TYPES OF MEDIA AND FORMATS IN THE HEALTH SCIENCES

What you are looking for can make a difference in where you should look. Different types of sources have different characteristics and offer different types of information.

Reference Works

Photographed by Shelley Arvin

Reference works, such as encyclopedias and dictionaries, collect accepted facts from the established literature. In health and science, they can be huge and may take years to put together. Therefore, they do not contain the most current information, although they may mention studies that were recent at the the time of publication. But they are a good one-stop-shop to start learning the basics of a topic. 

Types of reference works include encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, biographical resources, almanacs, atlas & maps, bibliographies, directories, and indexes.

Encyclopedias (and textbooks, too) are good for basic information on a topic. Not all encyclopedias are alike. The Encyclopedia Britannica and World Book Encyclopedia are organized in a traditional encyclopedia format with alphabetically-listed topic entries followed by relatively brief descriptions. However, some specialized encyclopedias may include reviews, criticisms, formulas, images, symbols, properties, and other discipline-specific data.

You can find encyclopedias owned by ISU in the Library Catalogs. The word may sometimes use the Latin spelling of "encyclopaedia" so be careful when you search.

Although many reference works are organized alphabetically by topic, some can be tricky. It is recommended that you use the index of a specialized reference work to find your topic. And some books start or end with sections on "How To Use This Book."

Books

Books can be quite long and can cover a topic in detail. However, even with the onset of electronic publishing, they still take about a year to be published so they will not include the latest studies and research. Textbooks and encyclopedias are good for basic information.

Books that have existed in multiple editions demonstrate that the source has been updated to reflect new information and may be a standard source in the field. Many editions of classic science and health science textbooks and reference works were updated and republished over the years to reflect their popularity with professionals.

"Scholarly publishers" are comprised of universities and professional organizations that publish information materials, such as Oxford University Press, the American Nurses Association, and the World Health Organization. The university and professional organization themselves act as the peer review entity to maintain the quality of their materials. (See Sources: Scholarly/Popular)

You can find books (print and e-books) owned by ISU in the Library Catalogs. There are two catalog interfaces: the Library Catalog.

As with any source, you must evaluate whether a book is appropriate for your need. When performing research, be aware of the age of your book. For your topic, does it matter how old the information is? Do you need the latest information? The most up to date research? If so, are there newer editions of the book available? Or are you looking for changes in ideas and practices over time? Does the book focus on only one or a few theories, protocols, etc. related to your topic? Are there additional relevant theories, protocols, etc. that you should research and explore to get well-rounded coverage of your topic?  

Journals

Journals  are a type of periodical. Periodicals are publications that are published periodically, that is, daily, weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, etc. Periodicals include magazines, newspapers, journals, and, more rarely, a few book series. Periodicals are sometimes also referred to as "serials."

Journals are intended for professionals, experts, and researchers and the articles are usually authored by professionals, experts, and researchers.

Journal articles are relatively short (a few pages) compared to books (about 300 pages) so they tend to cover narrow, specific, advanced topics. The latest research is published in journals, but it can be difficult to find simple, basic information in journals. This is because the intended journal audience of professionals, experts, and researchers are usually already familiar with the basic information of their discipline and are reading the journals to find out what is new. Occasionally, review articles or retrospectives may be published, but this is not most common, especially in the sciences and health sciences.

Nowadays, most journals have a web site that allows viewing of the table of contents and summaries of articles. The majority of Journals today are collected electronically, however, the ISU Library continues to preserve the older journals in paper and microformats. All print library journals and magazines except "Current Periodicals" are now located in the ISU Library basement.

Scientific journal articles can be difficult to understand if you don't already have a good background on a topic. Do you need to look at an encyclopedia article first in order to get some background? Do you need to learn more details about the topic in order to learn terminology and related theories? Use a specialized glossary or dictionary to look up unfamiliar terminology.

Journals are very important to the sciences. Most new research is published in a peer-reviewed journal rather than in a book. The peer review process adds credibility to the research as papers have been reviewed and approved by experts in the field. This does not eliminate all distribution of false theories or bad research but it helps to cull the herd.

In contrast, scholars in the humanities may publish their research in either a journal or a book.

Scholarly/Trade Journals

Scholarly peer-reviewed journals are publications intended for subject specialists as the audience. Because they have a limited audience and because the peer-review process is time-consuming, they are often expensive. They keep costs down by using few or no pictures and rarely use color. The covers are often simple and plain. The language is technical and specialized for other professionals. The language can be difficult to understand by non-specialists. They often include original research reports with a methodology and references. They often have unstimulating titles, like Journal of Biology, rather than imaginative titles, like Discover. (See Sources: Scholarly/Popular)

Trade journals are a third category that fall between popular magazines and scholarly journals. Trade journals are written by people in an industry for other people in that industry. For example, the healthcare industry has publications about the news, business, products, practices of its workers, which include healthcare professionals, salespeople, and other employees. Trade journals use color pictures and advertisements. The language may be more technical since they aren't specifically interested in the public as readers. Articles typically do not include references or abstracts. Articles about research tend to be news articles telling about studies originally published in scholarly journals. (Example: Chemical & Engineering News)

Magazines

Magazines are intended for popular consumption by the public. They contain the latest basic information.  It can be difficult to obtain researched information from magazines. However, you can find news reports of research that contain clues that allow you to track down the original research article.  Most ISU magazine subscriptions today are electronic, however, we do continue to preserve our older magazines in paper and microformats. All Print Library Journals and Magazines except "Current Periodicals" are now located in the library basement.

News and Newspapers

Illustrated London News. William Little. First published May 14, 1842.

News sources endeavor to tell you what notable experiences and events are occurring in the world when the news source was created. The audience is usually the general public. Many news articles can be very, very short, only presenting the pertinent facts of the event. They do not include references, but embed information about the sources in the article.

They also will occasionally report new or interesting science and health information. News reports of research studies are not primary sources. They are not the original scholarly report of the research by the researchers themselves.

"In the American Journal of Nursing, researchers at Indiana State University reported..."

You can track down the original article yourself given clues from the newspaper article. Does it say who the researchers are? They probably authored a paper. Does it say which institution is doing the research? Does it mention what publication published the original research? You can use our library resources to search for that author, institution, and publication.