resources types by dr. sam ang sam

RESOURCES:

TYPES, CLASSIFICATIONS, AND FORMS

Sam-Ang Sam, PhD

CONTENTS

1 Resources: Types, Classifications, and Forms

2 Resources: Types

3 Resources: Classifications

4 Resources: Forms

1 RESOURCES: TYPES, CLASSIFICATIONS, AND FORMS

Now that you have chosen a research topic and formed a

research question, it is time to begin searching for information

that you will use to write your paper.

As discussed earlier, there is a lot of information available to you.

It is important that you learn how to find the information you need

and use it properly.

To do this, you need to know where to look.

This chapter will explain all of the different types of academic

resources that are available and tell you where you can find

them.

RESOURCES: TYPES, CLASSIFICATIONS, AND FORMS

When you are looking for information, the library is a good place to

start.

When you studied in high school, you most likely only used textbooks,

however, if you visited your school library, you might have seen some

other types of materials in the library that you did not use regularly.

Some of them could have been newsletters or publications from non-

profit organizations.

In high school, you may not have needed these other types of

resources, because you were not required to write any research papers.

However, now that you are studying in a university, you will need much

more than simply a textbook when you are doing academic work.


At a university level, in order to write a good secondary research

paper, you are required to use evidence (references) to support

your ideas. Evidence consists of academic resources.

There are many different kinds of resources and they can be

quite different from one another.

Some might be written for particular audiences, like scholars and

college students, while others are written for the general public.

It is important to understand the different kinds of resources you

can use and identify which resources you think are good fit for

your research paper.


You also need to find out where you can access resources.

Are they available at the libraries physically, or can they be

accessed virtually?

Does your instructor require you to use any scholarly journal

articles?

Do you know what the differences are between a scholarly journal

and a magazine?

Can you use any information on the Internet to write a paper?

What kind of online resources can you use?

2 RESOURCES: TYPES

• The basic descriptions of each

resource below can help you

answer all of these questions and

help you figure out which resources

are suitable for your assignments.

RESOURCES: TYPES

1. Textbook

• A textbook is usually written about a specific subject that

is studied in a school or university.

• Generally a textbook provides a comprehensive

overview of a subject.

• You have probably used several different textbooks

during your time at the university.

• A textbook is considered a scholarly resource.

RESOURCES: TYPES

• It is written by experts in a particular field.

• Authors of a textbook usually hold a PhD degree and the

information is compiled very carefully.

• Thus, it is a credible resource for students to use as a reference

for their research paper.

• You must remember though, some textbook authors may be

biased, even though they are scholars.

• Therefore, it is important to evaluate textbooks, just like other

resources, which will be discussed later in this handbook.

RESOURCES: TYPES

2. NGO/International Organization (IO)/Government

Publications

• These are publications produced by organizations.

• These types of publications fall between popular resources and

scholarly resources.

• When you use them, you have to keep in mind that some of these

institutions might publish materials that serve their intended

purposes.

• They can be very helpful, but make sure to evaluate them

carefully.

RESOURCES: TYPES

3. Periodical

• There are many different types of periodicals.

• Periodicals are publications that are produced regularly (weekly,

monthly, bimonthly, quarterly, or yearly).

• Each periodical has a basic subject or topic, but each issue or

volume published may have different contents or articles related

to the major subject.

• Periodicals may include, but are not limited to, scholarly journals,

trade journals, professional journals, newspapers and magazines.

RESOURCES: TYPES

3.1 Scholarly Journal

• A scholarly journal might also be called research journal,

academic journal, or a peer-reviewed journal.

• Even though ‘scholarly journal’ and ‘peer-reviewed journal’ are

often used interchangeably, not all scholarly journals are peer-

reviewed.

• A peer-reviewed journal is a journal whose articles have been

reviewed by other experts in the field before being published.

• That makes them extra reliable and good sources for you to use

in your research papers.

RESOURCES: TYPES

• Cambodia has very few academic journals, and most of them are

not published regularly. However, there are a few.

• The Cambodia Law and Policy Journal (CLPJ) was launched in

2013, and the Cambodian Journal of Natural History was

launched in 2008. While Cambodia only has a few academic

journals, there are many regional and international journals that

may be helpful for your research.

• General characteristics of scholarly journals are further discussed

below in the section about resource classification.

RESOURCES: TYPES

3.2 Trade Journal

• A trade journal can be called a trade magazine.

• Its purpose is to provide information and news about a specific

business sector or industry.

• A trade journal is not considered a popular or scholarly resource.

• It is something a little bit different because it is specialized for a

specific audience.

RESOURCES: TYPES

3.3 Professional Journal

• A professional journal is a periodical that is published to serve the

needs of specific professions.

• There might be professional journals for dentists, doctors,

lawyers, teachers, etc. They are published by professional

organizations.

• These can be helpful as they contain articles, reports, and

information related to a specific profession.

RESOURCES: TYPES

3.4 Newspapers

• A newspaper is a periodical that is issued regularly and provides

people with current information.

