Anthropology

Description

• Books are full length sources that can be on a topic by one or more authors, or anthologies, which contain several chapters/sections written by different authors that are often compiled by an editor.

What do they contain?

• Chapters, sections, essays

How often are these sources published?

• Once, annually, or every few years

Found in:

Description

• Magazines, journals, and newspapers, are types of "periodicals" - as in, they are published periodically throughout the year. There are many different intended audiences.
  • Magazines are generally intended for a broader, public audience.
    • Examples: Scientific American, Vogue, and The Atlantic.
  • Journals are often intended for a scholarly audience (scholars, academics, researchers, etc.) Many articles in these journals go through a rigorous publishing process called peer-review: they are written by an academic, submitted to the journal, and then circulated to experts in the field for checking before being published.
    • Examples: New England Journal of Medicine, The William and Mary Quarterly.
  • Newspapers are usually written for a broader, public audience. They share the news of the day.
    • Examples: The New York Times, USA Today, The Guardian, the San Francisco Chronicle.

What do they contain?

• Articles

How often are these sources published?

• Magazines - usually monthly & quarterly (seasonally)
• Journals - less frequently; can be monthly, but more likely quarterly
• Newspapers - usually daily

Found in:

Description

• Media sources come in a variety of audio and visual formats. Some of these can be helpful for research - like podcasts, documentaries, and web clips.

What are some examples?

• Audio - such as CDs, MP3s, podcasts, and material on streaming websites
• Video - such as DVDs, MP4s, YouTube videos, and material on streaming services (like Films on Demand and Netflix)

How often are these sources published?

• Continuously

Found in:

Description

• Statistics are the result from raw data that have been interpreted and analyzed. They are often helpful when you're looking for a number or percentage to support an argument in your assignments, research papers, or presentations. A statistic will answer "how much" or "how many." Statistics are usually presented in a table, chart, or other visualization.

What do they contain?

• Usually an average, a percentage, or a frequency as a result of data analysis
  • Examples:
    • The average unemployment rate in the United States in March 2022
    • The percentage of car accidents that occur during a snowstorm
    • The frequency of accidents involving teenage drivers

How often are these sources published?

• Current statistics might be a year or older and not necessarily published on an annual basis and are based on how often the information is collected + the time it takes to analyze and process numbers.

Found in:

• Websites for
  • government agencies (e.g. U.S. Census Bureau),
  • private organizations or non-profits (e.g. The American Cancer Society),
  • academic institutions, or
  • the private sector (for example, marketing firms, pollsters, or trade organizations).
• Articles in journals, newspapers, and magazines.

Note: government statistics are free and publicly available, however, many other kinds of statistics require access through library subscription databases.

Library Databases

The databases below are a good starting point to find articles from newspapers, magazines, and journals. Looking for statistics embedded within these articles can be helpful. Search a keyword or two for your topic. For example, "obesity." Then combine your keyword search with a subject search ("SU Subject Term" ) for statistics.

Description

• Websites are online spaces that host a multitude of content. The collection of content for a website is within the same domain. (In the example below, sfdph.gov is the domain).
  • Examples:
    • Website Name: San Francisco Department of Public Health
    • Website Address (URL): https://www.sfdph.org

What do they contain?

• Webpages (which contain articles, blog posts, etc)
  • Example
    • Webpage: Environmental Health
    • From the Website: San Francisco Department of Public Health

How often are these sources published?

• Continuously

Found on:

• The "open web." Search engines "crawl" and "index" items found in the open web, such as webpages, blog posts, infographics, PDFs, and other material that people post to the web. The open web contains materials not behind a paywall (such as when an online journal website asks for payment to show you an article). Databases are technically behind a paywall, because they contain material that is accessed after the library pays a subscription fee.