what are relevant sources of information

Reliable sources of information are those that:

• They clearly indicate what their own sources are. To the extent that your sources, at the same time, are reliable...
• Applies understandable reasoning or interpretations. That is to say, it exposes its ideas in a clear, transparent,...
• Avoid plagiarism and repetition. Responsible information management involves not blindly...

Full Answer

Are all sources of information relevant to your research?

All sources of information can be of relevance depending on the subject matter of the research or project you’re working on. It is important to understand that all information will have a certain degree of validity or otherwise. A document can be easily forged or altered, especially on the internet where anybody can publish anything.

What qualities make a source relevant?

In particular, students need a concrete definition of the qualities that make a source relevant. Here are three basic criteria: The source must be credible. It is verifiable. Other sources corroborate the information from this source. Other texts include similar information.

Why is it important to keep a list of sources?

The following list cannot hope to cover all sources of information, rather, it contains the main sources you are likely to find useful. Wherever you get your information, to ensure that you conform to academic standards and rules, you should keep a note of your sources.

Which sources are considered primary sources in research?

Primary sources might be considered especially relevant to all three research questions. Life science journal articles that provide research findings for the first time count as primary sources.

What are the 5 source of information?

Information can come from virtually anywhere — media, blogs, personal experiences, books, journal and magazine articles, expert opinions, encyclopedias, and web pages — and the type of information you need will change depending on the question you are trying to answer.

What are the 3 types of information sources?

Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources.

What are the types of sources of information?

This guide will introduce students to three types of resources or sources of information: primary, secondary, and tertiary.

What are the four 4 most common sources of information available?

There are four types of information:Factual. Factual information is information that solely deals with facts. ... Analytical. Analytical information is the interpretation of factual information. ... Subjective. Subjective information is information from only one point of view. ... Objective.

What are the 10 different sources of information?

Information can come from virtually anywhere — social media, blogs, personal experiences, books, journal and magazine articles, expert opinions, newspapers, and websites — and the type of information you need will change depending on the question you are trying to answer.

What are the four sources of information?

Information sources may be observations, people speeches, documents, pictures, organizations etc.

Why are sources of information important?

Intended Purpose Common intended purposes for information sources are: To inform and/or educate. To entertain, inspire or stir up emotion. To sell something or raise funds.

What is the meaning of sources of information?

An information source is a person, thing, or place from which information comes, arises, or is obtained. Information sources can be known as primary or secondary.

How do you identify information sources?

Identifying Information SourcesLibrary catalogs - use the library's catalog to find books, periodicals and other materials the library has in its holdings or accessible in another format.Databases - also known as electronic resources. ... Search engines - use these to find websites and other internet sources.More items...•

What are the 6 types of information?

6 types of informationConceptual information. Conceptual information comes from ideas, theories, concepts, hypotheses and more. ... Procedural information. ... Policy information. ... Stimulatory information. ... Empirical information. ... Directive information.

What type of information sources is most useful?

Books will often give you a greater amount and more in-depth information on a topic than encyclopedias and websites. They are a reliable source of information, having been written by authors selected for their expertise by publishers. Also, the information is checked by other experts or editors before being published.

What are the main sources of information in an organization?

Formal sources of information can come from within or outside the organisation and include:Internal. Computer systems (human resource, accounting, clients, inventory, purchasing) Staff records. Accounting records. Annual reports. ... External. Professional journals. Books. Surveys. Industry or government reports.

What are the 3 sources of history?

Materials used to study history can be classified into three types: primary, secondary and tertiary sources.

What are the two types of information source?

Information sources are often classified as physical (print, analog) versus online (electronic, digital,) text versus audio-video and book versus journal.

How many types of information resources are there?

There are many different types of information resources, including: websites, encyclopedias, YouTube, people, books, databases, newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, etc.

What are the two types of sources?

There are two kinds of sources: primary and secondary. The main difference between a primary and a secondary source is when they were made. In order to determine whether a particular sources is a primary or secondary source, you need to discover its time of creation.

What are some sources of information?

Such sources include: the internet, newspapers, journals, transcripts from radio or TV programmes, leaflets, photographs and other artefacts (man-made objects). Within the category of books there are many different types and genres, ...

