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Life Sciences and IBERS: Information Sources - various categories

Searching for information

Searching for information - where to start?

There is a lot of information out there! Searching for information is easy but finding reliable, useful and relevant information is a much harder task.  You will need to search for good information sources when you come to learn about a subject or topic. To answer an assignment question you will search for books, journals, articles and many more information sources.  This is where developing effective skills in searching effectively come in. This page takes you through a range of different strategies and techniques for effectively searching for information online. This could be searching our Library catalogue Primo, subject databases and online search engines. 

Why do I need to learn to search effectively?

Learning how to form effective search strategies  will help you find relevant and useful information. It is very easy to find information in an electronic database by typing in a few keywords. What is not so easy is to find the information and results you actually need and require. By adopting certain search techniques, the results you find will be more concise and more relevant to your topic. This will save you time and enable you to focus on information of real value to your studies and research.

Categories of sources

Different categories of information sources

assorted-color book lot

You can find Information anywhere — books, diaries, social media, blogs, personal experiences, magazine articles, expert opinions, encyclopedias, and web pages — and the type of information you need will vary depending on the question you are trying to answer for your assignment or research.

Different assignments require information from a variety of sources; therefore, you need to understand where to go to find certain types of information. Knowing what type of source you need will also help you find the correct source.

There are four broad categories of sources:

  • primary
  • secondary and
  • tertiary
  • grey literature

Primary sources

pencil on opened notebook

Primary sources are original materials on which other research is based.

They are first hand documents that provide direct evidence on your topic.

Examples:

  • Diaries
  • Speeches
  • Correspondence
  • Interviews
  • Manuscripts
  • Government Documents
  • News film footage
  • Archival Materials
  • Autobiographies 
  • Art works
  • Novels
  • Poetry
  • Music and Film
  • Architectural drawings/plans
  • Photographs

Tertiary sources

text

Tertiary sources are organisation, categorisation, index or collection of sources. 

A tertiary source presents summaries or condensed versions of materials, usually with references back to the primary and/or secondary sources. 

Examples:

  • Dictionaries
  • Encyclopedias
  • Handbooks
  • Almanacs
  • Abstracts
  • Fact books and digests
  • Directories and guidebooks
  • Indexing and abstracting sources

Secondary sources

people raising their hands

Secondary sources are the interpretation, commentary or analysis of other sources.  Secondary sources are not evidence, but rather commentary on and discussion of evidence.

They are accounts written after the fact with the benefit of hindsight.

Examples:

  • Bibliographies
  • Biographical works
  • Commentaries, criticisms
  • Conference proceedings
  • Essays or reviews
  • Research articles in academic journals
  • Magazine and newspaper articles
  • Reprints of art works
  • Monographs, other than fiction and autobiographies

Grey literature

a bunch of cubes that are in the middle of a room

The term grey literature is often used to refer to a diverse range of information that is generated outside of traditional publishing and distribution channels.

Grey literature material that is not formally published in the usual established formats

Examples:

  • Blogs
  • Clinical trials
  • Company Information
  • Datasets
  • Dissertations and theses
  • Email discussion lists
  • Market reports
  • Press releases
  • Patents
  • Research reports
  • Statistical Reports
  • Tweets