Book sources
Books are familiar to most people and often taken for granted. In a library context, books are the meat and potatoes of the research process. They can include government documents, annual reviews, and textbooks.

Reasons for using books
Books on academic/scholarly topics are used primarily for gaining knowledge in a particular subject area. They are also used to learn about the historical development of a topic and to find out the names of key researchers in the field.

How to find books
You use the Brock Library Catalogue to find what books the library has in its collection. Note the titles, call numbers, and floor numbers where the books are located.
For example: Handbook of gender, culture, and health, edited by Richard M. Eisler, has the call number RA 418 H27 2000, and is located on floor 5. Browsing in the book stacks where this book is located on the shelf would be a good way to possibly find other books on this same general topic.

Journal sources
Journals, or periodicals, are very important sources for finding information on your topic. Often referred to as Primary Sources, journals report on the latest research (at the time of publication) on academic topics. Individual journal articles tend to be more focused than book sources.
Journals can be divided into those that are peer-reviewed and those that are not. Peer-reviewed journals are those that only accept articles from researchers that have been rigorously scrutinized by fellow research scientists, or peers, so there is a quality control factor built into the selection process.

This page is http://spartan.ac.brocku.ca/~dsuarez/physeduc/chsgen_refine1_textpage

Updated: June 11, 2001