What are the primary sources of information for a student?

You may assume, automatically, that academic text books are the primary source of information when you are engaged in a formal study programme. This may be true, to a degree, usually there is little need to question the credibility of such texts – they have probably been recommended by a tutor. There are, however, many other sources of information which should not be overlooked. Such sources include: the internet, newspapers, journals, transcripts from radio or TV programmes, leaflets, photographs and other artefacts (man-made objects).

Why is the internet important for research?

For many subjects the internet can be a very important place to research. In some disciplines the internet may be the most appropriate - or only - way of gathering information. This can be particularly true of subjects related to technology or current affairs. Whenever you use the internet for research, remember that the authorship, credibility and authenticity of internet documents is often difficult to establish. For this reason you need to be vigilant and take care when using the internet for academic research.

What is a bibliography?

They are indexes, directories, bibliographies and other categorised collections of information - documents that you can turn to and be guided to other, potentially relevant, documents on a particular subject.

What is retrieval system?

Retrieval systems enable you to search a database of titles held at the library, usually by either the author, the title of the book or publication or to enter broader terms, like the subject you are researching, to see a list of available publications.

What is a primary document?

A primary document is a document that was written at the time of an event or period of research. Primary documents therefore include literary texts, letters, speeches and historical documents such as birth certificates and diaries. A live news-feed (or the transcript of) is a primary source – recording events as they unfold. Of course any major news event (like the Olympic Games) is likely to have several primary sources, accounts from different broadcasters. To get a fuller idea of the event you may look at more than one primary source of information – taking into account biases, points-of-view and personal or cultural perceptions.

How to find information on a topic?

Another way of locating information, books or publications, which might have a bearing on the topic being researched is to check through the bibliography of core texts or related books. Authors will have consulted other scholars and by checking their bibliography you will discover related publications which may well enhance your own research. Some authors will also provide a list of recommended reading and since they have already researched the subject area it may be worth taking note of their findings.

What is relevance in research?

Relevance considers the importance of the information for your research needs. A relevant information source answers your research question. To determine relevance, the purpose and bias must be understood. In fact, all aspects of evaluation must be taken into consideration to determine relevance.

How to read a scholarly article?

In a scholarly research article, read the abstract first - it should summarize the research. Then read the introduction, and the discussion and/or conclusion before diving into to the rest of the article .

Is it Relevant?

How is the information useful to you? How well does it relate to your topic or answer your research question?

What makes a source relevant?

Relevancy in source attainment can vary and will depend on the type of project you are working on. Though in general, a source is deemed relevant if it aides you in sufficiently accomplishing your goal and objective. When determining if a source is relevant you should consider the details and description of the assignment, any important questions you must answer, and the main objective or goal of the research you plan to conduct. Likewise, if you've already developed a thesis statement then your sources should be relevant to the points covered in the thesis.

What are the three types of research?

In a sense these three types can also be seen as the steps of the research process. The first one being, to explore and define the topic, the second, to research the theories on it, and the third, to conduct the experiment.

What is exploratory research?

As the name suggest, exploratory research involves further exploring a problem or idea to better define the topic and create a feasible thesis or main argument. A problem cannot be examined properly unless it is fully defined. Therefore this type of research allows the student to gain a better understanding of what needs to be achieved based on secondary sources before any concrete or actual research takes place.

Why is it important to narrow down sources?

The purpose of narrowing down relevant sources is so that you can pinpoint just the right handful of materials to help you achieve your main objective. If you are conducting exploratory research you may want to start by using basic information sources to help gain more information on your topic.

What is empirical research?

This can also be referred to as empirical research in which you are conducting original research using direct or indirect observations. Your study will be qualitative or quantitative and may involve samples, case studies, and live experiments. This is a very popular and common type of 'hands-on' research.

What do you need to know before embarking on any research endeavor?

Before you can embark on any type of research endeavor you need to know where to turn for information. If you're just starting out, or have a lot of reservations about preparing for a project or paper, defining which sources are relevant and which ones are not should be one of your primary concerns.

Is theoretical research a form of literature based research?

