Topic outline

  • Welcome

  • Acknowledgement of first peoples

  • Finding Information

    • Information literacy is a skill you will grow and develop throughout your lives. While you may not be aware of it, you use it constantly in your everyday life.

    • Engineers, IT professionals, scientists and planners are all responsible for making decisions that effect the lives of others. As a professional, you need to ensure that you are making decisions based on the best available evidence. 

    • You may need to use a wide variety of information for your assignments throughout the course of your degree. Different types of evidence can be used to respond to different questions or problems. 

    • While much of the content on the internet is inappropriate to use in your scholarly and professional lives, there is specific information that you will need to source from the web.

    • Databases are collections of resources grouped by information type or subject area. Here are a few key databases that may be useful to get started in engineering. 

    • Do you find yourself spending hours going through search results to find the actual information you are looking for? A search strategy targets your search so your results are more relevant, and less numerous.

    • What is good information? This tutorial offers some guidance on how to evaluate the quality of the information you have found for your assignments.

    • Looking for specialist resources, such as maps and standards? This section offers links and guides for finding these resources for your study. 

    • Start searching, or explore other support available through USQ Library.

    • Need further help? Contact USQ Library in person or online. 

  • Assessment & Study Skills

  • Mathematics

  • Online (Wednesday) Weekly Workshops

    The library offers a number of online study support workshops throughout the year. A pdf schedule is also available.
    The workshops help with finding information for assignments, writing up assignments, exam preparation and Mathematics help. 

    Recorded workshops from a past year can be viewed at your convenience. 

  • Referencing

    • The official USQ guide to Harvard AGPS. This offers templates and examples of in text citations and reference list entries for this style. 

    • The official USQ guides to APA referencing with templates and examples of in text citations and reference list entries.

  • Specialist Resources

    • “Standards are documents setting out specifications, procedures and guidelines. They are designed to ensure products, services and systems are safe, reliable and consistent.“ (Standards Australia, 2018)

    • Digital and hardcopy maps of local and national regions are available for your use. These maps include elevation, vegetation, catchments, water, rainfall, soils, roads and more. 

  • Postgraduate Support

    • USQ Staff and Students only. Log-in required.

      This is designed to introduce you to the advanced learning, information retrieval, and management skills required to undertake a Higher Degree by Research. 

      This MUST be completed prior to Confirmation of Candidature.

    • A literature review is a comprehensive assessment and documentation of the literature related to your area of research or your problem.

    • Here are a few key databases that may be useful to get started in your postgraduate research (USQ Log-in required). 

    • Can't find a complete copy of the article? Here are some tips for accessing the full text of books and articles. 

    • Endnote is a bibliographic management software provided by the university. It allows you to create, search, sort and annotate a personal library of research. Using Endnote you can insert properly formatted citations directly into the text or reference list of your document in Word. 

    • This is where you will find the HDR Thesis Presentation Schedule which outlines the formatting requirements for USQ theses. Other official forms and guides to completing your HDR program can also be found at the Office of Research site. It Office of Research produces ReDTrain, a series of initiatives and events to help you develop your skills and knowledge.

    • This community offers a good space to connect with other USQ research students for advice and support. This is a closed facebook group for USQ research students. You will need to request access to join. 

    • Need help with statistics? USQ's Statistical Consulting Unit (SCU) offers workshops and consultations on research design, data collection, analysis and interpretation.This service is only available to postgraduate research students at USQ. You can self-enrol to access this site.

  • Contact Us

  • Course Specific Guides