This page will help you get more out of your Library resources for your assignments, projects and dissertations in Physics.
Use the University VPN to access to these resources, any time, anywhere.
Getting Started
New students might like to take a Virtual Tour of the Library.
For the briefest of introductions, see this slide set.
For an introduction to these Subject Pages see this video.
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"Ask the librarian for research help and she will guide you to some amazing resources you would never have found on your own. These extra discoveries make the difference between an average paper and one that shines. As an added bonus, this exercise also shaves hours from your research time."
Cal Newport - Monday Master Class: The Most Important Paper Research Advice You’ve Never Heard [1].
Your Faculty Librarian - see contact details right - can't be available 24/7 but these pages offer some of the best advice and resources available. However, feel free to get in touch to make a face-to-face or virtual appointment if you think that would be helpful.
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You may also wish to look at our Information Literacy pages which help guide you through the research process. We have also created a suite of AI Literacy pages which may be of interest and a short Library Guide on using Generative AI in your work which you may find helpful.
(pdf file 127 kb)
A short guide on how might legitimately use generative AI such as Chat GPT in your coursework, dissertations or research.
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Department of Mathematics
Sometimes it can be difficult to get started with your research for an assignment, as there are so many sources and so much you could read!
Remember to check your reading lists in Moodle as the best starting points, and then explore our Library resources.
For general reference sources and for study help, try Credo.
Can I use ChatGPT?
See under Plagiarism below for comments on the use of generative AI such as ChatGPT. See also our small suite of AI Literacy pages.
Google
You can of course start searching Google for a topic and you may well find useful information. (Here are some short cheat sheets to some of their less well known search commands.) However, it can be time consuming to sort the wheat from the chaff particularly if you're under pressure of deadlines. Use Library resources detailed on these pages to quickly find good quality information. Or use Google Scholar to begin to find academic information.
Searching
To get the best from any database search, watch these short videos: Improving search results with keywords part 1 and Improving search results with keywords part 2 to improve your results using keywords and advanced searching, or see this Library Guide on Choosing Keywords.
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Credo Reference
(Searchable in EBSCO Discovery)Explore Credo for trusted reference sources like dictionaries - a great alternative to Wikipedia!
Watch these short videos to get started:
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A variant of Google that searches for academic literature. Provides access to articles, books, conference papers and preprints. Links to Full-text @ Portsmouth on campus or when using the VPN.
A Library Guide to this resource is available
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A short video on the three ways of logging into resources - or see the 'Accessing Electronic Resources' link on the left hand side of these pages.
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A short video introducing the University of Portsmouth Library.
University can demand more reading than previous study. A two page Library Guide on Academic Reading may help you to make the best use of your time. There is also a two-page Library Guide on Academic Reading - Journal Articles.
If you want more in depth support on the subject, try the ebook below.
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Focuses on developing essential reading skills while showing students how to adapt them to specific academic disciplines and career fields.
The following slides are solely for the Level 4 assignment on Writing a popular journal article.
(pdf file 6.64 mb)
Slides and notes to accompany the Level 4 assignment lecture Writing a popular journal article.
Books
Books provide an excellent overview of a topic and are a great resource when starting an assignment. Refer to any Reading Lists you may have been directed to or use the Library Catalogue to search for topics.
If we don't have a book you're interested in, we may be able to obtain it via Interlibrary Loan.
For a look at an ebook package (in this case Ebook Central) in a bit more detail, see this short video.
To find print books:
- Search the Library Catalogue (second search box on the page)
- For each book, note the floor, number and author code: FIRST FLOOR 658.00721 BRY
- Technology books can be found in many places in the Library, use the Locate a Book search tool (at the bottom of this page) with the shelfmark for the book which you can find on the catalogue.
- This web page gives information on borrowing from the Library.
To find ebooks:
- Search the Library Catalogue (second search box on the page)
- Refine your search on the left hand side using 'Electronic Books'.
- Click on the title of the ebook to load the full record, and then 'Online access' to view.
Advanced users may wish to look at some of these scholarly ebook collections: (Note that we have other specialist subject collections under other Subject Pages.)
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Credo Reference
(Searchable in EBSCO Discovery)Explore Credo for trusted reference sources like dictionaries - a great alternative to Wikipedia!