Generally if your research is more literature-based in which you do not conduct any ' first-hand' original research but rather explore theories and other developments which you then use to try and solve a problem, then most likely you are conducting a form of theoretical research. You may have also seen the term constructive research closely connected to this as well because it deals with research performed to solve a specific problem or crisis based on theories.

What is relevant source?

Relevant sources are those that pertain to your research question. You’ll be able to figure that out fairly quickly by reading or skimming particular parts of sources and maybe jotting down little tables that help you keep track. We’ll show you how below, including where to look in specific kinds of sources and what questions to ask yourself as you do.

Why should you consider only the most recent sources relevant?

For instance, if your research question is about the life sciences, you probably should consider only the most recent sources relevant because the life sciences are changing so quickly . There is a good chance that anything but the most recent sources may be out of date.

How to answer a research question?

For help answering your research question, skim the book’s table of contents and any summary chapters to locate the problem or question that the book addresses, its solution, and the broad outline of the book’s argument for its main claim. Do they also give you information about what others have written about your research question? Do they offer a description of the situation surrounding your research question? Look for your key words in the bibliography. Do the sources cited pertain to your research question? Skim the index for topics with the most page references. Do the topics with the most page references pertain to your research question?

How to find relevant information on a website?

On a website, check the name of the website and its articles for clues that they contain material relevant to your research question. Consider whether time should have an impact on what information can be considered relevant. If so, skim any dates, datelines, What’s New pages, and press releases to see whether any website content works with the time considerations you need. Page creation or revision dates that you find can also help.

How to save time in researching?

Save time by looking in particular places in sources for information that will help you figure out whether the source is relevant to your research project. Much of our advice below comes from “Speedy Reading” in The Craft of Research, second edition, by Wayne Booth, Gregory Colomb, and Joseph Williams, 2003, pp. 108-109.

How to think about an article?

Does it have anything to do with your research question? Consider whether time should have an impact on what sources can be considered relevant. If so, is the publication date within your parameters? Also skim the abstract to see whether the article works with the time considerations you need. For instance, if there is a time period in your research question, does the article address the same time period or was it created in that time period?

What are primary sources?

Primary sources might be considered especially relevant to all three research questions. Life science journal articles that provide research findings for the first time count as primary sources. And primary sources (such as Scott’s diaries and expedition photographs, as well as paintings, literature, clothing, and household items from the Edo Period) go a long way to explain faraway people and times. (See Primary, Secondary, & Tertiary Sources .)

What are the advantages of using internet information?

Although there are many incredulous statements made online and information which has no credible proof, there are some advantages to getting information on the internet. Often times the internet will have current information that will not be found in traditional published articles. Because of the scrutiny of publication, the process takes time for approval. The information contained within, therefore, may not be the most current available. Doing a search of the information on the internet is a good starting point to finding the recent research on any subject. From the results of the search, you can extrapolate to find the most relevant information for your needs. Like playing operator, one source leads to another and so on.

Why do journals have abstracts?

Journal articles will often have abstracts on the internet that will give you an survey of the literature to allow you to discern whether they are useful to you or not. The abstract will give you an analysis of what the article is about, the findings, and the results. Journal articles are credible sources to use as evidence in your research ...

What are the different types of essays?

There are different types of essays: narrative, persuasive, comparecontrast, definition and many many others. They are written using a required citation style, where the most common are APA and MLA. We want to share some of the essays samples written on various topics using different citation styles.

Do articles cite sources?

For example, if an article uses a source, it cites the source. If then, another article uses it, they may site the source that used the originating one, instead of the actual source itself. Being that there are no governing body for internet information, there are times that a source is not cited, as it should be, at all.

How to tell if an article is related to a topic?

1. What is it about? The title will be your first immediate clue. You can usually tell from the abstract, or summary of the article whether an article is related to the topic. If there is not an abstract, read the introduction of the article, then scan the article headings.

How to determine if a book is scholarly?

For books, look at the publisher (is it a University press or other scholarly press? You can go to the publisher's website for more information. For articles, look at the title of the journal, not the article title. You can search for the journal title in Ulrichs International Periodicals Directory to determine whether the journal is scholarly or refereed. Note that some databases will indicate in the results whether the article is scholarly or not. In some databases, you can limit yourself to just scholarly articles.