Information Essentials: Identifying types of sources

Journal articles are sources that report on a piece of research that has been done. These are published in journals which are published periodically in issues and volumes over time. You can identify journals as they will present the features related to their publication in the article. 

Journal articles are more likely to include these features in a standard format, but the exact layout depends on the publisher. Let's have a look at how you might break down a journal article:

Adapted from “Too Late for Regulatory Management on Pacific Oysters in European Coastal Waters?” by B. W. Hansen, P. Dolmer, and B. Vismann, 2023, Journal of Sea Research, 191, Article 102331 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seares.2022.102331). Used under CC-BY 4.0.

Journal headers

The journal header is located at the top of the article. If you are viewing the journal article online this will be located towards the top of the webpage under the website's header bar.

In the journal header you will find information about the journal the article is published in, including the publisher's logo or name, and information about where the article is located within the journal such as the volume, issue number, and the page numbers or article number. 

For this journal article we can find the following information in the header:

• Journal title: Journal of Sea Research
• Volume the article is in: Volume 191
• Year of publication: 2023
• Article number: 102331
• Publisher: Elsevier

Article information

The area directly preceding the main body of the article contains information about the article itself. This includes the title of the article and any subtitles, the people who wrote or contributed to the article, and any key terms used to describe the content of the article. You can also find the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) and date of publication here. 

For this journal article we can find the following information in the article information areas:

• Article title: Too late for regulatory management of Pacific oysters in European coastal waters?
• Authors: Benni Winding Hansen, Per Dolmer, Bent Vismann
  • This includes what institution(s) they work for and their departments
• Keywords: Biogenic reefs, Ecosystem impacts, Competition, Biodiversity, Eradication, Regulation

Abstract

The abstract in a journal article should provide a full summary of the article's contents, such as brief statement of the aim, methodology, results, and conclusion of the research. It isn't comprehensive so use the abstract to inform you of whether or not an article is potentially useful before reading the body of the article to gain the full context. 

The abstract is located at the start of the article, usually on the title page of the article, on a page preceding the main body, or at the top of the first column of a multi-columned article. 

In our example, the abstract is set off from the main text and labelled to make it easier to find. 

Footer

At the bottom of the first page of the article you may find a footer that contains extra about the article. This section may also be found at the bottom of the first column or at the end of the article. 

A footer may include the journal title, volume number, issue number, DOI, copyright information, and dates of significance. If you didn't find the information you needed about the article in the header it might be in this section.

For this journal article we can find the following information in the footer:

• Author contact information: The email addresses for the 3 authors.
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seares.2022.102331
• Dates of significance to the journal: This includes when it was first submitted to the journal by the authors and when it was published.
• Copyright information: This article has a creative commons license by attribution. So you have to reference it if you are to use it publicly. 

A book is the most recognisable source that you will be using in academic studies. Books are discretely published works containing a cover page, chapters, and are produced through a publishing company. 

There are two types of academic books that you should be aware of: 

Authored book

This is a book fully written by a single person or group of people. Each and every chapter is worked on collaboratively and they all claim authorship for the book as a whole. 

Edited book

This is a book where the chapters of the book are written by different groups of people. These books are compiled and organised by editors, whose names appear on the front of the book. Both the editor(s) of the book and the author(s) of each chapter are relevant for when you need to evaluate and reference this type of book.

Let us have a look at some features of books and where to find information. 

Book cover

The cover of a book is designed to be eye-catching to the reader. It won't contain a lot of information but will at least have the title of the book and the authors or editors. You may also find information such as the publisher's logo, book edition and/or volume

Adapted from Advanced Problems in Mathematics: Preparing for University (2nd ed.), by S. Siklos, 2019, Open Book Publishers (https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0181). Cover image copyright by Logan Troxell. Used under CC-BY 4.0 

For this example of a book cover we can see:

• Title: Advanced Problems in Mathematics: Preparing for University
• Author: Stephen Siklos
• Publication notes: New revised edition (this is not the edition statement but an indication that there are other editions!)

Title page

The title page will come as one of the first few pages in the book. This will reiterate the title just in case any subtitles or notes from the author or publisher made it ambiguous. It will also include the publisher's logo.