Watch these short videos to get started:
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This book is a 10-volume collection of hundreds of new previously unpublished authoritative research articles contributed by thousands of experts and researchers from around the globe covering a full range of perspectives, applications, and techniques. With critical perspectives on the impact of information management and new technologies in modern settings
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Access over 1000 Cambridge e-textbooks across most subjects. Register for a free personal account to use features such as notes and bookmarking. Watch these short videos to learn more.
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Free online texts for Research Methods.
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Open access ebooks on a variety of topics.
Finding Articles
For some assignments, our Discovery Service will give you enough sources to work with.
Sometimes you may want to try specific databases or journals - perhaps your lecturer has recommended particular names as a good way of finding articles. This page lists key sources for Physics:
Check out this video on how to find journal titles.
Check out this introductory video on finding journal articles.
If we don't have an item you're interested in, we may be able to obtain it via Interlibrary Loan or watch this video which explains how.
Scholarly or academic journals contain lots of individual articles on specific topics, written by different authors.
They are highly regarded as a source of academic information because they include expert opinions, research findings and references to follow up.
They are written by specialised professionals and academics (such as your lecturers).
The best quality journal articles are peer-reviewed which means they have been reviewed by an expert before publication.
Where to start with journal articles?
See this guide on the Anatomy of a journal article.
The APA have put together a useful activity on using journal articles.
Which are the best journals?
Peer-reviewed journal articles are the best place to start. Check to see if the database you are using has a filter (or 'Refine' option) to only see these.
Advanced users may wish to find out which journals are the highest ranked in a subject area:
- Scopus - click on sources and choose your subject area
- Journal Citation Reports
You can get the most out of searching databases by considering what keywords you use.
For an introduction to Discovery watch this video by our Business Librarian.
Watch this video for a demonstration of how to analyse your keywords and this video for a demonstration of using your keywords in an advanced search.
Alternatively, either see this two page Library Guide on Choosing Keywords for tips on this or use this form to analyse the concepts of your searches. For a sample assignment title to unpick the concepts, look at the PowerPoint below.
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Annals of Physics
Annals of Physics presents original work in all areas of basic physics research. The journal publishes papers on particular topics spanning theory, methodology, and applications
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Current Applied Physics
Current Applied Physics is an international journal which covers all fields of applied science investigating the physics of advanced materials for future applications. Topics include experimental and theoretical aspects of advanced materials and devices dealing with synthesis or structural chemistry, physical and electronic properties, photonics, engineering application and measurement or analytical techniques. The journal covers physics, chemistry and materials science, including bio-materials, with their engineering aspects
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The European Physical Journal: Applied Physics
An international journal spanning the whole spectrum of applied physics research. Areas covered include semiconductors and devices, nanomaterials and nanotechnologies, photonics, magnetism, imaging and biophysics
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IoP electronic journals
Access 43 high quality academic journals in full-text covering the world of physics from applied physics, gravity, cosmology, medical physics, nanotechnology through to optical science, radiology, and scientific instrumentation
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Physical Review Online Archive (PROLA)
(Searchable in EBSCO Discovery)The Physical Review Online Archive (PROLA) is the American Physical Society's online archive for Physical Review Letters, Reviews of Modern Physics, and Physical Review A-E. It contains all APS journal articles published from 1893-2005.
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Physics Procedia
An open access journal publishing conference proceedings covering all topics in physics with the exception of high energy physics
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Physics Reports
Each issue of Physics Reports focuses on a single specialist topic. The report will include introductory material and an extended literature review. Important developments and trends are highlighted and full references are provided to the original literature. Examples of topics include atom lasers, rogue waves, magnetic resonance imaging and quantum turbulence.
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Physics World
A monthly magazine including features from the world's leading physicists and science writers, news and analysis, opinion pieces, careers advice and reviews of books and multimedia. Useful for current awareness. Available in print only.
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Science
Journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science containing research, news and commentary. Campus use only
Not all databases we have access to contain the full text of an article. Some contain the bibliographic data and an abstract or summary of the contents. If you want to do wider searches and literature reviews which draw on the width of the literature, you'll need to do a little more work and include results from these indexing databases in your research. Indexing databases may link through to full text where we have it, if not try an Interlibrary Loan.
