Information in any format is produced to convey a message and is shared via a selected delivery method. The iterative processes of researching, creating, revising, and disseminating information vary, and the resulting product reflects these differences.
Good information can come in any format. Every format has its benefits and drawbacks, including assumptions about quality and authority that may or may not be true. Formats are changing fast, and researchers have to keep up with how these new formats work so they can understand the information that comes out of them.
OutcomesAfter viewing the material in 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, and 1.4, try the self-check quiz below.
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Information is created all the time in different formats and distributed in different modes. Some of the formats are faster than others. Understanding how information is produced will help you decide what types of information will be most effective in your research process.
Types of Information
Understanding the FlowWhen something happens such as a plane crash or a natural disaster strikes there is a pattern to how and when the different types of information are produced.
There could be tweets, social media posts, TV news footage, and radio news coverage. Some of these sources might be more accurate than others, and over time, as new data comes in, some of these sources might be regularly updated and corrected.
You will get daily newspaper coverage both in print and online. Some of these sources might correct inaccurate information which was posted within the early minutes or hours of the event.
You will find popular magazine articles (print and online) with photos, personal interest stories, and a bit more detail on the event. These are written for the general audience.
Government documents (print and online) will be produced with greater detail and analysis on what happened.
Scholarly articles will be published (accessed in print and online) which will be more detailed and specialized in their coverage. These are written for a more specialized audience.
Books will be published (accessed in print and online). Books will contain even more detailed analysis but will not be as current. Some books are more scholarly and written for a more specialized audience while others may be written for a more general audience.
Reference books might add an article on the event. These reference articles are concise overviews but they could be several years old. This was especially true with the print format of general encyclopedias. Now, with the electronic format, some reference books are updated more frequently (years rather than decades).
Primary vs. SecondarySometimes you might have an instructor who tells you to use primary sources in your research.
Primary sources provide firsthand evidence about an event, object, person, or work of art. Most people think of eyewitness accounts but primary sources can include:
Where you find primary sources depends on the type -- you might use the library catalog to find a work of fiction on the shelf of your campus library. An article discussing the results of an experiment might be found in a scholarly journal in one of the library databases such as Academic Search Complete. A government website (.gov) could provide some vital statistical data. A blog or tweet could provide eyewitness accounts of an event. Often books are published with primary source documents included. This is especially true of historical events. For example, Daily Life Through American History in Primary Documents edited by Randall Miller will give you access to primary sources.
Secondary sources describe, discuss, interpret, comment on, analyze, evaluate, summarize, and process primary sources. They include:
Usually, you will find these sources as books (using the library catalog) or journal articles in a database. If you are researching a work of literature such as The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, you could find both her original work (primary source), The Bell Jar, and literature criticism works (secondary source) such as The Bell Jar [critical insights series] edited by Janet McCann. As you can see, these critical works will sometimes have the same title as the original work! Often they have a subtitle or other indications that they are a critical review and not the original work, but if you aren't sure, ask your campus librarians for help.
What Does This Mean?If you are interested in the initial stories of survivors of the RMS Titanic or want to know what was initially reported, you would want to look at some of the historical newspaper accounts of the sinking from April 1912. (Use a database such as New York Times - Historical).
If you are interested in more in-depth analysis on what happened to the RMS Titanic and why it might have happened, you would want to explore:
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Used with permission from UW Libraries / Kali Stoeher & Anna Eisen: Research 101: Creation is a Process
Research 101: Format Matters Transcript available at bottom of box
StabilityFormat (type) and distribution method (format of access) do matter. Sources which are produced online or accessed online can "disappear". Some methods of access are a bit more stable than others.
Sources Found on the InternetA tweet or a blog post that you find one day, might not be available the next day, or perhaps it has been updated or the content changed the next time you look for it. Depending on the situation, this can be positive or negative. Also, you need to do some work to verify information posted in tweets, blogs, and other social media sites.
