6.3 Books & Articles
Considering Format
Another useful way to categorize types of information is by publication format. Is your source a book? A magazine article? A website? A blog? A scholarly journal? How will this impact the type and quality of information provided?
Let's look more closely at a few common formats.
Books
- Good sources for in-depth exploration of ideas.
- Usually published a single time (an "edition"). When books are updated or expanded, a new edition is created from the original work.
- May have one author, or many authors and an editor.
- Can take several years to make it from the author’s mind to the published form.
Articles
- Good sources for more current events, and original research in a field.
- Published in print and online, at regular intervals, i.e. daily, weekly, monthly ("periodicals").
Newspapers
Newspaper articles are typically reports about topics of current interest, for general audiences.
Magazines
Magazine articles are written for general audiences using easily understood language. The information conveyed may summarize information from journals, but it is written for broad audiences.
Journals
Journal articles are academic or scholarly in nature. Before articles are accepted for publication, the article is often reviewed by other scholars in that field (called "peer review"). The language of journal articles tends to be specialized and formal. Abstracts (short summaries) appear at the beginning of most journal articles.
Graphic: from "Publication Formats and the Information Lifecycle" Links to an external site. by Teaching & Learning, Ohio State University Libraries, Links to an external site. licensed under CC BY 4.0 Links to an external site.
Photo credit: Marcello Hutchinson-Trujillo