Recognizing Source Types

Transcription

1 Welcome! This presentation will explain how to recognize source types in your academic research. Specifically, we will look at recognizing the characteristics of encyclopedias, books, book reviews, newspaper articles, and journal articles. By the end of this presentation, you should be able to recognize the characteristics of different information sources, navigate those sources to find the information that you need, and recognize when to use a specific source. Let's begin! Page 1 of 8

2 There are two main categorizations of information sources: primary and secondary. A primary source is a direct account of an event and may take the form of research articles, a diary, a newspaper article, or a televised news report. A secondary source is usually "once removed" from a primary source, in the sense that it stems from the studying of a primary resource. Examples may include books or journal articles. For our purposes here, the most important distinction between information sources is that of popular resources and scholarly resources. Page 2 of 8

3 Popular resources can be created by anyone. They will be written for a general audience and the author may not be clearly identified. Sources of information consulted by the author may not be identified, although it will be quite easy to read and use everyday language. Examples include Maclean's and Sports Illustrated magazines and the "for Dummies" series of information books. You must be very careful when using popular sources in your academic papers. To be safe, use them primarily as an object to analyze or as a purely primary source. Page 3 of 8

4 A scholarly resource will be created by an export or scholar on the topic and the author will be clearly identified. It will be written for other scholars and will clearly cite its sources in notes or a bibliography. The language will likely be specialized and include jargon. Examples include the American Journal of Sociology, Sloan Management Review, and the Philosophy and Literature journal series. Keep in mind that you will be expected to consult scholarly sources when writing an academic paper. Page 4 of 8

5 This presentation will focus on six different types of information sources: encyclopedias, books, book reviews, newspaper articles, journal articles, and peer-reviewed journal articles. We will begin by taking a look at encyclopedias. Encyclopedias are intended to act as an introduction. They can be general, like the Encyclopedia Britannicia, or subject specific, like The Encyclopedia of World War II. They might be organized in different ways such as alphabetically or thematically like the Sage Reference Series. They are secondary sources and can be either popular, in the case of Wikipedia, or scholarly, again in the case of the Sage Encyclopedia of Social Science Research Methods. An encyclopedia is best used to get started with research and to help you identify other sources of information. It should not be included in your references as a source when writing an academic paper. Let's move on to books. Page 5 of 8

6 Books can be either popular, like a written account of the Chilean mining disaster, scholarly, like an in-depth scientific study, or fall somewhere in between in the form of a trade publication. A scholarly book will be written by an expert on the topic and will have a bibliography or notes whereas a popular or trade publication might be written by a journalist who may have interviewed experts on the topic. A book will usually present an in-depth overview of a topic and is usually a good source for background information to get started on research. Our next source type, related to books, is the book review. Book reviews can also be either popular, like the New York Times Book Review or scholarly, like the Canadian Book Review Annual. It will address any shortcomings of the books and put it in context with any scholarship that might have come before. The book review is most helpful to determine if it is worthwhile to take a look at the book itself. It is NOT usually acceptable as a source in an academic paper, unless your assignment is to analyze a book review. Let's move on to the newspaper article. Page 6 of 8

7 Newspaper articles, such as those found in the Wall Street Journal or the Globe and Mail, are usually written by journalists reporting on current events. It is considered a popular source because journalists are writing for a general audience. Care must be taken when utilizing newspaper articles in an academic paper, as headlines are often oversimplified or misleading. Most often if you use a newspaper article in an academic paper it will be as an object for analysis or as a primary source. We will now look at our last type of article, the journal article. Journal articles, such as those found in Congressional Quarterly and Time Magazine, are usually written by experts or scholars on a topic. They are usually very focused and the author assumes that the reader will have a certain prior level of knowledge. Academic articles will often start with an abstract that provides a brief outline or summary of the article. Depending on the subject area, the article may be structure as either a primary source, for example a description of a psychology research experiment, or a secondary source, for example a history article with arguments and supporting evidence. Page 7 of 8

8 A special type of scholarly journal article is called a "peer-reviewed" journal article. Examples include the American Journal of Political Science and the Journal of the American Medical Association. These journal articles are a subset of academic journal articles and are very prestigious. In order to be published in a peer-reviewed journal, authors must submit the article to an editorial review board that will review the article and determine whether or not it meets the standards for publication in the journal. As a result of this strict review and publication process, peer-reviewed journal articles are highly valued in the academic community and are excellent sources to use in academic papers. This brings us to the end of our presentation. If you have any further questions, please visit us at our website: library.wlu.ca/help/askus. Thanks for watching and good luck! Page 8 of 8