This document provides an overview of different types of information sources and reference materials. It discusses what information sources and reference sources are, including reference books. It also covers how reference books are arranged and evaluated, and how to distinguish between primary, secondary, and tertiary sources. The document is meant to teach students about evaluating various information sources.

1. LIB 640 Information Sources and Services
Summer 2012
What are
Information
Sources?

2. 2
What are information sources?
Information sources
• Each item of information is created in context to its
originator's purpose, whether it was to inform,
entertain, or educate and its quality and value
depends on the information need
• Glossary

3. 3
What about reference sources?
reference source
• Any publication from which authoritative
information can be obtained, including but not
limited to reference books, catalog records, printed
indexes and abstracting services, and bibliographic
databases. Individuals and services outside the
library that can be relied upon to provide
authoritative information are considered
resources for referral.

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And reference books?
reference book
• A book designed to be consulted when authoritative information is
needed, rather than read cover to cover. Reference books often consist
of a series of signed or unsigned "entries" listed alphabetically under
headwords or headings, or in some other arrangement (classified,
numeric, etc.). The category includes almanacs, atlases, bibliographies,
biographical sources, catalogs, concordances, dictionaries, directories,
discographies and filmographies, encyclopedias, glossaries, handbooks,
indexes, manuals, research guides, union lists, yearbooks, etc., whether
published commercially or as government documents. Long reference
works may be issued in multivolume sets, with any indexes in the last
volume. Reference works that require continuous updating may be
published serially, sometimes as loose-leaf services.

5. Another 5
way to
look at it
What are reference books?
• They are those we „refer‟ to. Referring is a very similar
to the strategy of scanning. We use a reference book
just to look up the odd fact or confirm a supposition.
Look at the design of reference books - e.g. the
Reference Book of Water and Weather and the
Encyclopaedia of British Wild Animals. They are laid
out so that the reader can very quickly access
information. You do not read an encyclopaedia from
cover to cover - you think what you want to know and
then search for one very small area of text.
• Teaching Non-fiction?: Reading Reference Books
By Bobbie Neate

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Know your reference books
When you pick up a reference book:
• Note the author and publisher, and perhaps the author's
credentials.
• Check the copyright date. Given the type of information the
tool covers, is it likely to be current enough?
• What is the purpose and scope of the book (check for
preface)?
• Review the table of contents. What is the scope of the
material? Is it biased toward one viewpoint?
• Review the index (if there is none, is that a significant
drawback?). What approaches does the index use?
June 23, 2012

7. 7
More know your books
• Page through to see what special features may be there. Are
there photos? Charts and graphs? Appendices?
• What is the level of the book? Who is the intended
audience?
• Make up a short “test” for the book. Think up some
questions that you feel, based on the review you've done,
that the book should be able to answer. Does it?
• Has anyone else on the staff had experience with this book?
How do they feel about it?
June 23, 2012

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Arrangement of Reference Books
• Southern Ontario Library Service -- Sourcebooks

9. 9
Alphabetical order
There are two methods of alphabetizing. The letter-
by-letter system ignores punctuation and spaces
between words. The word-by-word system organizes
by the first word, then the second word, and so on.
Here is an example:
• Letter-by-letter Word-by-word
Bookcase Book club
Book club Book fair
Bookend Bookcase
Book fair Bookend
• Glossary Of Library and Research Terms
Introduction to Library Research

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Evaluating print sources
• Is the information recent? Select up-to-date,
current information unless you are conducting
historical research. This is particularly true in the
sciences.
• Did an expert in the field prepare the information?
Look for the author's credentials and affiliations.
For citations to biographical material about an
author, consult a biographical source, such as
Biography and Genealogy Master Index,
Contemporary Authors or Biography Index.
• Introduction to Writing Research Papers,
IV. Evaluating Print and Electronic Sources

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More evaluation guidelines
• Is the information from a reliable source? Choose
information from a scholarly journal (Finding Scholarly
Journals) or from a book published by a reputable
publisher. Choose books that have received favorable
reviews. Consult one of these indexes for citations to
reviews: Book Review Index, Book Review Digest, Index to
Book Reviews in the Humanities, Children’s Book Review
Index, and Balay’s Guide to Reference Books.
• Does the writer seem to be represent material fairly and
accurately? All argument shows bias because it attempts to
persuade or influence its audience. However, guard against
using information that seems unreasonably or unfairly
biased.
• Who is the intended audience? Is the information for a
specialized or general audience?
• Adapted from Evaluating Print and Electronic Sources

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Critical Evaluation of Resources
How do you make sense of what is out there
and evaluate its authority and appropriateness
for your research?
• Suitability
• Authority
• Other indicators
• http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Evaluation.html

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Suitability
Scope
• What is the breadth of the article, book, website or
other material?
Audience
• Who is the intended audience for this source?
Timeliness
• When was the source published?
Scholarly vs. Popular
• http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Evaluation.html

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Authority
Who is the author?
What are his or her credentials?
• Sometimes information about the author is listed
somewhere in the article. Other times, you may
need to consult another resource to get background
information on the author. Sometimes it helps to
search the author‟s name in a general web search
engine like Google.
• http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Evaluation.html

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Other indicators
Documentation
• A bibliography, along with footnotes, indicate that the
author has consulted other sources and serves to
authenticate the information that he or she is
presenting.
Objectivity
• What point of view does the author represent?
Primary vs. secondary research
• In determining the appropriateness of a resource, it
may be helpful to determine whether it is primary
research or secondary research.
• http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Evaluation.html

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Distinguish Between Primary
and Secondary Sources
Primary Sources
• Primary sources are original materials. They are
from the time period involved and have not been
filtered through interpretation.
• [For a list of examples, see
http://www.lib.umd.edu/guides/primary-sources.html#primary ]

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Distinguish Between Primary and
Secondary Sources
Secondary Sources
• Secondary sources 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.
• Biographies
• Commentaries
• Dissertations
• Indexes, Abstracts, Bibliographies
(used to locate primary & secondary sources)
• Journal Articles
• Monographs

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What about Tertiary Sources?
Tertiary Sources
• Tertiary sources consist of information which
is a distillation and collection of primary and
secondary sources. You‟ll find some
differences in
• Almanacs interpretation about these
• Encyclopedias examples. Some consider
• Fact books encyclopedias secondary
sources. See this guide
from the University of
Illinois, for example.