 

Adapted from Advanced Problems in Mathematics: Preparing for University (2nd ed. p. i), by S. Siklos, 2019, Open Book Publishers (https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0181). Used under CC-BY 4.0 

For this book we can find the following information on the title page: 

• Book title: Advanced Problems in Mathematics: Preparing for University
• Author: Stephen Siklos
• Publisher: Open Book Publishers

Copyright page

The copyright page will come directly after the title page. Here you will find information about the book and its publication including the official publication date, any clarification on what edition it is, copyrights details for the book and associated contents, who the author(s) or editor(s) are, and identifying information such as the ISBN or DOI. 

Adapted from Advanced Problems in Mathematics: Preparing for University (2nd ed. p. iv), by S. Siklos, 2019, Open Book Publishers (https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0181). Used under CC-BY 4.0 

For this book we can find the following information on the copyright page:

• Year of copyright or publication: 2019
• Edition statement: "...the second edition of the first volume in the OBP Series..."
• Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license
• ISBN: Digital (PDF): 9781783747771
• DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0181
• Suggested Reference: Stephen Siklos, Advanced Problems in Mathematics: Preparing for University. Second Edition. Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers, 2019, https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0181

Contents page

This is sometimes the best place to find if the book is authored or edited. If the book is an edited book, often the table of contents will display not just the chapter title but also the names of the authors of the chapters. 

 

Adapted from: When Music Takes Over in Film (p. xi), by A. K. Windisch, C. Tieber, & P. Powrie (Eds.), 2023, Palgrave MacMillan. Used under CC-BY 4.0.

On this page shown above we can find information about chapters 1-5 of the book. Looking at chapter 2 we can see the:

• Chapter title: Dark Times: Fabulation, Synchrony, and the Musical Moment Reprised
• Chapter author: Amy Herzog
• Page number: Chapter 2 begins on page 15

For edited books, these chapter details will be helpful to evaluate and reference the information in the chapter. 

Chapter title page

You can find chapter information including the author and title again on the first page of the chapter:

Adapted from When Music Takes Over in Film (p. 15), by A. K. Windisch, C. Tieber, & P. Powrie (Eds.), 2023, Palgrave MacMillan. Used under CC-BY 4.0

For this chapter title page we can find the following information:

• Chapter title: Dark Times: Fabulation, Synchrony, and the Musical Moment Reprised
• Chapter author: Amy Herzog

Note that "Chapter 2" is not part of the title. Chapter numbers are not included when referencing chapters of edited books; they are useful more as labels within the book.

A report is usually published by an organisation or group to report on an aspect of their business or activities to their audience. Reports are now usually published on the internet on an organisation's website, or sometimes through an industry database. Here are some common features of a report that you can use to distinguish them from other web documents or files:

Cover page

The cover page is the first place to look for information about a report. A cover page is designed to be eye catching so it may prioritise design over clarity, but you can usually find the authors of the report or the organisations responsible for it, the title of the report, and in some cases when it was published. 

Adapted from Annual report 2017-18, by Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2018, (https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/1001.02017-18?OpenDocument). Used under CC-BY 2.5 AU.

Organisation logo

This is the logo of the organisation or company that releases the report. It is usually located in one of the corners of the report cover page. 

For this report we can find the logo in the top corner. This provides us the name of the organisation who published the report. If there is no other authors listed on the cover page they will claim authority over the contents of the report:

• Author: Australian Bureau of Statistics

Report title

The title field is usually centralised on the cover page. However due to design choices it may be situated elsewhere on the page. But it will be the major text presented on the cover. Reports will commonly come with the word "report" in the title or described as a report as part of the introduction of the report. 

For this report we can find the title near the centre of the page: 

• Title: Annual Report 2017-18

Do note that the 2017-18 is not identified as the year of publication. This is because it is part of the title and ambiguous as to when exactly it was published. However there is another section that may provide this information:

Copyright page*

 

The copyright page provides information about the reports publication. This can be found after the title page or at the end of the report. Here you will find information about the publication date, place of publication, copyright information, 

*Do note that not all reports will come with a copyright page. 

Adapted from Annual report 2017-18, by Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2018, (https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/1001.02017-18?OpenDocument). Used under CC-BY 2.5 AU.