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The Directory of Open Access Journals covers free, full text, quality controlled scientific and scholarly journals, covering all subjects and languages
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Engineering Village consists of three databases: GEOBASE, GeoRef and Compendex. GEOBASE indexes journal literature across the earth sciences from 1980-present. GeoRef covers geological literature from North America (1785-present), plus geological literature from the rest of the world (1933-present). Compendex is the most comprehensive bibliographic database of scientific and technical engineering and computing research available.
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Large abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature covering all subject areas.
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TechRxiv (pronounced "tech archive") is an open, moderated preprint server for unpublished research in the areas of engineering, computer science, and related technology.
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The Business Searching interface allows you to locate and browse business and economic academic peer-reviewed journal articles, professional publications, news, and company/industry information, all in one place. Alternatively, go straight to the Advanced Search to begin a detailed query.
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Up-to-date technical information for the architecture and construction industries, including building regulations, standards, advice notes reports, books and articles.
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Emerald Insight
(Searchable in EBSCO Discovery)Access thousands of articles from our subscribed peer-reviewed journals on topics like health, management, HR, and marketing.
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IEEE Xplore
(Searchable in EBSCO Discovery)Full text of technical literature in electrical engineering, computer science and electronics.
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Full text articles from many news sources and trade journals both UK and international. Archives sometimes stretching back to the mid 1980s. For use in the UK only.
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Science Direct
(Searchable in EBSCO Discovery)Access 1000s of Elsvier articles and book chapters from our subscribed content on scientific, technical, and medical research.
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Large abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature covering all subject areas.
Google Scholar searches for academic content online. It's a useful additional resource when looking for books, journal articles and other papers.
Some material is available online (often in Institutional Repositories like the University of Portsmouth PURE database), some are not freely available and you may be asked to pay for access to some resources.
However, you can save time and set Scholar to show which results you can access via your University of Portsmouth's library subscriptions:
- In Scholar, click on the three line icon in the top left corner
- Select 'Settings' and 'Library Links'.
- Enter 'Portsmouth' in the search box and select 'University of Portsmouth Library - Full-text@Portsmouth' and Save.
- Any results available via the University Library will now show a Full-Text@Portsmouth link on the right hand side.
If it's still not available, we may be able to get it via Interlibrary Loan.
Scholar also offers an alerting service, a referencing option and a times cited count.
It has slightly more limited advanced search features (see below). If you need full Boolean Logic use other databases such as Discovery, IEEEXplore, Science Direct, Business Source Complete or Engineering Village.
Google Scholar also includes an Advanced search feature. This can be found under the three line icon in the top left corner.
On the Advanced search screen you can find articles in various ways:
'with all of the words' - this is the equivalent to an AND search in a database but you do not need to type AND between your words or phrases.
'with the exact phrase' - this is the equivalent of a phrase search in " " marks in a database but you do not need to type the quotation marks
'with at least one of the words' - this is the equivalent of an OR search in a database but you do not need to type OR between your words or phrases
'without the words' - this is the equivalent of a NOT search in a database (although note that as with a NOT search, it may discard useful results)
You can also limit by where the words occur, author, publisher and/or date.
AND, OR and NOT are explained further in our Library Guide on Boolean Logic but note that Advanced Search on Google Scholar is a limited and you may wish to use Library databases with advanced searches instead.
Use these powerful tools to find out which articles are citing other articles, to follow up references and to see which are the most highly cited articles: (NB: Google Scholar - see above - also has a similar feature. Look for the 'Cited by...' link.)
Watch this video for a brief introduction to citation searching.
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Large abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature covering all subject areas.
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Part of Web of Knowledge, includes records for thousands of scholarly publications. Search across three main citation databases (Science/Social Science/Arts & Humanities).
Other Resources
There are a wide range of resources available to Physics students and researchers beyond the obvious journals, databases and websites. Here we list a selection we think you could find helpful.
