1. TYPES OF INFORMATION SOURCES
Published works
Unpublished works

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

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

4. 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

5. 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

6. Textbooks / Monographs
Publications that deal comprehensively with a specific subject

7. 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 , Yearbook 2001 United Nations)
Address books (The World of Learning 2001)

8. 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)

9. 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)

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 Unpublished works Human sources Dissertations / Theses Reports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

11. Human sources
Lecturers
Colleagues
And others

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

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

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

15. 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)

16. 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.