For this report we can find the following information on the copyright page:

• Publisher: Commonwealth of Australia**, Australian Bureau of Statistics
• Copyright date: 2018
• Copyrights: Commonwealth of Australia 

**Note on publishing from entities such as the Commonwealth: they retain copyright of all documents published under their government organisations. However, when you are referencing there are rules applied on how they are presented. See the referencing guide for reports to find out more. 

 

Webpages come in a vast array of formats, structures, and styles. 

Websites usually contain multiple layers of webpages divided into categories as needed. This may include landing or navigation pages to help you find relevant pages on the website. 

Here we will look at 3 different pages on the ECU website to identify some of the basic features of a webpage:

Example 1: Library Services: Overview

The first page we'll look at is the Library Services main page on the ECU website. Most categories within a website will contain a landing page such as the Home page or the Overview page. On the Library Services Overview page we can see:

Adapted from Library Services: Overview by Edith Cowan University, n.d. (https://www.ecu.edu.au/centres/library-services/overview)

The Header 

This is the area at the top of a webpage that works as the persistent link between each of the webpages on the website. You can identify this area by seeing what part of the webpage is the same across most of the website.

For this webpage we can find the following information in the header:

• Website name/logo: This website belongs to / is published by Edith Cowan University
• Navigation menus: The drop down menus (About ECU, Study, Research, Industry, and Alumni and Supporters) will take you to various parts of the ECU website. 
• Website search: A search box is available to search the ECU website. This will only find content on the ECU website (ecu.edu.au). 

Webpage content

The area below the header is where the main content of the webpage is located. Here you will find the title of the webpage and the contents that it wants to convey. 

For this webpage we can find the following information in the content:

• Webpage title: Library Services
• Web page content: Library search box, links to information about the library, and a welcome to the library. 

Example 2: Referencing

Here we have the help page for Referencing inside the Library Services category on the ECU website. On this page we can see:

Adapted from Referencing by Edith Cowan University, n.d. (https://www.ecu.edu.au/centres/library-services/how-to-guides/referencing)

The Header

As you can see the header is the same as the example for the Library Services main page. 

Because it is a sub-page of the Library Services category we also find the Library Services title is still there. However, this is not the title of this webpage.

Category navigation

There is now an addition of a category navigation area down the left side of the page. This works like the header of the website but only for this set of pages (the Library Services webpages).

Webpage content

The title of this specific page is located directly above the information it is presenting.

For this webpage we can find the following information in the content:

• Webpage title: Referencing
• Webpage content: Information on what services ECU Library provides for learning and doing references academically. 

Example 3: Undergraduate Study at ECU

Here is a page that is designed a little bit differently. Although it is a different colour and layout, the same principles and relations to the two pages above persist. 

Adapted from Undergraduate Study by Edith Cowan University, n.d. (https://www.ecu.edu.au/degrees/undergraduate)

The Header

There are some visual differences between the headers in the previous two pages and this one. However, the navigation and publisher logo are still there linking them all together, just in a different colour. 

• Website name/logo: This website belongs to / is published by Edith Cowan University
• Navigation menus: The drop down menus (Study, Research, Industry, Alumni, About, Apply) will take you to various parts of the ECU website. 
• Search: A search option is available to search the ECU website.
• Menu: A menu (three horizonal lines) is available to show the breakdown of pages available in the ECU website. 

Webpage content

This webpage has the information displayed with some decorative and informative logos and graphics, so information might not be as recognisable as the other two pages. 

The title is now located to the side of the main title graphic. For this webpage we can find the following information in the content:

• Webpage title: Undergraduate Study
• Webpage content: Links, videos, and information on undergraduate courses at ECU.

The Footer

The footer of a website persists through all of its webpages. The footer of a webpage will contain information about the website itself such as contact information, copyrights, terms of service, and any website reporting or navigation tools.

Adapted from Undergraduate Study by Edith Cowan University, n.d. (https://www.ecu.edu.au/degrees/undergraduate)

For this webpage we can find the following information in the footer:

• Contact information: ECU's phone number and a link to the Contact Us page
• Copyright information: A link to the Copyright and Disclaimer page.

You may also find the last updated date in the footer as well.