Information Literacy (LIBR 2100)

Your professors have specific types of sources in mind when the ask you to do a research assignment. For the most part, you will be using academic books and scholarly journal articles, or for professional disciplines such as Business, you will be expected to use professional and trade magazines. There will be exceptions of course, but at present, we are looking at the general rule rather than the exceptions or special circumstances.

Words often used in assignment instructions to describe these sources are scholarly or academic or peer reviewed. You may also read that your sources must be secondary sources. These terms and their importance to students will be explained in greater depth in this module. 

First, we will look at the two resource types you will be using the most often with research assignments, academic books, and scholarly journal articles. 

Academic Books and Ebooks

• Long, 100+ pages.

• Textbooks provide an overview of a topic. Note: in senior level courses, textbooks may not be accepted as sources for your assignment precisely because they provide an overview rather than in-depth treatment of a topic.
• Academic books can provide a comprehensive and in-depth treatment of a topic.
• Academic books can also take the form of a collection of articles or essays representing multiple viewpoints on your topic.

• It takes time to write, edit, and publish a good book on a topic, so do not look for current developments here

Scholarly Journal Articles

• Shorter than books. Normally 2 - 40 pages.

• Report of a single piece of research or investigation
• Peer reviewed articles are written to scholarly standards

• Articles take less time to write and publish than a book, so they cover recent developments sooner

Summary table of the differences between scholarly (peer reviewed) journals, professional/trade journals, and magazines.

Some Definitions:  A “periodical” is any publication that is published on a regular or periodic basis.  Periodicals include journals, magazines, and newspapers, and are sometimes called “serials”.  Periodicals may be grouped into the following broad categories:


Scholarly or Academic or Peer Reviewed Journals
The main purpose of a scholarly journal is to report on and disseminate original research or experimentation.  The language of scholarly journals is that of the discipline. It assumes some scholarly background on the part of the reader.  Authors are usually affiliated with research institutions like universities or government agencies, although in the sciences some authors may be employed by private industry.  Many scholarly journals are published by scholarly or academic associations.

Articles published in scholarly journals go through a formal peer review process and authors always cite their sources in a list of references, a bibliography, endnotes or footnotes.


Professional or Trade Journals
The purpose of these journals is to inform members of an industry or profession through the publication of professional content that may combine fact, anecdote or opinion.  Readers require some professional or industry vocabulary.   Authors may or may not have an academic affiliation, but they will have expertise in the area in which they are writing.  These publications are usually colourful and have advertising geared toward the profession. They are published by trade or professional organizations.

Articles published in professional or trade journals are not peer reviewed, though editors may invite submissions from known experts.  Authors will rarely cite their sources.

Magazines
The goal of magazines is to entertain and inform.  Authors are often professional writers rather than scholars or industry experts.  The content may be factual, but may also be biased by editorial or publishing policy.  Language should be easy to understand by all readers.  Magazines are colourful, and have many pictures and advertisements.

Magazines are not peer reviewed and authors almost never cite their sources.

What is peer review?

• A method of evaluating the quality of a research article or presentation prior to publication.  Peer reviewed journals are also called refereed journals.

• The review is conducted by other experts in the field, or the professional equals of the researcher, hence the term “peer”.

• Peer reviews are often “blind”: the reviewer doesn’t know the author and the author doesn’t know the reviewer.

• Peer reviewers evaluate the originality and significance of the research question, the literature reviewed, the methodology and data analysis, and the organization and structure of the publication.

• While you may not agree with an article published in a peer reviewed journal you can have confidence that the publishing standards of the discipline have been followed.

What is Grey Literature?

Grey literature is often produced as part of the process of running organizations and businesses for planning purposes and to report on activities, and include items such as reports, working papers, newsletters, government documents, speeches, white papers, urban plans, dissertations, and so on. They are created and distributed by the institution or business rather than by commercial publishers. For that reason; grey literature can be more current than literature in scholarly journals. However, because grey literature (usually) does not go through a peer review process, the quality can vary a great deal. Be sure to evaluate your source thoroughly.