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Annals of Physics
Annals of Physics presents original work in all areas of basic physics research. The journal publishes papers on particular topics spanning theory, methodology, and applications
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ArXiv
ArXiv is an e-print service in the fields of physics, mathematics, non-linear science, computer science, and quantitative biology. The contents of arXiv conform to Cornell University academic standards. arXiv is owned, operated and funded by Cornell University, a private not-for-profit educational institution
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Brookhaven National Laboratory
BNL is a multipurpose research institution funded mainly by the US Department of Energy's Office of Science. Research themes include energy security, photon sciences, QCD matter, physics of the universe and climate.
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CERN
Website of the European-based organisation for nuclear research and home of the world's largest particle physics centre.
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CERN document server
The CERN document server provides access to fulltext documents of interest to those working in particle physics and related areas covering preprints, books and journals.
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Current Applied Physics
Current Applied Physics is an international journal which covers all fields of applied science investigating the physics of advanced materials for future applications. Topics include experimental and theoretical aspects of advanced materials and devices dealing with synthesis or structural chemistry, physical and electronic properties, photonics, engineering application and measurement or analytical techniques. The journal covers physics, chemistry and materials science, including bio-materials, with their engineering aspects
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The European Physical Journal: Applied Physics
An international journal spanning the whole spectrum of applied physics research. Areas covered include semiconductors and devices, nanomaterials and nanotechnologies, photonics, magnetism, imaging and biophysics
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European Physical Society
A not for profit organisation providing information on events and careers. Their website also links to open access electronic content of the society's newsletter Europhysics News.
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Search for and compare companies, industries, sectors, economies and cities across the world. Includes macroeconomic data, industry and company reports and analysis, business news, product launches and ads, and job analytics.
Library Basics Video Guide (further support videos are available within the database)
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Interactions.org
The interaction.org website is designed to serve as a central resource for information about particle physics, including press release, articles, news, event listings, a blog watch and image bank.
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International Union of Pure and Applied Physics
The IUPAP aims to stimulate and promote international cooperation in physics. Their website provides access to news and conference information.
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Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics
Based at the University of California the KITP is a scientific research facility where theorists in physics and allied fields come together to work on specific issues. The output of this work is available via the website including access to slides and pod casts relating to all aspects of physics and a preprint collection of journal articles.
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Knovel
(Searchable in EBSCO Discovery)Knovel enables you to manipulate engineering data from a wide range of sources. In addition to full-text ebook content it also provides access to equations, materials and substances data, and interactive charts and graphs. Its materials database covers everything from mechanical to chemical properties data, corrosion data and material properties. Knovel provides interactive engineering tools that enable data analysis, and specialized data search and taxonomies that make it easy to discover answers to technical questions.
This is a video tutorial to get you started with Knovel.
https://service.elsevier.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/14354/c/10545/supporthub/knovel/
This LibGuide from Elsevier provides more help and support. And this marketing page from Elsevier gives a good overview of the support for learning and teaching that Knovel and Engineering Village can offer to all "engineers of the future".
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Phys.org
Phys.org is a science, research and technology news service covering physics, earth science, medicine, nanotechnology, electronics, space, biology, chemistry, computer sciences, engineering, mathematics and other sciences and technologies. The site publishes approximately 100 articles a day and is useful for current awareness.
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PhysNet
A worldwide network of Physics departments and documents providing a listing of open access physics journals plus links to topic, conference and careers information.
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Full text articles from many news sources and trade journals both UK and international. Archives sometimes stretching back to the mid 1980s. For use in the UK only.
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PressReader lets you access UK and international newspapers, plus a wide range of magazine content. Everything is full colour with archives varying in length depending on the publication.
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An archive of UK television and radio programmes from free to air channels (1998 onwards). For use in the UK only. Find some great tips about how to use BoB in these short videos.
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Credo Reference
(Searchable in EBSCO Discovery)Explore Credo for trusted reference sources like dictionaries - a great alternative to Wikipedia!
Watch these short videos to get started:
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A variant of Google that searches for academic literature. Provides access to articles, books, conference papers and preprints. Links to Full-text @ Portsmouth on campus or when using the VPN.
A Library Guide to this resource is available
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JSTOR
(Searchable in EBSCO Discovery)Provides access to more than 12 million journal articles, books, images, reports and primary sources in 75 disciplines.
