LibGuides: Library Tutorials: Types of Sources

Types of Sources

Reference Materials
encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases, manuals, handbooks, etc.
Books & ebooks
Periodicals
newspapers, magazines, academic journals
Web Pages
text, sound, videos, interactive media

Reference Books & Databases

Reference materials are a great place to begin your research! The consist of things like dictionaries, encyclopedias, directories, atlases, and manuals. They provide quick facts or statistics or give you a brief overview of a topic.

Reference Strengths	Reference Weaknesses
Quick facts from an authoritative source Good for getting research ideas & background information Good source of statistics	Don't provide much detail You will need to move on to other sources for any substantial amount of information May be out of date

To search for reference items, use our online catalog (for print) or databases like Gale Ebooks.

Books & Ebooks

Book Strengths

Book Weaknesses

Books have lots of space to devote to one topic. They have the space available for lengthy arguments and detail.
Before a book is published, it goes through an editorial process where it is fact-checked and edited for clarity and typos.
Books are really good resources for history topics or for historical background on a topic. Getting web pages or periodicals that are older than 10 -15 years can be difficult.

It takes a long time to write and publish a book.
Books are not always the best source for topics where information is constantly changing, such as technology or medicine.
Books are also not the best source for information on recent or current events.

To find books, use our library catalog. To find ebooks, limit by book in any of the databases.

Periodicals

Periodicals are published every day, or every week, or every month, and so on. They are publications that come out periodically (hence the name). They include newspapers, academic journals, and magazines.

Periodical Strengths

Periodical Weaknesses

The information in periodicals is usually more current than in books or reference sources. They are an excellent source for current events or topics that change rapidly, such as computers.
Like books, periodicals go through an editorial process where they are fact-checked and edited for clarity and typos.
Some periodicals are more thoroughly edited than others. Academic journals are more scholarly than popular magazines or newspapers.

Articles in periodicals will not cover as much territory as books. They might not be as detailed or give as much of an overview of a topic.
Some scholarly journal articles may be too specific or technical for a general audience to understand.

To find articles from periodicals, use our online library databases.

There is also a lesson on the difference between magazines and academic journals.

Web Pages

Web pages are readily available to anyone with an internet connection. This makes them the first information choice for many people. However, they are not always a good substitute for library resources.

Web Strengths	Web Weaknesses
There are many different points of view on the web. Everyone has a voice. There are lots of different formats of information on the web (text, images, audio, video, interactive media.) The web can be very up-to-date. Often events appear in "real time," as they happen.	The web is not very organized and finding what you need is often like looking for a needle in a haystack. There's no quality control on the web, which means there's lots of wrong, misleading, or biased information.

For tips on searching the web, see our web searching tips on our Search Strategies lesson.

Library Tutorials: Types of Sources

Types of Sources

Reference Books & Databases

Books & Ebooks

Periodicals

Web Pages

What type of source would you use? #1

What type of source would you use? #2

What type of source would you use? #3

What type of source would you use? #4