• Newspapers, however, do not only include news, but also opinion

pieces, feature stories, advertisements, job opportunities, etc.

• They may be published daily, weekly, or monthly.

• In Cambodia, we have several newspaper titles.

• Some are published in printed versions, while others are online.

RESOURCES: TYPES

• If you choose newspaper articles to support your assignments,

you may need to evaluate them carefully before using them as a

reference.

• Some newspapers may not be reliable. Also, they might be bias

toward certain groups.

3.5 Magazine

• A magazine is a periodical that is issued regularly and may

contain several different types of material. Some contain articles,

essays, drawings, poems, advertisements, photographs, etc.

RESOURCES: TYPES

• Usually magazines have a major topic or subject area.

• This could be a hobby, news, sports, or maybe even a

geographical location.

• In Cambodia, we have several magazine titles. Most of them are

called popular magazines, which mainly talk about movie stars.

• Very few magazines are devoted to specific fields, such as The

Truth published by the Document Center of Cambodia.

• Please note that popular magazines are often not the right

sources to use to support your assignment.

RESOURCES: TYPES

3.6 Newsletters

• A newsletter is a publication put out by an organization,

institution, business or government agency to provide information

or news to specific groups such as employees, donors, or other

interested people.

• For example, an NGO might send out a newsletter to all of its

donors and participants to let them know about current and

upcoming projects and activities.

RESOURCES: TYPES

4 Case Study

• A case study is when information is

published about a specific group of people

or a situation.

• Usually this study takes place over a certain

length of time and provides in-depth

information about the subject of the study.

RESOURCES: TYPES

5 Working Paper

• A working paper is simply a paper that is still a work in

progress.

• Working papers are written to help start discussions

about a specific topic or to give information to others

who are interested in a topic.

• The information is not finalized and it could change.

RESOURCES: TYPES

6 Dissertation

• A dissertation is a very formal piece of

writing that covers a subject thoroughly.

• They are usually very long and are written in

order to earn a doctoral (PhD) degree.

RESOURCES: TYPES

7 Reference Materials

• Reference materials are materials used to find

facts or basic information about a subject, event,

place or person.

• The following resources are considered reference

materials.

• You can find these materials in the library, but

unlike other books, you cannot check them out.

RESOURCES: TYPES

7.1 Thesaurus

• A Thesaurus is a book full of synonyms and

anonyms for words.

• You can use a thesaurus to look for alternative

terms when you are conducting research.

• A thesaurus can also be a very helpful tool when

you are writing if you want to look for alternative

words to express meaning.

RESOURCES: TYPES

7.2 Encyclopedia

• Encyclopedias list basic information on many

topics.

• The topics are usually put in alphabetical order so

it is very easy to find what you are looking for.

• Encyclopedias are helpful when you are looking

for background information on a topic.

RESOURCES: TYPES

7.3 Handbook/Manuals

• A handbook is a practical guidebook that provides

precise direction on how to perform a specific

task.

• For example, the book that you are reading right

now is a handbook.

• It guides you through properly composing a

secondary research paper.

3 RESOURCES: CLASSIFICATIONS

• Now that you know some of the different types of

resources, it is important to understand how they are

classified.

• Classifying resources helps us know which ones are

good to use for academic papers and which ones are

not.

• There are two different classifications that will be

discussed below: primary vs. secondary resources and

scholarly vs. popular resources.

RESOURCES: CLASSIFICATIONS

3.1 Scholarly vs. Popular Sources

• When choosing resources to use for your academic

writing you need to know what kind of information you

are looking for.

• Generally, resources fall into one of two categories:

scholarly information or popular information.

• Both types of resources are valuable but in different

ways.

• Popular information is written for the general public.


• The information is usually presented very simply and

does not use difficult, academic language.

• These sources may not be based on facts or research,

so they may not be helpful for your academic writing.

• Instead, you will need to use scholarly sources.

• Scholarly sources are written using research and facts.

• They are usually more reliable and are used in academic

settings (University of Georgia Libraries, 2013).


• The differences in the two types of resources are explained

below.

• The following description on scholarly versus popular

sources is taken from the University of Georgia Libraries.

• Scholarly information communicates research findings and

stimulates discussion among academic professionals and

students.

• Scholarly sources strive to be authoritative, accurate, and

detailed, and they document the sources of the ideas they

contain.


• Popular information is intended to inform and entertain a

more general audience.

• Popular sources attempt to attract readers by eye-catching

covers and illustrations, exciting headlines and high-interest

topics, and straightforward, non-technical language.

• Both types of information are valuable, but professors often

expect students to confine their research to scholarly

publications.

• There is no strict dividing line, so the challenge for you as a

student is:

CLASSIFICATIONS: EXAMPLE 1

• How can you tell which publications are scholarly?


3.2 Primary vs. Secondary and Tertiary Sources

• Now that you know how to determine whether

your sources are scholarly or popular, it is

important to figure out more specifically what kind

of information they contain.

• Is the information primary, secondary or tertiary?

