The information you find in a newspaper will differ from information on the same topic found in a book or on a website. Information is created to convey a message, and different types indicate the kind of information is being expressed. Expert researchers:
Please visit the ACRL Frame "Information Creation as a Process" for more info
Two types of information will be explored below: books and periodicals.
If you need historical, comprehensive, and detailed information, then you need a good book! Books are often long and full of useful information. To quickly navigate books to find exactly what you need, you must know how to use the Table of Contents and Index.
Table of Contents lists the book's chapters or parts at the beginning of the book. This list helps you see how information is organized.
The example below is form the book, Value of Hawaiʻi: Knowing the Past, Shaping the Future, edited by Howes and Kamakaikoʻole.
Index is located at the end of a book. It is an alphabetical list of people, places, events, and concepts with page numbers. The index points you to the exact location of the information within the book.
The sample index below is from America Aloha: Cultural Tourism and the Negotiation of Tradition by Diamond.
If you need basic, background information on a huge number of topics. Think of reference books like "legit" Wikipedia. It is always a good idea to start your research with a reference article before diving deeper into books, periodical articles, and more.
General encyclopedias cover a wide range of topics. The Encyclopedia Britannica is an example of general encyclopedia that covers all branches of human knowledge.
Subject or specialized encyclopedias are more narrow in scope, focusing on a specific branch of knowledge. A few examples at Leeward Library include the print Encyclopedia of Muslim-American History and Encyclopedia of American Education and online The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America.
Dictionaries also come in both general and specialized types. General dictionaries provides the correct spelling of English-language words, meanings, and pronunciations. Typical examples include the print Random House Webster's College Dictionary and online Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.
If you need current information, periodicals are your best sources. Periodicals include newspapers, magazines, and journals that are published in a regular, recurring basis, e.g. daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly.
Newspapers are a type of periodical generally published on a daily or weekly basis. They are your especially useful sources for up-to-date information about people, places, or events that happened in Hawaii.
The Library currently subscribes to several print newspapers including the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Pacific Business News, and USA Today. Newspapers can be found in the Current Periodicals Display area on the 3rd floor.
Scholarly or academic journals are a type of periodical which are most often useful for upper-level college courses. Journals contain articles offering original, scholarly research and are written using highly-specialized technical words and language. The audience for these journals include scholars, researchers, upper-level undergraduates, and graduate students.
