Learning Objects

The table below describes some common information sources:

Generally, when you are searching for information for your assessment tasks, you will be required to use scholarly rather than non scholarly resources so it is important to be well informed as to the difference between these types of resources. This video [7min 30 sec] will provide a good starting point.

Also known as a monograph, a book is a stand alone publication or a volume within a series (as opposed to serials or periodicals such as magazines, journalsor newspapers). 

Books are written for a range of different purposes, for example, novels for recreational reading or text-books for university courses. An avid reader of books is a bibliophile or colloquially, a bookworm.

Some books contain chapters written by different authors.  Each chapter relates to the theme of the book.  These books are subjected to an editorial process, and they are also called 'edited books'.  The editor usually writes an introduction to the book (Reitz 2007).

Handbook of Disaster Research (Rodriguez, Quarantelli & Dynes 2006) for example, has 32 chapters, each one written by a different author.  The contents pages list the title and author of each chapter:

Source:
Rodriguez, H, Quarantelli, EL & Dynes, RR 2006, Handbook of disaster research, Springer, New York.

An e-book is a book made available in digital form.

e-Books can be read on a variety of devices (PCs, MACs, desktops, notebooks, tablets, handhelds and PDAs)

For more information about e-books see the e-Books @ CQUniversity Library Guide.

If a particular book is unavailable, there are a number of ways to search for other books in the Library collection on the same or a similar topic:

• Search for books with the same subject heading. To find subject headings, click on the book's title (retrieved using Library Search) and a list of subject headings will appear.

• Search for books with the same call number.

• Search for books by the same author(s).

• Search for books using keywords from the title.

How can you tell if the book, magazine/journal article or website would be considered a scholarly source? Here are some clues to help you decide. If you can't decide from these hints, ask a librarian or your lecturer for help.

Adapted from: St Charles Community College (2008), Scholarly vs Non-Scholarly Sources, http://www.stchas.edu/academics/student-resources/library/evaluating.html

This 3 minute movie, developed by the Vanderbilt University, discusses the differences between scholarly and popular periodicals.

Journals (sometimes referred to as serials or periodicals) are publications produced on an ongoing basis such as monthly, quarterly, annually.   

They can be a useful source of information because:

• they are published frequently and are, therefore, more current
• they can provide information on very specific topics

Journals can be published in print and electronically.

Most academic libraries provide access to journals online.

Journals are made up of a series of volumes:

• each volume may contain a number of issues
• each issue will contain a number of journal articles

The citation (reference) below, using the Harvard style, provides information about a particular journal title, and its volume and issue details:

There are various types of journals including:

• academic/scholarly journals

• trade journals

• current affairs/opinion magazines

• popular magazines

• newspapers

The following table reveals a comparison of the various types of journals available:

An interactive way to introduce students on how to recognise scholarly articles.

Searching the Library's journal databases can increase your access to peer reviewed journal articles. Discover It! can be used to search across most of these databases.  Examples of these databases holding peer reviewed journal articles include:

• Scopus
• most Ebscohost databases (e.g. Academic Search Complete, ERIC)
• Emerald
• Expanded Academic ASAP via Infotrac
• A+ Education
• Humanities International Complete
• PsychARTICLES

Note: Not all articles in journal databases will be peer reviewed. In some databases, however, it is possible to limit the search to peer reviewed articles.  Discover It! also allows you to limit to peer reviewed journal articles. Look for a check box or drop down option on the search screen, for example:

Discover It!
Expanded Academic ASAP
CINAHL with Full Text (Ebscohost database)

Peer reviewed articles are published in refereed journals. Where a database does not provide the option to limit searches to peer reviewed articles, an alternative approach is to check whether an article has been published in a refereed journal. Whilst this doesn't guarantee that a specific article has been peer reviewed, being able to identify if the journal is refereed is an important part of assessing the article.

There are several ways to identify refereed journals:

Print copies of journals will usually state if the journal is refereed. Information about the review process can usually be found under 'Instructions for authors', or in the section which lists the journal details and editors.

