Resource Guides: Essential Research Skills for Workplace Writing: Section #3: Types of Information

Learning Objective #3

Identify different types of information, their characteristics, and purpose to help select the right kinds of resources

for your research task.

What Exactly Am I Looking At?

There are so many different types of resources!

For example, a government website is different than a blog; we use Twitter for other reasons than Instagram; newspapers are not books; scholarly articles are unlike articles in a magazine like National Geographic. Each type of information has a different purpose.

Understanding the difference between different types of information is your first step to determining what information is appropriate to use for your specific research task. Knowing the difference will help you determine what to use and what NOT to use, or what is credible or NOT so credible for a particular research project.

Not all articles are created equal when it comes to depth and credibility of the information. If you are asked to find information credible enough for professional-level research what kind of articles should you choose?

Watch this video and pay attention to the difference between Scholarly (Peer-Review), Trade, and Popular articles. Being able to identify the type of resource you are looking at will help you understand what's appropriate to use in a given context.

The section after the video is a more exhaustive description of the types of information available, Or, check out our Resource Type Tip Sheet.

Resource Types & Common Characteristics

Resource Type	Common Characteristics
Popular Magazine Article (online or in print) See an example	Audience: nonprofessional; anyone Appearance: glossy photos, many advertisements Content: general interest articles, no reference lists, simple language Authors: largely staff writers, often unknown Examples: Sports Illustrated, National Geographic, Maclean’s, Men’s Health, Cosmopolitan
Scholarly, Peer Reviewed Journal Article (online or in print) See an example	Audience: professionals, researchers, academics Appearance: no advertisements, plain, black & white Content: original research, literature reviews, often contain abstracts, academic/professional language, often contain statistics/diagrams, long reference lists, peer-reviewed, academic Authors: many authors, with many credentials and affiliations Examples: Journal of Advanced Nursing, Journal of Applied Research, Journal of Food Safety
Trade Magazine/ Journal Article (online or in print) See an example	Audience: industry professionals, organization/association members Appearance: glossy photos, most advertisements related to industry Content: current industry trends, new products or techniques, organizational news, articles may have short reference list, may contain professional language Authors: industry professionals, organization/association members Examples: Advertising Age, Women’s Wear Daily, The Police Chief, Canadian Nurse
Website/Blog (online or in print) See an example	Audience: varies Content: varies Authors: vary in credentials, sometimes difficult to identify
Government Publication and Information (online or in print) See an example	Content: published and written by a government; often includes country-specific data and statistics Authors: government workers and consultants Examples: Health Canada, Statistics Canada, Ministry of Natural Resources,
Non-Governmental Organization Publication and Information (online or in print) See an example	Content: topics and data related to the organization's mandate and area of focus Authors: organization members and employees, associated researchers and consultants Examples: Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario, The United Way, The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
Books (online [eBook] or in print) See an example	Authors: vary in credentials Content: varies
Reference Source (online or in print) See an example	Authors: vary in credentials Content: varies--can be general or subject-specific Examples: Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Wikipedia, The Columbia Encyclopedia
Newspaper Article (online or in print) See an example	Audience: nonprofessional; anyone Content: current, journalistic, simple language, no reference list Authors: Writers/Journalists Examples: Toronto Star, The Guardian, the New York Times

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