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Understanding Types of Publications
Understanding the nature of some major types of publications will help your research:Quick Reference Tools
When beginning a new area of study, it is often necessary to get an overview
of a topic, explanations of unfamiliar terms, or brief factual information.
Quick reference tools, such as encyclopedias, dictionaries, and handbooks,
provide quick access to this type of factual or background information.
An academic encyclopedia article may provide an especially useful starting point,
since it will not only give a concise overview of your topic, but will also
likely provide a bibliography of key information sources.
Books and Documents
Research results are often eventually published in monographs—books
which provide an in-depth overview of a topic, or in collections of essays
covering different perspectives of the topic. Many academic books are
published by university presses (e.g., University of Toronto Press).
Academic libraries also often have many government documents, which contain the
results of research carried out by or for governments.
Articles
The most current information can often be found in periodical (i.e., journal,
magazine, newspaper) articles. Scholarly journal articles are crucial to
academic research in most disciplines, as explained below.
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SCHOLARLY JOURNALS ? Articles in scholarly journals are important sources of current expert information, since they contain the results of recent academic research. In addition, over time their publication has a cumulative effect—scholarly journals are largely responsible for building each academic discipline’s body of recorded knowledge, or literature. Scholarly journals are also called academic journals, research journals, peer-reviewed journals, refereed journals, juried journals, or simply journals. Articles in scholarly journals are usually peer-reviewed, meaning they have been evaluated and edited by a group of subject experts, usually professors or other academic researchers in the specific subject area. Journals are not like magazines or newspapers. Sometimes popular magazines or newspapers report on research that has been published in journals, but popular articles themselves are not normally the best sources of information since they usually have no peer-review process, and therefore provide little guarantee that their information is reliable. How can you tell the difference between journals and magazines or newspapers? To begin with, scholarly journal titles usually contain words such as journal, bulletin, review, and quarterly. But there are several more differences:
A third type of periodical, called trade journals, are found in many subjects, especially the professions, such as nursing, criminal justice, social work, education, and business administration. Trade journals can also be called professional journals, practitioner’s journals, or trade magazines.
Trade journals are not like scholarly journals or popular
magazines, but they can be viewed as falling between the two.
They are intended for working professionals or managers in a
particular field. Articles from trade journals tend to be
readable, and they often point to specific research findings,
but they may not be as reliable as scholarly journal articles.
Examples of trade magazines include
for correctional professionals and
for education administrators. |
Other Websites
Any of the publication types listed earlier may be available
through the internet via the library web site.
In addition, useful information may be found on the
“public” web using sites like Google. However, you
need to be especially careful to critically evaluate the
information you find, as explained in Step 4.
The Scholarly Publication Cycle
| While the internet is changing things, scholarly communication still generally follows the traditional publication cycle, which includes the major publication types mentioned earlier. |
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| Typically, information starts as a researcher’s raw data (top of diagram), moves from being communicated informally (conferences), to more formal publication (dissertations, journal articles, books), and then often becomes popularized (magazines, newspapers, web sites) and generalized or formalized (encyclopedias, textbooks). You should note, however, that this is a simplified diagram—for example, information also flows counter-clockwise. Yet, understanding the general evolution of information will help you to access and evaluate it effectively. | |
Primary vs. Secondary Sources
The publications that make up the publication cycle can be either
primary sources of information or secondary sources.
Although exactly what constitutes a primary or secondary source
varies by discipline, there are some general differences between
the two types of sources. A primary source is a document written
during the time under study, or raw data resulting from original
research. For example, diaries, e-mails, newspaper articles, and
journal articles that provide primary reports of research are all
primary sources. Creative works, such as novels or music, may
also be primary sources.
Secondary sources, on the other hand, are documents that analyze events or primary sources. They are removed from the time of the original event, and they interpret or discuss the original event or data. Examples of secondary documents are textbooks, encyclopedias, and journal articles that interpret events, discuss data, or review the literature on a topic. In fact, most publications found in academic libraries (outside of special sections such as archives, newspaper rooms, literature collections, etc.) are secondary sources.
Where to Start
So, what type of publication should you start with? Follow the
“reverse pyramid”
method: start with the most general information and then move on to
publications that tend to be more specific. This usually means
starting with a quick reference tool like an encyclopedia to get
an overview of your topic, then going on to more detailed books,
and finally getting to the more specific (and likely more technical)
journal articles last. Other web sites are often best used as a
supplement to your research. The next step will explain how best to
find each publication type.
Next: Choosing Discovery Tools
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