Throughout your research, you will find many different kinds of sources: tweets, websites, Wikipedia entries, newspaper and magazine articles, books, journal articles, and so on. These differences in form largely reflect their overall purpose. There is a reason, for example, that scientific research appears in peer-reviewed journals or that current news appears in newspapers or that celebrity gossip appears on TMZ.com.
If that’s confusing, a helpful way of thinking about the relationship between form and purpose is the Rhetorical Situation:
Every act of communication addresses a rhetorical situation. In every situation, there are three basic elements:
- An author (the person engaging in the communication)
- An audience (the people the author is addressing)
- A purpose (what the author is trying to motivate the audience to do/believe/accept)
Each element of the triangle is interdependent. An author must be able to achieve his or her purpose with an audience. An audience must be receptive to the author and his or her purpose. Finally, the purpose must be appropriate for the author and the purpose.
These choices must also recognize context—the conditions and circumstances in which the communication takes place. Its influence may be subtle or it may be obvious. Some aspects, such as time and culture, may play a critical role in certain conditions and circumstances and less so in others. In other words, its specific role in any communication can be a challenge to determine.
Successful communication depends on how well each element works together to address the rhetorical situation. Different authors, different audiences, different purposes, and different contexts mean different choices.
All of this may sound a bit abstract, but understanding the differences is critical to your success as a researcher.
Focusing solely on the differences between monolithic source formats (e.g. books, journals, websites, etc.) isn’t terribly helpful. One piece of information can appear in a variety of forms, making the distinctions between them less than obvious. Instead, let’s look at information types, grouped by their common purpose (e.g. scholarship, entertainment, special interest, etc.). These broad categories are not discrete; there can be significant overlap between the different types. Thus, the following list is not exhaustive. As we explore, it’s important to reflect on how each type balances the elements of the triangle, and how those elements dictate the selection of certain forms.
Scholarship
- Purpose: To advance a field of study by reporting new findings or ideas; establish an author’s authority and credibility within a field
- Author: A scientist or scholar with a fair degree of expertise in a field of study; typically holds an academic post, but may engage in research for the government, think tanks, or other research organizations; most likely possesses a Ph.D. or other advanced degree
- Audience: Other researchers (e.g. scientists, scholars) in the field; peer-review, a process used to ensure the validity of scholarship, is conducted by expert members of this audience
- Context: Generally, the conventions and expectations of science/scholarly research; specifically, the conventions and expectations of the discipline in which the research is conducted
- Forms: Peer-reviewed journal articles, scholarly books, conference papers, theses/dissertations, studies conducted by government agencies and other non-profit/non-partisan research organizations
General Overview
- Purpose: To provide a provide summary, not a comprehensive study, of what is known—or what is accepted as important to know—about a given topic
- Author: Traditionally, this type of information has been written by people with some degree of expertise, giving them authority; websites, particularly wikis, are changing that model—anyone with interest and access can contribute, recognized expertise is not required
- Audience: Varies; some overviews are written by experts for other experts, others may be written non-experts for the general public
- Context: Those written for scholars and scientists are motivated by the conventions and expectations of science/scholarly research and the professional body representing a given field; those written for the general public may not recognize every convention and expectation of science/scholarly research, but they often recognize its influence (e.g. Wikipedia’s use of in-text citations and references)
- Forms: Entries in reference materials (e.g. encyclopedias, dictionaries/thesauri, almanacs, atlases), Wikipedia entries, other websites offering brief summaries (e.g. WebMD)
News
- Purpose: To report important, current events in a timely and objective fashion for the purpose of creating an informed citizenry
- Author: Usually, a journalist; trained as a writer, but not necessarily an expert in the stories they report; recognized experts, however, often contribute
- Audience: The general public
- Context: Journalism; in an ideal world, the news media acts as watchdogs, keeping individuals, companies, organizations, and governments in check; objectivity is key; but news is an increasingly for-profit entity, stories are often chosen because they sell (or entertain) and not because they contribute to the well-being of society
- Forms: Stories on news websites, stories on TV and radio news programs, newspaper stories, news magazine stories, tweets
Field Specific
- Purpose: To inform, promote, and generally strengthen the profession/trade (e.g. refrigerated trucking or librarianship) or particular interest/hobby (e.g. knitting or gaming)
- Author: Usually, a journalist; can be a member of a particular profession/trade; may share interests with an audience; has a fair amount of knowledge about the profession, trade, or subject of interest; does not necessarily possess an advanced degree
- Audience: Members of particular profession/trade or enthusiasts for a particular interest/hobby
- Context: The culture of the profession/trade or interest/hobby (e.g. Nursing Times is unlikely to cover innovations in automotive design)
- Forms: Organizational websites, blogs, wikis, professional/trade journals, hobby magazines, newsletters
Entertainment
- Purpose: To present information on non-critical issues in an interesting—but not necessarily in-depth or unbiased—manner
- Author: Usually, a journalist; trained as a writer, but not necessarily an expert in the stories they report
- Audience: Broadly, the general public; however, the specific audience depends on interest (e.g. Cosmopolitan’s target audience is women, ages 18-34; it covers issues it believes are relevant to that demographic)
- Context: Journalism, but the motive for profit may be stronger than the motive to inform; there may be less emphasis on objectivity (e.g. If it’s in People Weekly’s financial interest to report on a salacious celebrity rumor, it will); bias may be high and accuracy may be low
- Forms: Stories on entertainment-oriented/gossip websites, stories on TV entertainment programs, newspaper blurbs, entertainment magazine stories, tweets
Special Interest/Opinion/Agenda-Driven
- Purpose: To advance a particular point of view, which may or may not be supported by evidence
- Author: Can be a recognized authority (e.g. scientist, politician, police chief, journalist) expressing his or her opinion; can be a special interest organization with an agenda; can be a partisan news organization; whatever the case, attribution of authority may heavily depend on the beliefs of the audience
- Audience: Broadly, the general public; however, the specific audience consists of people subscribing to a particular point of view
- Context: Tend to be politically charged, meaning perspectives may be limited and/or biased; if evidence is used, it may be cherry-picked to support a specific point of view
- Forms: Websites of special interest groups, stories on partisan news websites, stories on partisan TV channels, partisan talk radio, stories in partisan newspapers and magazines, tweets
Unsubstantiated Information
- Purpose: To share information about a personal interest, belief, or hobby; there is little to no expectation that evidence (let alone, credible evidence) will be used to support claims
- Author: typically a non-expert without any recognized authority; or author’s identity and/or credentials may be impossible to verify
- Audience: Ideally, the general public; could be people/special interest groups who share the same interest, belief, or hobby; but due to available choices of form, reach may be limited
- Context: Because publication is largely based on personal motivation, context varies (e.g. political, spiritual, cultural, etc); bias may be extremely high and accuracy may be extremely low; a variety of free online services make facilitate this kind of sharing
- Forms: Personal websites/blogs, Facebook posts, tweets, YouTube videos
Next, we’ll cover how to critically Evaluate Information. We’ll also explore the ways they contribute to your research.
(Information type descriptions adapted from Troy Swanson’s Teaching Students About Information: Information Literacy and Cognitive Authority, Research Strategies (2007))