Looking for information and resources for your assignments and research projects can sometimes be challenging. This section will help you:
Books = In-depth, detailed coverage of a topic and background information.
Articles
Newspapers = Up-to-date, national and regional information for a general audience.
Internet = Wide variety of information. Evaluate websites carefully.
What are they? Scholarly or peer-reviewed journal articles are written by scholars or professionals who are experts in their fields. Popular sources aim to inform a wide audience about issues of interest and are much more informal in tone and scope.
Why do we care? Evidence. You want to base your writing and arguments on the best available evidence. While both types of sources contain credible information, scholarly articles (usually) provide the best evidence for the authors' claims (through high-quality citations and the peer-review process).
| Scholarly | [Criteria] | Popular |
|---|---|---|
| research projects, methodology, and theory | Contents | personalities, news, and general interest articles |
| specialized | Audience | general |
| subject experts | Authors | journalists and generalists |
| academic institutions | Affiliation | staff or freelance writers |
| highly focused, geared towards researchers and professionals | Topics | more generalized, geared towards nonprofessionals |
| peer-reviewed (usually) | Review Process | edited but not peer-reviewed |
| bibliographies/footnotes | References | no bibliographies |
| many have dull covers | Appearance | glossy, eye-catching covers |
| few or none | Advertisements | many |
| Journal of Food Science, Urban Studies, Journal of Applied Psychology, Annals of Human Genetics | Examples | People, New York Times, Psychology Today, Time |
*Types of Periodicals - Periodical is a generic term used for magazines and scholarly journals. They are materials that are published at regular intervals (monthly, quarterly, daily, etc.).
Whenever you start researching a new topic, you need to gain some background knowledge about it to serve as a starting point. Books, reference resources and websites are the key places to start.
Background sources provide an important foundation for your search strategy because:
Whenever you are looking for more generalized information that provides practical or professional advice and guidance a good starting point are books, trade journals, professional organization websites, and magazines.
Scholarly journals, also called academic journals, provide the best access to scholarly, peer-reviewed articles and evidenced-based research.
Scholarly/academic journals focus on a specific academic discipline and have two key attributes:
Evidenced-based is defined as "Denoting an approach to medicine, education, and other disciplines that emphasizes the practical application of the findings of the best available current research." (English Oxford Living Dictionaries, https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/evidence-based). In Exercise and Sports Science, professionals conduct and use evidence-based research to support evidence-based practice. Evidence-based practice is when the professional combines using evidence-based research with the knowledge of the clinical experts and the client/patient's values and expectations in the clinical setting.
