TYPES OF INFORMATION SOURCES Published works Unpublished works

Published works Government publications Journals Newspapers Monographs and textbooks Reference works Audio Visual Electronic media

Government publications Official publication issued by a government publishing facility Examples: Statutes Acts Government pamphlets, newspapers, etc. Debates of Congress or other governmental bodies

Journals A journal is a periodical, which generally contains material relating to research Appears at regular intervals – weekly, monthly, quarterly Content varies and can include editorials, articles, book reviews, etc They do not necessarily have the word “journal” in the title, e.g. Journal of Physical Oceanography New Scientist

Newspapers Newspapers: issued either daily, weekly or monthly Contain news, opinions, advertisements and other subjects related to current affairs Use “Chronicling America” database offered by Library of Congress http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/

Textbooks / Monographs Publications that deal comprehensively with a specific subject

Reference Works Dictionaries (e.g. Dorlands Medical Dictionary, Oxford English Dictionary, Dictionary of Medical Syndromes) Encylopedias (e.g. Encyclopedia of Bioethics, Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety) Biographies (e.g. Medical Sciences International Who’s Who) Yearbooks (Jeannette High School Yearbook 2015-16, Yearbook 2001 United Nations) Address books (The World of Learning 2001)

Audio Visual Media Other media such as: Audio cassettes or CDs Film, VHS, DVD, or videos Slides or even microfilm (most has been converted to some digital format)

Electronic Media Information that is electronically available CD Rom programs (eg. Heart sounds & murmurs, Procedural skills…) eBooks (Textbook of pediatrics, The 5-minute consult, Harrison’s textbook of internal medicine…) eJournals (Lancet, British medical journal)

Unpublished works Human sources Dissertations / Theses Reports Grey literature Information on the Internet Email

Human sources Lecturers Colleagues And others

Dissertations / Theses Research work prepared as part of an academic course for a higher degree Copy usually made available in library of university

Research / Progress reports Written description of a completed research project or an interim progress report

Grey literature Information that is not available through the normal book selling channels such as reports, manuscripts and patents

For the retrieval of information Use secondary information sources to retrieve information Bibliographies to find books (eg. Bookfind, Books in Print) Indexes to find journal articles (eg. Medline, African Health Anthology)

Secondary to Primary Whenever possible, track down the primary source and use it instead of a secondary. i.e. Find out where at textbook got its information from, then cite that instead of the secondary source UNLESS…. The secondary source is making a new point using that information.