Literature of the Field

1
Literature of the Field

• Scholarly, Popular, Trade Publications
• Evaluating Resources

2
Who is Responsible?

• Scholars in the field through their academic
  affiliations
• Professional associations
• Scholars
• Practitioners
• Conference presentations first opportunity to
  see research

3
Who is the Publisher?

• Corporations
• Academic Institutions
• Departments
• Faculty
• Professional Associations
•  American Institute of Biological Sciences
•  American Society for Cell Biology
•  Animal Behavior Society
•  Federation of American Societies
  for Experimental Biology
•  National Academy of Sciences
•  National Center for Genome Resources
•  National Science Foundation
•  Organization of Biological Field Stations

4
Comparing Scholarly/Trade/Popular Publications

• Appearance
• Scholarly Plain cover, plain paper, black
  white graphics and illustrations, pages have
  consecutive numbering throughout the volume
• Trade Cover depicts industrial setting, glossy
  paper, pictures and illustrations in color each
  issue starts with page 1
• Popular Eye-catching cover, glossy paper,
  pictures and illustrations in color, each issue
  starts with page 1

5
Periodical Comparison (continued)

• Audience
• Scholarly Researchers and professionals
• Trade Members of a specific business,
  industry, or organization
• Popular Non-professionals
• Content
• Scholarly Research projects, methodology, and
  theory articles by contributing
  authors
• Trade Professional trends, new products
  or techniques, organizational
  news articles by staff or
  contributing authors
• Popular Personalities, news, general
  interest articles written by
  staff may be unsigned

6
Periodical Comparison (continued)

• Accountability
• Scholarly peer reviewed / refereed has
  bibliographies
• Trade editorial review may have short
  bibliographies
• Popular editorial review no bibliographies
• Advertisements
• Scholarly few or none
• Trade moderate all or most are trade related
• Popular heavy

7
Type of Journal

• For college-level scientific papers, information
  should be obtained from scholarly journals
• Scholarly journals contain articles describing
  high quality research with data that has been
  reviewed by experts in the field prior to
  publicationi.e. Journal of Cell Biology, Journal
  of Applied Psychology
• Trade publications may be useful for topics
  within the profession or where trends
  information is requiredi.e. Chiltons Food
  Engineering, Public Management, APA Monitor
• Popular magazines should not be used at alli.e.
  New York, Psychology Today, Time

8
What is Peer Review / Refereed?

• Peer review refers to the policy of having
  experts in the field examine journal articles
  before acceptance for publication to ensure that
  the research described is sound and of high
  quality. When looking at a journal, examine the
  editorial policy, instructions to authors, and /
  or the editorial board to determine if the board
  members are experts in the field

9
When evaluating journal articles, ask

• What is the Purpose of the article? Was it
  written to
• Persuade the reader to do something?
• vote a certain way, purchase an item, attend an
  event
• Inform the reader?
• Results of a study / experiment, what happened at
  an event
• Prove something?
• That a behavior is bad / good, a method works /
  doesnt work

10
Organization and Content

• Is the concept organized and focused?
• Is the argument or presentation
  understandable?
• Is this original research, a review of previous
  research, or an informative piece?

11
Bias (of the publisher)

• Is the journal
• Left / liberal?
• Right / conservative?
• Center?
• Alternative press?
• Published by a corporate interest?
• Published by a political action (PAC) group?
• Published by a granting agency?

12
Audience

• For what type of reader is the author writing?
  This is associated with the type of journal.
  Popular magazines are geared to the general
  reader, while trade magazines are for the
  specialist, and scholarly journals are directed
  at researchers, scholars, or experts in the
  field.
• Is the article for?
• A general audience of laypersons
• Students (high school, college, graduate)
• Specialists or professionals
• Researchers or scholars

13
Date of Article

• Some topics, especially those in the sciences,
  require current information. Others, such as in
  geology, history and the humanities, value older
  material as well as current
• Is the research
• Up-to-date?
• Out-of-date?
• Timeless?

14
Authority

• Is the author an expert in this field?
• Where is the author employed?
• What else has s/he written?
• Has s/he won awards, grants or honors?
• Who sponsored the research?

15
Coverage

• Does the article cover the topic comprehensively,
  partially, or is it an overview?

16
Usefulness

• Is the article relevant to the current research
  project?
• Does it
• Support an argument?
• Refute an argument?
• Give examples? (survey results, primary
  research findings, case studies, incidents)
• Provide wrong information that can be
  challenged or disagreed with productively?

17
Bibliography

• Scholarly works Always contain a bibliography of
  the resources consulted. The references in
  this list should be in sufficient quantity and
  be appropriate for the content.
• Look for
• If a bibliography exists
• Is it short or long?
• Is it selective or comprehensive?
• Are the references primary sources or
  secondary sources?
• Are the references contemporary to the article
  or much older?
• Is the citation style clear and consistent?

18
Illustrations

• Are charts, graphs, maps, photographs, tables,
  etc., used to substantiate concepts?
• Are the illustrations relevant?
• Are they clear and professional looking?