• The different types and examples of each are

discussed below.


• The following description and examples of primary,

secondary and tertiary sources are taken entirely from

Yale University Library. Please note that only a few

points were taken out in order to make the information

more relevant to Cambodian students.

3.2.1 Primary Sources

• Primary sources are original materials on which other research is

based.

• They are from the time period involved and have not been filtered

through interpretation or evaluation.


• They are usually the first formal appearance of results in

physical, print or electronic format. They present original thinking,

report a discovery, or share new information.

Examples include:

• Literary creation: novels, short stories, poems, etc.

• Artifacts (e.g. coins, plant specimens, fossils, furniture, tools,

clothing, all from the time under study);

• Audio recordings (e.g. radio programs)

• Diaries;


• Internet communications on email, listserves;

• Interviews (e.g., oral histories, telephone, e-mail);

• Journal articles published in peer-reviewed publications;

• Letters;

• Newspaper articles written at the time;

• Original Documents (i.e., birth certificate, will, marriage license,

trial transcript);

• Patents;

• Photographs


• Proceedings of Meetings, conferences and symposia;

• Records of organizations, government agencies (e.g. annual

report, treaty, constitution, government document);

• Speeches;

• Survey Research (e.g., market surveys, public opinion polls);

• Video recordings (e.g., television programs);

• Works of art, architecture, literature, and music (e.g., paintings,

sculptures, musical scores, buildings, novels, poems).


3.2.2 Secondary Sources

• Secondary sources are less easily defined than primary sources.

• Generally, they are accounts written after the fact with the benefit

of hindsight.

• They are interpretations and evaluations of primary sources.

• Secondary sources are not evidence, but rather commentary on

and discussion of evidence.

• However, what some define as a secondary source, others define

as a tertiary source. Context is everything.


Examples include:

• Bibliographies (also considered tertiary);

• Biographical works;

• Commentaries, criticisms;

• Dictionaries, Encyclopedias (also considered tertiary);

• Histories;

• Literary criticism such as Journal articles;

• Magazine and newspaper articles;


• Monographs, other than fiction and autobiography;

• Textbooks (also considered tertiary).

3.2.3 Tertiary Sources

• Tertiary sources consist of information that is a distillation and

collection of primary and secondary sources.

• Almanacs;

• Bibliographies (also considered secondary);

• Chronologies;

• Dictionaries and Encyclopedias (also considered secondary);


• Directories;

• Fact books;

• Guidebooks;

• Indexes, abstracts, bibliographies used to locate primary and secondary

sources;

• Manuals;

• Textbooks (also be secondary).

(Yale University Library. (n.d.). Primary, Secondary & Tertiary sources. Retrieved

from: http://guides.library.yale.edu/content.php?pid=128822&sid=1187254)

CLASSIFICATIONS: EXAMPLE 2

• The table below gives examples and compares the three different types of sources .


• So which type of information is best to use in your research

paper?

• Well, you can use all of them, but primary resources are

often the most reliable.

• Primary sources were created in the beginning, based on the

original material.

• This makes them more reliable because other authors who

might have had their own opinions about the information or

research study have not changed the information.

4 RESOURCES: FORMS

• Now that you know the types of resources and how they

are classified, you should be ready to start your

research.

• But how do you know where to find these resources?

• The resources described above can appear in both

physical and digital forms.

• This means you can find them in hard copy or soft copy.

RESOURCES: FORMS

4.1 Physical Form

• Physical resources can be printed resources or audio-

visual resources.

• You can find these resources at various libraries and

bookstores.

• The first library that you should visit is the PUC main

library.

• It has around 40,000 items in its collection.

RESOURCES: FORMS

• You may also consider visiting other libraries and

information centers housed at various institutions,

including government ministries, NGOs, and IOs.

4.2 Digital Form

• In general, digital resources can be accessed in three

ways: search engines, websites, and online article

databases.

RESOURCES: FORMS

4.2.1 Search Engines

• There are several search engines that you can use to

access digital resources.

• As many of you know, the most popular one is Google.

• It is very popular because it is easy to use and free of

charge.

• Unfortunately, most academic resources are not

available via Google.

RESOURCES: FORMS

4.2.2 Websites

• You also can access digital resources directly from

various websites, but it is important that you know how

to evaluate those websites to make sure they are

reliable sources.

• Generally information on a websites is free of charge.

RESOURCES: FORMS

4.2.3 Article Databases

• Article databases provide access to several scholarly

resources.

• Most of them are not free, and you cannot access them

via search engines.

• Fortunately, PUC subscribes to these databases and

that enables you to access around 60 databases

containing millions of articles for free.

RESOURCES: FORMS

• Special Note: Since Cambodia publishes very few

scholarly journals, Cambodian students have to rely a lot

on NGO/IO/government publications and renowned

newspapers if they are conducting secondary research

on a local topic.

DOCUMENT FILE LOCATION

File: L4_resources_types.pptx

Date: 18/12/14

Running:

resources types by dr. sam ang sam

Education