Find Your Source

Being of a nervous disposition as a child, Gary Thomas failed to write anything on his 11-plus examination paper, which inaction took him to secondary modern school. He eventually became a teacher, then an educational psychologist, then a professor of education at the University of Birmingham, where his teaching, research and writing have focused on inclusive education and the methods used in social science research. He has led a wide range of research projects and has received research funding from the AHRC, the ESRC, the Nuffield Foundation, the Leverhulme Trust, the Department for Education, charities such as Barnardo’s and the Cadmean Trust, local authorities and a range of other organisations. He has written or edited 30 books, lots of boring academic articles, and quite interesting essays on the state of education in the national press. He was the editor of journals such as the British Educational Research Journal and Educational Review.He has two grown-up daughters, one daughter at school, and two grandchildren. He likes, in alphabetical order, birds, chess, cycling, dogs, his family, gardening, reading and writing.Despite supporting Aston Villa football club, he maintains an optimistic outlook on life.

• What is a source?How do I know if it’s a good source?How are primary and secondary sources different?Where do I go online to search?What’s the point of the library?What’s a database? And why is it good for me?Where do I find stuff that’s not in the big databases?Who will help me?Why can’t find I anything?

Packed with concise information to help students succeed at university. Whether you are an undergraduate student or undertaking a postgraduate programme, you will be able to find a book that will help you develop your study skills.Of the three books I reviewed [Take Great Notes, Find Your Source and Plan Your Essay], all of them were easy to read and follow, with each book providing a 60 second summary before moving onto more detail in each section and providing reasoning throughout.