Information Safari

Books

• Give in-depth coverage of a topic.
• Provide historical information or a comprehensive overview of an issue.
• Generally have references, and have been evaluated by an editor.

Scholarly Journals

• Provide in-depth analysis of new research.
• Are written by scholars and academics.
• Have been evaluated by a panel of experts (peer-reviewed).

Popular Magazines

• Give current viewpoints on a wide variety of popular topics.
• They are not considered scholarly material.
• The do not have references but are generally reviewed by an editor.

Encyclopedias, Dictionaries & Reference books

• Give concise background information or quick facts written by experts.
• Can be general or on a specialized subject
• Some have references for finding further information

The Internet

• Gives very current news and a wide variety of information.
• Is not usually evaluated by experts, so you must evaluate everything before including it in your academic assignments.

Newspapers

• Give current daily or weekly events.
• Are not considered scholarly material but are a primary source for historical research.
• Do not have references but are generally reviewed by an editor.

Government Documents

• Give information published by all types of federal, state, and local agencies.
• Include government compiled data and statistics including crime, census data, business, health and more.
• Are published in online and in print

Multimedia

• Can give sound, movies, images, and more.
• Are useful sources of nontraditional information such as interviews, maps, charts, graphs, etc.
• May be covered by copyright.