Media and English blog

Through our Sage Catalyst subscription, we have access to a range of books on research methods.

Log in to Sage Catalyst and select 'Research Methods and Evaluation'.

Titles include:

• An adventure in statistics
• Evaluating research
• How to do your research project
• Information visualisation
• Introduction to research methods
• Research design
• Visual methodologies
• and so many more

Head online, login and happy reading!

Through our Sage Catalyst subscription, we have access to a range of ebooks on study skills.

Titles include:

• Your Guide to Wellbeing at University
• The Essential Guide to Building Your Argument
• From Wellbeing to Welldoing
• Be a Brilliant Dyslexic Student
• Essential Study Skills
• Productivity and Publishing
• How to Think
• Create Your Research Poster
• and much more....

Head online, login and get reading!

The University of Sunderland Library Services web site brings you a new feature called 'Collections', which replaces our monthly new book lists for all subject areas.

Previously, our new book lists have been included within our Library Reading Lists web page, and have been a way to showcase new title purchases over the academic year. These reading lists which were updated monthly reflected the continuing development of our library collections as subject areas evolve.

Collections are embedded into our Library Search, which brings with it new features that will prove useful to students and staff looking to make use of our latest titles, including the ability to pin both the collection and individual books to your 'My Favourites' within your library account.

New book collections are continuously updated as new titles are purchased, meaning you are able to view our latest titles as soon as they are available. We hope that you find Collections a useful addition to our library services.

Visit this link to access the New Books Collection for the Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries now. 

The library subscribes to Convergence (the international journal of research into new media technologies) from 1999 to the present day, with online access from 2018 onwards.

This academic journal is internationally peer-reviewed and aims to encourage and advance interdisciplinary enquiry into contemporary convergent media and allied innovative technologies.

Articles in recent issues include:

• A Special Issue on Digital Expressions of self
• QR codes during the pandemic
• Microstock images of artificial intelligence
• Digital reproducibility in locative media
• Sexualising characteristics of adolescent on TikTok

Hop onto Library Search to get stuck into this journal.

Let's have a look at some of our books on gaming design:

• Bang (2016) Picture this: how pictures work
• Barker, Smith and Attwood (2021) Watching Game of Thrones: how audiences engage with dark television
• Galuzin (2016) Preproduction blueprint: how to plan game environments and level designs
• Lemarchand (2021) A playful production process: for game designers (and everyone)
• Lengyel (2016) Foundations of game engine development. Volume 1 - Mathematics
• Lengyel (2019) Foundations of game engine development. Volume 2 - Rendering
• Rogers (2019) Understanding esports: an introduction to the global phenomenon

Our Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries Creative Lives talks offer many examples of how creative professionals live, work and thrive in the arts and creative industries. You will gain an insight into the creative process and career routes through a series of talks from local and nationally-renowned practitioners at different career stages, many of whom are University of Sunderland alumni. You’ll hear from artists, designers, makers, photographers, curators, filmmakers, and much more.

These online talks are open to all students and staff in the Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries, as well as other member of the university and the general public. There’s no need to book individual places, just join online on the day - Tuesdays at 4pm online.

• 30th January - Paul Raymond
• 6th February - Jill McKnight
• 13th February - Sophie Buxton
• 20th February - Ross Millard
• 27th February - Mark Duffy
• 5th March - Vicky Higginson
• 12th March - Dominic Wilcox
• 16th April - Laura Brewis

Please join us via this link – Click here to join the meetings.

There are many reasons you might need to do research in a newspaper archive. You might be interested in how an event was reported in London versus Glasgow vs New York. You might be interested in when a term like ‘Covid’ or ‘Black Lives Matter’ first appeared in the newspaper media. You might be fact-checking or researching an article you’re writing, or you might just want to read more so you can become a better writer.

The newspaper archive that the University of Sunderland Library subscribes to is called Newsstream. This resource contains online full-text access to over 600 UK regional, national and broadsheet newspapers as well as international press such as The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Bangkok Post, South China Morning Post, and the Jerusalem Post.  Coverage goes back as far as January 1982 to the present day for some titles, although this varies by publication.

Remember, you might also be interested in how the news is reported on the TV and radio, and you can use Box of Broadcasts to do the same types of searching as you can in Newsstream for print media.

Here is a 10 minute video tutorial which walks you through how to access Newsstream:

The joy of our library resources is that you can research topics of interest from multiple sources and compare and contrast what you find.

For example, the Tate Modern London is currently exhibiting 'A World In Common: Contemporary African Photography', bringing together 36 artists who use photography to reimagine Africa’s place in the world. It is inspired by the continent’s rich cultural traditions, as well as present-day social and political realities. 

If you're visiting London you can visit the exhibition in person, and there is a really useful guide to the exhibition on the Tate web site. 

However, through the University library you can also borrow the Exhibition Catalogue which is an extremely vivid catalogue which textual entries complementing the images. Suzie Williams, our Academic Liaison Librarian for the Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries has read the catalogue and has discovered lots about the artists, their work and their message.

The exhibition was also featured on 'Sunday Brunch' on Channel 4, which current students and staff can watch through our subscription to Box of Broadcasts (log in with your Univeristy login details to watch this clip).