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Introduction
Introduction
Resources are a key part in helping you with your research when doing any assignment, report or project. The types of resources you must likely going to be using when doing research will be:
Academic Databases
Books
E-Books
DVDs
Journals
Magazines
Newspapers
Websites
Visual Media e.g. Youtube
Some resources you can get in physical format e.g. books from the Library. Other resources you can access in electrical format e.g. Youtube Video. We will be looking at the Advantage and Disadvantages of using these various resources.
Books
Books
Advantages
Thorough overview of a topic.
Quality checked by publisher.
Usually well-researched.
Include references to other sources you can use.
Dip in and out as needed – portable!
Often written purposely for your course.
Disadvantages
Take a long time to be published – out of date?
Author may be biased.
E – Books
E – Books
Advantages (in addition to those already stated for books)
Read online - often off campus, any time.
Search across book’s content.
May be able to add your own notes alongside content.
Even more portable.
Disadvantages (in addition to those already stated for books)
Not always easy to read from a screen.
Dependent on internet connection/wi-fi/phone signal.
Journals
Journals
Advantages
Include the latest research – up to date.
Cover very specific topics.
Quality checked during peer review process.
List references used - good source for further research.
Disadvantages
Don’t go into as much detail as books.
Many articles may not be relevant to your work.
Magazines
Magazines
Advantages
Specific area of interest.
Up to date coverage of news and opinion.
Feature news, resources or areas of interest, real life stories.
Disadvantages
Not as extensively quality reviewed as journals.
May be ‘gossipy’. More for entertainment.
Newspapers
Newspapers
Advantages
Up to date on current topics.
Some may contain useful detail.
Disadvantages
Biased.
May lack detail.
Websites
Websites
Advantages
Quick access to information.
Can be kept up to date easily.
Masses of information.
Disadvantages
Large number of sites on one topic - can be difficult to identify the best results.
Not quality checked – anyone can create a website!
Not always reliable or of an academic standard.
Out of date information rarely removed from internet.
Search needs to be very specific.
DVDs And Other Visual Media e.g. Youtube
DVDs And Other Visual Media e.g. Youtube
Advantages
A visual format.
May contain demonstrations (for practical subjects).
Can include facts and opinions.
Disadvantages
Can be biased.
May not give further references to follow up.
Often created for entertainment purposes.
You Tube clips may be amateurish/wrong.
Academic Databases
Academic Databases
Advantages
Reliable - they are compiled by librarians and subject experts.
They allow you to do powerful searches to find, explore, share and download online resources.
A Google search will not access most of the search results that you can obtain from the databases.
Disadvantages
Some useful information may be buried fairly deeply – may take some time to find what you want.
Google Sites
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