Information Literacy (LIBR 2100)

Understanding the information cycle can help you determine what kind of information you are likely to find about your topic.

Keep in mind this is just a simple model to highlight patterns in the production of information. In practice the information landscape is more complicated.

What makes a scholarly article different from a book different from a newspaper article different from a magazine article?

An important aspect to consider  is timing. Different types of material take different amounts of time to produce. The time it takes to produce and item has implications for its currency, accuracy, thoroughness, etc.  Also, each type of material has its own characteristics and conditions. 

It is important to distinguish format from its place in the information cycle. Although the first response to an event is almost always through social media, not every tweet or post is an example of a first response. Always critically review any information source for its intent, audience, etc.

 

At the Time of the Event...

Social Media, Television, Radio

 

Characteristics:

• Can provide the most up-to-date information.
• Explains the general details of an event.
• Often provides a snapshot of emotional reactions to the event.
• Easy to understand.
• Many formats, includes tweets, blogs, and Facebook posts.
• Before the Internet era, diaries and letters written on the day of the event.

Please consider 

• Occasionally factually inaccurate. (Working with limited information and context).
• First person accounts. Primarily written by non-experts.
• Little analysis or insight.
• Intended for a general audience, not for scholarly research.

Where to find

• Social media platforms search e.g. Twitter Advanced Search or Facebook search
• Google
• Google News & Blogs
• Canadian Current Affairs databases like Eureka.cc,and CBCA for transcripts of some Canadian television and radio broadcasts
• Specialized primary source databases for letters and diaries before the Internet era. E.g. British and Irish Women's Letters and Diaries

The Week of the Event...

News Channels: Newspapers, Television, Radio, Internet
 

Characteristics:

• Longer, more detailed, and factual than immediate news sources and reactions.
• Include quotes from experts.
• Frequently include statistics or photographs.
• Can provide a local or editorial perspective.
• Provide some analysis and insight into the "why" of events.

Considerations:

• Primarily written by journalists (expertise in reporting but not experts on the subject).
• Intended for a general audience.

Where to find:

• Mount Library newspaper databases
• Some US television news clips may be available in Films on Demand
• Google News

The Weeks Following the Event...

Popular Magazines
 

Characteristics: 

• Include detailed reports of events, interviews, as well as opinions and analysis.
• Offer perspectives on an event from particular groups or geared towards specific audiences.
• Are written by a range of authors, from professional journalists, to essayists, to commentary by scholars or experts in the field.

Considerations:

• While often factual, information can reflect the editorial bias of a publication.
• Are intended for a general audience or specific nonprofessional groups.

Where to find:

• Canadian Current Affairs databases like Eureka.cc,and CBCA
• Multidisciplinary databases like Research Library (ProQuest) and Academic Search Premier (EBSCO)

 

Several Months Following the Event...

Academic/Scholarly Journals
 

Characteristics:

• Include detailed analysis, empirical research reports, and learned commentary related to the event.
• Are often theoretical, carefully analyzing the impact of the event on society, culture, and public policy.
• Are peer-reviewed. This editorial process favours credibility and accuracy.
• Include detailed bibliographies.
• Authored by experts in the subject area.

Considerations:

• Typically very specific in topic.
• Written in a highly technical language.
• Are intended for other scholars in specific disciplines and can be difficult to understand to the lay person.
• Are not quickly available after events take place.

Where to Find:

• Mount Library article databases
• Novanet Discovery
• Google Scholar

A Year or More After the Event...

Books and Video Documentaries
 

Characteristics:

• Provide in-depth coverage of an event, often expanding analysis from earlier academic research.
• Often place an event into historical context.
• Can provide detailed overviews of an event.
• Can provide other relevant sources through bibliographies.

Considerations: 

• Range from scholarly in-depth analyses of topics to popular books and video documentaries which provide general discussions and are not as well-researched.
• Might have a bias or slant.
• Credentials of authors can vary.
• Are not quickly available after events take place.

Where to Find:

• Novanet Discovery for scholarly books.
• Public Libraries for popular books.
• Mount Library streaming video collection for documentaries

 

Several Years Later...

Reference Books
 

Characteristics:

• Considered established knowledge.
• Include factual information, often in the form of broad overviews and summaries of an event.
• May include statistics and bibliographies.
• Authored by scholars and specialists.

Considerations:

• Frequently not as detailed as books or journal articles.
• Often intended for a more general audience, but may be of use to researchers, scholars, and professionals.

Where to Find: 

• Mount Library's dictionaries, handbooks and encyclopedias

A primary source is an original document or account of an event that stands on its own.  It will usually have been written or created during the time under study by firsthand observers or participants.

Examples include:

• Published sources (in print or online) such as novels, poems, plays, data from a research study, autobiographies, and speeches. Primary sources also include eyewitness accounts in newspapers, twitter, magazines or blogs.  Other primary sources include interviews, transcripts, advertisements, maps, pamphlets, posters, laws, and court decisions.

• Unpublished sources, such as personal letters, diaries, journals, wills, deeds, family histories, and many other sources.

• Interviews and recordings from people with firsthand knowledge of events.

• Visual documents and artifacts, such as photographs, films, paintings and other types of artwork, coins, clothing, tombstones, and many other things.

A secondary source is a document that interprets or analyzes primary or other secondary sources.  It is second hand information, i.e., one step removed from the event.

Examples include:

• books such as biographies, histories, overviews, works written with the use of other sources
  
• literature reviews
• book reviews
  
• journal articles (which are not primary reports of new research)
• newspaper & magazine articles (which do not give first hand accounts)

Journal articles are often classified as both primary and secondary sources.  The Method and Results sections of a paper may be considered primary information, while the Introduction, Discussion and Conclusion may be considered secondary information as the author is bringing in the work and ideas of others.

 

Tertiary sources assimilate information taken from primary and secondary sources.  The information is usually presented in an easy-to-read, or basic format.
 
Examples include:

• encyclopedias (in print or online wikis)
  
• fact books 
• almanacs
• bibliographies
• directories
• biographical sources (like Who's Who; biographies are secondary sources)
  
• statistical summaries