Starting Your Research - Types of Information

There are several types of information available to you. We will just cover the basics: books, popular magazines, professional/scholarly journals, newspapers, and the internet.

• Books are reliable sources of information. The information is checked by editors and the books are carefully selected by librarians. Because books take so long to write and publish, they may not have the latest information on a current topic.
  
• Scholarly journals are also very reliable sources of information. The information is “peer-reviewed” by professionals in that field. Scholarly journals take less time to publish than books, but the process is still too lengthy for current topics. The content is original research of an academic interest not a general interest or current events.
  Ex. American Sociologist, Journal of Learning Disabilities, History and Theory

  What to look for in a journal article: abstract, methods, summary or conclusion, discussion, bibliography, charts or graphs, many pages long

• Popular magazines contain general interest topics and current events. Magazine articles are reviewed by an editor so they are more reliable than a web site. The articles are written by journalists not professionals and contain no research. Magazines are often written for a specific audience and may contain bias.
  Ex. Time, Newsweek, Parents

  What to look for in a magazine article: pictures, short articles, advertisements, glossy pages, no bibliography

• Web sites provide current news and information. Any one can publish on the internet so information can be inaccurate, biased, and sometimes outdated. Scholarly information is generally not available on the web.