Select information sources
Introduction
What kinds of information are there and where can you find it? Not all information is suitable for all purposes. Sometimes you want to know about the latest developments in your field, other times you need figures to back up your report.
All this information can be found in different sources. There are sources of information with only scientific articles, but also sources with newspaper articles or statistics.
Before you start searching, therefore, it is good to have an idea of the different types of information and corresponding sources. Do you have an overview of the range of sources? Then you can make a list for yourself of relevant sources for your specific search question. This is what you will eventually work with. To help you get started, the information is categorized in three ways.
- Type of database
- Level
- Content
Type of database
There are several types of databases suitable for searching for information as part of your education. Below is an overview of the main categories to help you make this choice.
Catalogs
A catalog is basically an inventory of the materials a library owns. The advantage a catalog therefore is that you can read everything you find with the catalog. In fact, this is not always the case with subject-specific databases and citation databases.
The University of Amsterdam's library catalog is called CatalogPlus. This contains not only books but also online journal articles, which are tailored to UvA education and research. So these sources will often be scholarly, but keep in mind that this is not always true. Not everything that is interesting for teaching and research is always scholarly.
Subject-specific databases
These databases are also called bibliographies because they contain a collection of literature on a particular subject. For example, PsycINFO is a database that specializes in the area of behavior and Sociological Abstracts contains mostly articles from sociology and related sciences such as anthropology. In CatalogPlus, you can see what databases exist in your field.
The quality of the literature in these databases is generally good. Social science databases contain almost only scholarly literature, and almost all of them have the ability to search only for peer-reviewed publications. Subject-specific databases are also very useful if you are in the process of orienting yourself to a new subject, especially if you are in the process of coming up with search terms, because these databases contain subject terminology and subject-specific keywords.
Citation databases
The final category of databases that is interesting to search in are citation databases such as Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar. When you look up an article in these databases, you can see how often and by whom the article is cited. This is also called citation tracking. It is also possible in Web of Science and Scopus to filter by number of citations so you can quickly see who the most influential authors are on a particular topic.
Journals that are in Web of Science and Scopus are always peer reviewed. This is because they are only included in these databases if they are influential (meaning articles from these journals are, on average, highly cited). This is not the case with Google Scholar, so here you will have to pay even closer attention to whether the sources you find are also of sufficient quality.
Level
Scholarly information is published in academic journals or books, often in English. What distinguishes scholarly information from other forms of information is that it is published by and for academics/scientists.
An article from a scientific journal is structured according to the same format:
- abstract
- research question
- theoretical framework
- method of research
- result
- conclusion
- bibliography
Scholarly journals often involve peer review. This means that prior to publication, the article is reviewed by two or more scientists who specialize in the subject of the article. They assess the article and the research described in it for quality, originality, reliability and validity.
With books, it is a little more difficult to assess whether you are dealing with a scholarly publication. Usually we then look at the publisher of the book (e.g. University presses) and whether the author and target audience are scholars. See assessing books what else to look for.
Peer review can also be involved with books. We then talk about edited volumes or edited books. An edited volume is a book with chapters written by different scientists. One or more scholars then provide the peer review as editor.
Subject-oriented information is specialized information in a particular field. The content focuses on practical applications and is written for professional practice. The language ranges from simple to complex, but is always focused on the field of study. Magazines with subject oriented information are also called professional journals. Examples of professional magazines are Advertising Age and Chemical Week.
General interest information is information on a variety of topics and written for a wide audience. The language is simpler and source citations are infrequent. Consider a magazine such as the Quest or the National Geographic. These magazines may contain articles on scientific topics or written by scientists, but because of the wide target audience, the label general interest applies.
Content
Topical information
Topical information addresses recent developments and is designed to keep you informed of what is currently going on in a particular field. You can find this information in newspapers, magazine articles and on websites. These sources are good at keeping up with and describing the latest developments. It is important that you pay attention to reliability.
A good source for news is the Nexis Uni database. You can find international and national newspapers and see if any news has been published on your topic.
Background information
It is important to know exactly what a field of study entails and what relevant terms and theories mean. This is background information that can be found in (text) books. Knowledge of a subject makes the search process easier (see orientation).
Books are increasingly available in digital form. You can find these through CataloguePlus, or search a database of e-books.
Factual information
Sometimes you just need to know facts, for example to supplement your report. This can be data about a company, statistical data, or concrete facts. You can find this information in databases, encyclopedias and dictionaries.
A number of databases contain specific, factual information. OECD iLibrary is from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), for Europe, and includes statistics for the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Statline contains data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), and Nexis Uni also contains business information. An encyclopedia can also be a handy start.
Research results
Research results can be results of experiments, but also descriptions, theoretical calculations, models and computer simulations, and reports of practical applications. Results should be objective and independent.
Research results are mainly found in scientific journal articles but also in books, dissertations and reports.
Summary
Information comes in different shapes and sizes.
For example, you can classify information according to its target audience: some publications are intended for science, while others target a wider audience. During your studies, scientific information will be particularly important. For this scientific information, the library has a selection of databases that differ in terms of availability, coverage and quality of information. Finally, the content of the information is also important to your search process. Are research findings and background information sufficient for your report, or do you also need news reports and statistics?