Bad: You found a source online while doing research and scribbled down some notes. A few days later you are writing your paper and want to use material from that source but now you can't find it. -- you have wasted time and have lost a source. You always need to think about the credibility of your sources, and online sources such as tweets, blogs, some websites, often require more work to verify their credibility.
Good: You are doing research on diabetes (a medical topic). A friend mentioned they had similar class a few years ago and found the Medline Plus website as a good place to get some background information. You are worried since your instructor said your sources needed to be recent (within 5 years). Then you notice the update date for that page on diabetes is very recent. This is a good thing. The Medline Plus website frequently updates their articles. Look at the bottom of the page for Diabetes and you should see "page last updated on" and a date. Some professional websites provide access to solid information and always have dates for when their individual articles were written or when a page was updated or reviewed -- some have both. This source is a bit easier to verify its credibility than many social media content.
Sources Found in a Library DatabaseGenerally, articles that you access through the library are more stable. Most of the articles are originally published in print form and also made digital. Thus the PDF article that you found in the database Academic Search Complete last semester, will be the same article this semester.
Library databases often have permalinks or stable URLs to articles and PDF versions can be easily downloaded and accessed offline. Even with the stability of the databases, occasionally an article might be removed from a database, or the database subscription might end. It is important to record the citation for sources you find because that great article you found in one database that was discontinued might also be available in another database.
Concise vs. In-Depth AnalysisAs you learned, all formats of information have value but it depends on your need.
That concise overview on Wikipedia might be perfect to win a bet with your friend or to give you some basic background information on a new topic as you start your research. It may not be appropriate as a source to cite in your research paper.
That in-depth peer-reviewed scholarly article might be too overwhelming if you are not familiar with a topic, and could be unnecessary when resolving a casual debate with a friend. However, it would be perfect once you are more familiar with the topic you are researching and need some solid, detailed resources to cite in support of your thesis.
Wrap-UpWhen doing research, you will need to keep in mind the types of sources that will fit the needs of your topic. This will enable you to be more efficient when searching.
If you are looking for information on an event that just took place newspaper articles (print or online) would better fit your need than a book.
If you are looking for the most in-depth sources, books would fit your need better than a news article.
If you are looking for the latest scholarly research on a topic, scholarly peer-reviewed articles will fit your need better than magazine articles.
Why waste time looking for books, when what you need is a news article? Why waste time looking at short magazine articles when you really need a book? Why waste time on website articles with no dates when they were published when you know you need sources published within the last 5 years? Format matters!
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There are a number of different types of publications out there as you have seen. Some can be accessed in a number of different formats (think print newspaper article vs online newspaper article or print book vs audio book). This is a brief summary of some of the types of publications you might run into.
Books (Print and Electronic)
Reference BooksIn general, a reference book is intended to be consulted for information on specific matters, rather than being read from cover to cover. Think of dictionaries, encyclopedias, and handbooks.
Book publishers have specializations. Some specialize in a particular fiction genre (mystery, science fiction, romance, etc.). Others specialize in a particular field such as nursing or medical fields in general. University Press publishers are connected with a university and usually focus on scholarly publications. So if you see that a book on your topic is published by Oxford University Press, University Press of Florida, Chicago University Press, etc. it is more likely to be a more scholarly publication than something published by Penguin Press, Simon & Schuster, or Random House.
PeriodicalsPeriodicals are magazines, journals, or newspapers published at regular intervals.
These are magazines, newspapers and other publications written for a general audience, such as People magazine or the New York Times. Articles are usually written by journalists, and generally selected by the publication's editor.
These are magazines and other publications written for a particular audience, such as the magazine American Libraries for librarians. Articles may be written by professional writers or members of the profession, and are generally selected by the publication's editor.
These carry published articles that are written by experts and reviewed by experts in the same field (their peers) to ensure high quality prior to publication.
Other
Social MediaAccording to the Oxford English Dictionary, "websites and applications which enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking." Social media may be created by anyone who has access to it, and is not selected by an editor or expert.
Adapted from Georgia Tech Library : Evaluating Information
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