Watch this video for great tips. -
A unique collections of films including award-winning documentaries, training films and theatrical releases on every topic imaginable. Content can be searched or browsed.
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Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
(Searchable in EBSCO Discovery)The national record of over 60,000 biographies, 72 million words, 11,000 portraits of significant, influential or notorious figures who shaped British history and culture, worldwide, from the Romans to the 21st century - extremely useful for detailed biographies about literary figures.
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Access the world’s largest public policy database with 3.2+ million resources from 24,000+ global organizations. Covers topics like health, education, business, and more. Free registration needed for 25 searches a month. Watch this short video to see how it could help you.
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Royal Geographical Society archives
(Searchable in EBSCO Discovery)This archive includes Maps, Atlases, Charts and Plans; Expedition Reports; Fieldnotes, Correspondence and Diaries; Grey Literature; Photographs, Artwork and Illustrations; Journal Manuscripts; Photographs; Proceedings, Lectures, and Ephemera. The collection spans a wide variety of interdisciplinary research areas, and supports educational needs in Anthropology, Area Studies; Cartography and Visualizations, Colonial, Post-Colonial & Decolonisation Studies; Development Studies; Environmental Degradation; Historical & Cultural Geography; Historical Sociology; Human Geography; Identity, Gender & Ethnic Studies; Geology; International Relations; Trade and Commerce, and Law and Policy relating to Colonization.
Referencing
Referencing is an important part of your academic studies and the skills you develop as part of the higher education community. We want to help you avoid plagiarism and get your referencing right.
- Plagiarism - why do we care? (file for download)
This file is restricted to University members. You must login to download it.
For a video running through these slides, see here.
ChatGPT (and other generative AI)
You may have read about ChatGPT and similar generative AI which use large language models to respond to user prompts with statistically probably words and sentences which have the appearance of human generated output. They are often seen as shortcuts when conducting academic research. You may even have experimented with such tools or used them to assist with your studies/research.
Current generative AI, such as ChatGPT, cannot and do not think, analyse, reason or argue. All they can do is sort words into familiar patterns. This allows them to create persuasive but potentially unsound rhetoric. Anything produced by the current generation of AI should therefore be viewed with critical scepticism. AI cannot find or replace genuine research using trusted information sources.
Understanding how to use these tools correctly is essential to avoid breaches such as plagiarism that could impact your successful course progression.
- You must ensure you appropriately cite and reference any text or output generated by AI in an assignment.
- You must check the legitimacy of the information contained there.
- The final product must be your own work and not just copied from an AI generator.
Examples of usage that might be considered legitimate could be in assisting with planning an assignment, generating ideas for further investigation, or helping find additional search terms or keywords. You may wish to check with tutors whether such usage is acceptable.
The University has issued a statement on the use of Generative AI such as ChatGPT in assignments and the Library has produced guidance on citing and referencing generative AI. You might also want to note the general student guidance offered here.
You should be aware that ChatGPT and similar tools invent some academic references. They are large language models which have been trained which words should appear and in what order - hence similar authors/titles/journals get linked with each other, producing very plausible sounding references that actually don't exist - the words simply have connections to each other within its training data. Using such fabricated information in your work may be considered academic misconduct so you should always double check your reference lists.
When prompted "How does ChatGPT predict which words come next?" ChatGPT stated that it "predicts which words come next based on the patterns it learns from the training data. When given a prompt or context, the model uses its knowledge of language patterns to generate likely sequences of words that would follow the input" ... "it predicts one word at a time, based on the previously generated words" ... " and then calculates the probability distribution of the next word in the sequence based on the patterns it has learned from the training data" (OpenAI, 2023).
OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Mar 23 Version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat
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Referencing Support
A webpage outlining the support that can be obtained for referencing accurately and consistently.
Library Guides
- Academic Reading: University can demand more reading than previous study. A two page Library Guide on Academic Reading may help you to make the best use of your time. There is also a two-page Library Guide on Academic Reading - Journal Articles.
- Accessing Electronic Resources
- Boolean Logic
- Choosing Keywords - Civil Engineering and Surveying
- Choosing Keywords - Computing
- Choosing Keywords - Engineering