This may be a “How To” that you never realized you needed to know, but understanding the nature and creation of information is very important when it comes to researching effectively. Matching your topic to the correct level of information and the correct format is essential for successful research.

These two illustrations can help you understand how information is created and disseminated. They also help to distinguish between the various types of information sources (e.g. journal articles, books, encyclopedias) and how they fit into the chronology of information.

---

Information Cycle

An event happens (e.g. Hurricane Katrina hits New Orleans)

Once an event happens then it initiates the information cycle. The type of information related to the event changes as the days, weeks, and years past.

1. Day of the Event – (TV, Radio, and the Internet)

On the day of the event, most of the information comes from TV, Radio and Internet news. Hours after the hurricane made landfall, information on disaster was relegated to these immediate new sources. The information was mostly the basic facts, and changed as more reports were entered.

2. Days after the Event – (Newspaper articles, TV, Radio, and the Internet)

In the days after the disaster, these media sources continue to cover news of the event. The major difference between this stage of information and the previous one is the addition of newspaper articles and other more in-depth treatments of the disaster. Time, even just a few days, has allowed the information to be more detailed as the facts become more settled.

3. Weeks after the Event – (Magazines)

Articles in popular magazines begin to connect the immediate events of the disaster to larger issues. More details about the event are coming to light and often these stories contain interviews and other first hand accounts to flesh out the event.

4. Months after the Event – (Scholarly Journals)

These journal articles are more in-depth than the magazine articles and focus on a more specific aspect of the event. The authors have had the time to reflect critically on the disaster and its ramifications, along with its effect on various multidisciplinary issues (e.g. areas of the social sciences or sciences). They may begin to refer to it is as evidence for larger research.

5. Years after the Event – (Books and Reference Materials)

Because books take a longer time to produce, they cannot refer to current events. However, authors are able to use this time to perform an even deeper second or third analysis of the event and its impact. Around the same time descriptions and information pertaining to the hurricane are being included in reference materials, like encyclopedias and textbooks, placing the event securely into the historic record.

---

 

Publication Cycle

Another way of looking at the nature and organization of information is outlining the publication cycle, or how information goes from creation to textbooks. This illustrates works best with academic or scholarly research, but contains the similar “steps” to the previous example.

1. Idea (emails, research journals)

A scholar/researcher starts with an idea of a subject or a topic he/she wants to study. The research might discuss the idea with colleagues through emails or phone conversations. They also may make notes in a personal research journal. Typically these information sources are not available to the public.

2. Research (research notes, laboratory results)

This is the materials a researcher/scholar creates during the research process, detailing evidence or results. This is the step where the new information is formally created.

3. Conference Papers, Dissertations, or Thesis

Typically the results from the research step are first presented in one of these three forms. Depending on the stage of their career, the research/scholar may present the findings at a conference, or use the research in a dissertation or thesis.

4. Scholarly Journal Articles

Around the same time as #3, a scholar/researcher may also submit their work for publication in a scholarly journal. Once published, the article, and its information, is indexed and abstracted in various indexes and electronic databases. At this stage it is now part of the larger information community and will begin to be used by other scholars/researchers in that field.

5. Books (monographs or anthologies)

If the information is discussed by academia, then it may find its way into books. The article may be added to an anthology of work in the field, or it could be referenced to in a monograph on the topic.

6. Reference or Textbooks

Once the information has been discussed and widely accepted, then it enters the “cannon” or standard literature of the field. At this point the information will be included in reference books (e.g. encyclopedias) or in textbooks in the field.

---

Format of Information

Not only are there different types and stages of information, but there are also different formats of information. Each format reflects the different stages of information. Below is a table that outlines the basics formats and the type of information you can expect to find.

---

Additional Resources

Heriot-Watt University Library – Study Skills: Publication Cycle

Humboldt State University Library - Humanities Publication/Research Cycle

University of Washington - Example of Information/Publication Cycle

The Evergreen State College – The Information Cycle

National-Louis University – Organization of Information

UCLA College Library – Flow of Information

University of Washington – Research 101