2. Books
What are they:
A printed or electronic work of fiction
or fact.
Good for:
Clear overview.
Not so good for:
Up to date information.
3. Journals
What are they:
A regular publication containing substantial articles on a
particular subject area.
Presents latest ideas, developments, news and research.
Good for:
Latest research, critically reviewed by experts.
Not so good for:
Broad overview of a subject.
5. What are they:
A regular publication containing news, jobs, products,
events and advertising.
Aimed at a profession, business sector or interest.
Good for:
Focussed up-to-date information.
Not so good for:
Detailed and objective reports.
Magazines
6. Newspapers
What are they:
A regular publication containing current events,
informative articles, diverse features and advertising.
May be electronic.
Good for:
Daily information.
Not so good for:
Balanced and well researched information.
7. Websites
What are they:
An online resource which can be created
by anyone on any topic.
Provides access to a wide range of
information resources.
Good for:
Very up to date information.
Not so good for:
Accurate and reliable information.
Company
website
YouTube
Video
Twitter
Blog
Wikipedia
Government
website
Charity
website
Online
discussion
forum
Librarian will need:
EPQ Thinking about Resources game (TAR workshop 1 V2)
Workshop 1 Resources worksheet
Pens
We’re going to start off by thinking about resources, so we will be:
Exploring the range of resources available.
Considering the value of different information sources i.e. what they offer
Becoming aware of free, open-access and public library resources that you can access
Identifying potential sources of information for your topic.
By the end of this section:
You should have a better understanding of the range of resources available.
And which ones are suitable for your topic.
Its important to use a wide range of relevant resources in your work as this gives a balance and diversity to your work.
See the assessment criteria for Assessment Objective 2 which specifies evidence of detailed research involving the selection and evaluation of a wide range of relevant resources.
We are going to start off with an exercise to get you thinking about the different types of resources that you might use in your EPQ.
Hand out exercise Thinking about resources.
Groups
10 mins
Feedback (see next slides)
Books are a reliable source of information as they are edited for quality and accuracy.
They provide background information and inspiration, although check the publication date, to ensure that the information is up-to-date.
If your research is very focussed and you are looking for detail, then books might not be what you need.
Journals are like magazines – the sort of publication you can buy from a newsagent, but they are much more scholarly. What distinguishes journals from books, is that like magazines they are published on a regular basis so they information is up-to-date. They are often expensive, because they can be niche (specialist/focussed), so generally only accessible from a library.
They are good for the latest academic research critically reviewed by experts, so they are edited for accuracy and quality. This is called peer review. There are usually lots of quality references at the end of each article for you to follow up. This makes them trusted sources of information for your assignments as you can see where the authors got their information from. Individual journal titles will be focussed on a specific subject area, so the articles within will provide you with the specialist information and detail that you might require for your research.
Also useful for exhibition reviews, latest news, materials, projects, practitioners etc
Lots of journals are also available electronically so you can read the articles online.
Don’t forget to have a look at the list of references or bibliographies that appear at the end of book chapters, journal articles or other sources of information that you find.
These can provide valuable sources of further information as they will be related to the subject that you are searching.
Magazines or trade journals are a regular, popular publication which may contain news, jobs, product updates, events and advertising. Aimed at a profession, business sector or leisure interest. They are similar to journals, but less academic – the sort of publications you will find in newsagents.
Really useful for keeping up to date with your subject area or hobby as provide specialist up-to-date information, plus they are readily available in newsagents or online. However the information within may be briefer, containing less detail.
Sometimes it is hard to tell if an article is an advert by a company or by an independent journalist, and the author is not always known, so you can’t check up on their expertise. Magazines generally do not undergo the same rigorous quality control as academic journals.
Many of magazines are available online from the library or in print on the shelves, but many will also have a free web version that you can access.
Good for:
Up-to-date
Edited
Readily available (latest copies especially)
Not so good for:
Can be bias
Can be unbalanced
Can be sensationalist
Hard to get hold of/access (back issues)
You can access many newspapers online.
The other information source covered in the quiz are websites, which we are all familiar with.
The Internet provides easy and mobile access to a wide range of information sources anything from social media and crowd sources resources such as Wikipedia to organisations and academic/university websites.
The information can be very up-to-date, however you need to be really careful using information that you find because quality can vary as there is often no editorial control and websites can be unreliable especially if not kept up-to-date. Be critical of information that you find on the Internet and consider the provenance of the information i.e. who created it, when and why?
Therefore remember to use websites selectively when searching for Information – there may be better quality information resources available elsewhere for your studies.
We’ll be looking at how to be a critical searcher later (if doing workshop 3).
Fake news is particularly prevalent on the Internet and especially social media.
Source Find out more about the site, what is their mission, can you contact them. Click away from the story to investigate the site, its mission and contact info.
Author Is the author credible, what can you find out about them, do they actually exist.
Date Check the date. Is this an old post that has been reposted? Is it relevant to current events.
Bias What prejudices are you bringing to the post? Is it pandering to your beliefs and fuelling them? Information bubble.
Headlines Don’t believe the headlines as often they are being sensationalised to draw you in. Its known as click bait.
Evidence Is the information based on sound evidence? Can you see where the ‘author’ gets their info from. Do any sources linked to actually support what is being said.
Joke Consider if the news is satire? The use of humour, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.
Expert If in doubt ask an expert or consult a fact-checking website or do some further research. E.g. Fullfact. They are a team of independent fact checkers and campaigners who find, expose and counter the harm Fake or incorrect news does.
E.g. A Facebook post, shared hundreds of times claims that that if you have been tested for Covid-19, you have also been vaccinated. Wrong. The scientific papers referred to are real, but they are discussing the potential efficacy of a vaccine delivered nasally. Vaccines cannot be given without consent in the UK.
Another post that has circulated on social media claims that The Royal British Legion will not be selling poppies in certain areas to avoid upsetting “minorities”. This is not true. This claim appears annually, and again, this year, the Royal British Legion has stated that it is not true.
The charity told Full Fact:
“We have always offered the Poppy in every community and area of the United Kingdom and we will continue to do so.”
You may use your school library to find information for your EPQ, but you my also need to do some independent research using the Internet.
There are many good quality free resources available.
Have a look at this website. Some of them might be useful for your research.
One of the free open access resources that you might want to use is Google Scholar.
Enables you to search for academic journal articles, papers, book chapters etc.
Not everything is full text.
Possible to refine your search on the left hand side of the screen.
Another source of information is your local public library.
If you go to the link on the screen you can discover what online resources are available in the area that you live, work or study.
In most cases you will need to be a member pf the library to access their online resources and more information should be available from their websites.
Public libraries will also provide study spaces which might be useful.
This is Hendon Public Library btw.
When you start searching for information you need to consider which sources are going to help you find the information that you need.
We’ve put together some example sources for an example topic on the London Riots of 2011. You can find them here.
This might help you when you start your research.