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Specialist Dictionaries & Encyclopedias
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- Give good, authoritative overviews & reviews of topics in the area or field of study
- Library subscribed & online
- Written by scholars and experts
- Often provide useful references at end of articles
- Examples
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Books & Handbooks
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Books provide good compiled information - concentrated, topical, lots of info
Examples:
Handbooks provide summaries & outline basic ideas, issues, methods, s - good place to start
Examples:
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Scholarly Journal Articles
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- Cover in-depth research in a specialized subject area
- Written by academics, researchers or scholars. Qualifications or credentials of the authors usually appear near the names or in the footnote or end-note
- Contents are peer-reviewed (revised according to comments from subject experts in the field before publication)
- Structure of the article: Article title, authors and their qualifications and affiliations, abstract (article summary), research methodologies, conclusion and references
- Arguments, claims and conclusions supported by data and evidence.
- Sources consulted are listed in the end of paper references or bibliography section
- Example
- Shum, Mark Shiu-Kee, Fang Gao, and Linda Tsung. "Unlocking the Racialized and Gendered Educational Experiences of South Asian Females in Hong Kong: The Case Study of Pakistani Girls." Asian Ethnicity, 13, no.1 (2012): 251-62.
Some helpful videos (try one)
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Review Article (in a scholarly journal)
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A published "literature review".
The author(s) brings together the published articles and books on the topic and summarizes & analyses the current state of knowledge.
What can you get from it?
- Names of major scholars working on the topic
- Current state of knowledge (when it was published)
- Identify research gaps
- List sources for you to go for further reading
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Government and NGO (non-government organizations) publications
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Government documents present data, information, and analysis from government departments, with that perspective
- Information may be scattered among departments and bureaus (e.g. Census and Statistcs, Education Dept. Education Bureau, Social Welfare Department, etc.)
- Look for words in menu like "publications" "reports", or "documents"
- NGO documents data, information, and analysis comes from that organization, with that perpsective
- Look for words in menu like "publications" "reports"
- Examples:
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Data & Statistics
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"Raw" data gives your material to make your own arguments, predictions, etc.
Allows you to make your own charts, etc.
MUST come from reputable sources
Example of Reference
China. National Bureau of Statistics. (2020). CN: Population: No of Divorces: Guangdong, 1995-2018. ID:4772901; SR Code: SR92530. [data file]. Retrieved from CDMNext Database, March 9, 2020.
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Dissertation (Thesis)
Lee, Sarah S. Y.(2016) Between worlds : Filipino domestic workers in Hong Kong, 1970-2005. PhD Thesis.SOAS, University of London.
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Dissertations and Theses offer very detailed coverage of relatively small scale research.
- Required for PhD or MPhil degree (new/young scholars)
- In-depth & detailed
- Often very focused
- Can be a "gold mine" if you're working on very detailed area
- Often not suitable for scholars new in the area (lower level UGs)
- Searchable in PowerSearch, Google, and other area
- Examples:
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