Many journals have their own website.  A journal website will usually indicate if the journal is refereed.

The Ulrichsweb database provides information about most journals, including whether or not they are refereed.  To use Ulrichsweb to check if a journal is refereed:

1. Access Ulrichsweb via the Databases by Title box
2. In the Quick Search box, enter the ISSN if known, or perform a 'Title (Keyword)' search using the journal title.

3. Select the relevant journal title on the results page (sometimes there may be more than one journal with the same title). If the journal is refereed, this will be stated in the basic description.

A short Flash movie (duration: 2min 15 sec; file size: 1.7Mb) demonstrating a search of Ulrichsweb is available. Free Flash player download is available from Adobe.

Note: Not all items in a refereed journal will be peer reviewed (e.g. editorial, letters, some reviews, announcements etc).

Databases are collections of information stored in electronic format. 

Databases provide access to a wide variety of information including: 

• journal citations and articles

• newspaper citations and articles

• books

• theses/dissertations

• conference proceedings

• standards

Some databases contain information that is specific to one subject area (e.g. health, engineering, education, law), whilst others cover a range of subjects.

Databases available for use by CQUniversity staff and students are accessible via the More Search Options link on the Library homepage.

Journal databases vary in the type of access they provide to journal articles.  The main types of databases are:

• citation - only the citation (reference) of the article is available

• abstract - the citation and the abstract (short summary of the article) are available

• full-text - the citation, abstract and full-text of the article are available

Some databases may also contain a combination of the three types (e.g. full-text for selected articles; citation-only for others).

Some databases contain information that is specific to one subject area (e.g. health, engineering, education, law), whilst others cover a range of subjects.

It is important to remember that if the full-text is not available in one database, it may be available from another database or in print.

ISBN and ISSN are unique numbers assigned to publications such as books and journals. No two publications have the same ISBN or ISSN.

• An ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is a ten or thirteen digit number used to identify books and book-like resources.
   
• An ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) is an eight digit number used to identify publications which are produced at regular intervals, for example, print and electronic journals.

An ISBN or ISSN may appear on the dust jacket, the back cover or the copyright page of a publication.

Reference sources are designed to be consulted for brief items of information such as definitions, facts, statistics and background information.

Reference sources include dictionaries, thesauri, directories and encyclopaedias.

They are not designed to be read from cover to cover and are available in print and online. Reference sources can either be general in nature, such as the Oxford Reference Online collection or more specific, such as the Encyclopedia of Bioethics.

When searching for information on a topic you need to be aware that it takes a different time period for each type of information to be published. The presentation below provides information about the information cycle.

Print maps are housed in map drawers in the Library.

Map call numbers begin with MAP.  A different system of call numbers is used for maps compared to other library items and indicate geographic area, subject, scale, year and author.

For example, the call number for Wide Bay: Australia 1:100,000 topographic survey is

MAP 8960 s100 .A84 1/9546, where:

    8960    indicates geographic area (Wide Bay, Queensland)

    s100    indicates scale (100,000:1)

    .A84    indicates the author of the map (Division of National Mapping, Australia)

    1/9546 indicates "sheet 9546" in a series of maps produced at the same scale.

See also:

Finding Maps

A Course Resource Online (CRO) is a digitized copyright resource (e.g. journal articles, book chapters or extracts, media files).  

A CRO is created by CQUniversity Library when there are insufficient copies of a resource available in the Library Collection to meet the anticipated demand by students. 

To find a listing of course CROs:

• Go to Discover It, the Library's search tool available on the Library's homepage, and type the course code into the search box:

• After clicking on Search, you will then be taken to a listing of the CROs for the nominated course.
  
  
• Click on the Online Access link (see image below) to view a CRO.

To find individual CROs:

• Check the course's Moodle site - a Course Coordinator can link directly to a CRO within Moodle.

• Go to Discover It, and undertake a title/author search - if you have been given the citation (reference).