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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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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Dissertation (Thesis)
- Reuqired 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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