Study success
Types of information
Learn more about the different types of information used in academic study.
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You will come across many different types of information during your studies and research.
Get to know more about each type by using the links to jump to a section of the page:
Textbooks
Textbooks are one of the most common types of information used in university studies. Many contain practical advice and outline key concepts and theorists linked to your chosen subject. You can use them as a starting point to find out abut a topic that is new to you.
Some textbooks are written entirely by 1 or 2 authors: more specialist books can have different authors for each chapter and the whole work is brought together by editors. These types of edited books will contain chapters of detailed research about specialist topics within that field.
Some subject areas, such as Humanities, also publish monographs which are books exploring research on a single subject in detail, usually by 1 or 2 authors. These are typically more specialized than general textbooks.
Often you will need to read just a section of a textbook, rather than the whole thing.
Accessing textbooks
Recommended textbooks from your tutors are found on your reading lists for each module. You can also search for them on the Library Catalogue.
Newspaper articles
Newspaper articles are useful for finding reports of current events and providing evidence of the media or public response to an event, person, policy or initiative. The majority of newspaper articles will involve some form of bias, either from the author or the editorial agenda of the publication.
Accessing newspaper articles
Lots of newspapers have their own websites where you can access articles.
However you may encounter a paywall, want an article from before their archive begins, or want to cross-search across multiple newspapers. If so, you can find specialist newspaper search tools and databases through the Library's Specialist Subject Resources page.
Journal articles
Journals are published in a similar way to newspapers and magazines: there are a number of issues each year and each issue contains articles.
Journals can also be called periodicals or serials. There are different types:
Professional journals – professions such as teaching, accounting, nursing, human resource management will publish journals often linked to professional associations such as People Management (the magazine of the CIPD). Keeps up to date with current trends and developments in the profession. Useful for current awareness aimed at a practitioner not academic audience.
Magazines – current affairs content or topical short articles such as Time or Psychology Today for a general audience. Useful to keep up to date with developments in the subject area, new topics of interest but not fully referenced.
Academic journals – articles reporting results of recent research about a specific topic in a field of study for an academic audience. These can include literature reviews on the current state of knowledge on a topic. The authors must include evidence to support their arguments and research in the form of data and references. These journals are usually peer-reviewed which means that the articles are submitted to a process of rigorous review to check content and accuracy by peers – other academics and experts - before acceptance into the journal.
You'll need to understand the background to your subject area before reading journal articles. Although they are shorter than books, they go into a lot of depth on a narrow topic, and will assume prior knowledge.
Accessing journal articles
There are lots of journal article search tools. Use the library catalogue to find articles available at York St John. Select the option to 'search electronic content including journal articles'. There are also subject-specific search tools for articles, which you can check below.
Resource types by subject area
Some types of information are used more extensively by specific subjects. Use the dropdown below to explore the additional resources you will encounter in your subject.
To access these sources of information, you can use the Subject Specialist Resources databases for Business.
Business subject resources databases
Case studies
Case studies focus on a particular group or company. They will investigate initiatives and developments linked to that group and report on the findings.
You will find case studies in the databases Global Data Explorer, HS Talks and Emerald as well as in some journal articles (make 'case study' part of your search).
Company information
Company information will include Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analyses and profiles of companies.
You can find company information in the databases Global Data Explorer, Business Source Premier, and FAME.
Market information
Market information includes statistics, data and consumer surveys.
The database Mintel holds information on the UK, specialising in sectors such as travel, food, e-commerce, leisure, and lifestyles. Global Data Explorer provides information on the market for both products and companies.
Product and industrial information
Product and industrial information can be found in the databases Global Data Explorer and Euromonitor.
Country and city information
Profiles of countries and cities, including Political, Economic, Social and Technology (PEST) analyses are available in the Global Data Explorer database. You can find a database of comparative country statistics in Global Data Explorer.
Financial information
The FAME UK database provides access to detailed financial information on companies such as profit and loss, turnover, number of employees and more.
To access these sources of information, you can use the Subject Specialist Resources databases for Education.
Education subject resources databases
Policy documentation
Government guidance for the implementation of legislation is found in policy documents. Examples of these include the National Curriculum and the Early Years Foundation Stage.
A lot of this policy documentation can be found with a Google search. You can use the advanced search option in Google to restrict to UK government websites only if you need UK policy. Alternatively, you can search on gov.uk directly.
Specialist newspaper articles
In education, specialist newspapers include Tes, also known as the Times Educational Supplement. You can access this by signing up with your York St John email address. More information is on the Times Education Supplement link on the Specialist Subject Resources page.
Library and Learning Services provides you with online access to newspaper databases which allow you to download more. You can access these from the Specialist Subject Resources page. Global Newsstream is an example of a service which will allow you to search for this specialist material and download it.
Ofsted reports
Inspection reports are often used to give background information regarding a school. You can find these reports on the Ofsted website.
To access these sources of information, you can use the Subject Specialist Resources databases for Health and Social Care.
Health and social care subject resources databases
Grey literature
Grey literature is the name given to a different types of publications that are unpublished or published in a non-commercial form.
Examples of grey literature include reports, pamphlets, clinical trials, policy statements, conference proceedings, theses and fact sheets. Grey literature can contain high quality information but it is unlikely to be peer-reviewed so it is important to critically evaluate it before using it.
There is no 1 place to look for grey literature, but useful resources include:
- National Institute for Health and Care Excellent (NICE)
- Social Care Online
- The Health Foundation
- The King's Fund
National guidelines
National guidelines aim to use the best available evidence to provide recommendations to help improve health and social care.
Good places to begin your search for this type of information include:
Policy documentation
Government guidance for the implementation of legislation is found in policy documents.
A lot of this policy documentation can be found with a Google search. You can use the advanced search option in Google to restrict to UK government websites only if you need UK policy. Alternatively, you can search on gov.uk directly.
To access these sources of information, you can use the Subject Specialist Resources databases for the various humanities subjects.
Historical newspapers
Historical newspapers refer either to the text from historical newspapers, or to scans of the actual text and layout from the original.
There are several newspaper search tools available through Library and Learning Services. These include:
- 17th to 18th century Burney Collection
- 19th century British Library Newspapers
- The Times Digital Archive and Historical Newspapers incorporating The Guardian, The Observer and The New York Times 1791 to 2003
You can search these resources on the Specialist subject resources: newspapers databases.
Primary sources and archive collections
Many primary resource collections are freely available to access online. In some cases you may find you will need to visit collections beyond the University where resources have not been digitised.
Primary sources and archive collections are available both through the Library and public collections. These include:
Ordnance Survey maps
You can download geospatial data for use in CAD and GIS systems, and access information about geospatial data and resources. There is also a historical maps service.
Ordnance Survey maps are available via Digimap. You will need to register your details the first time you log in. You will also find that Digimap provides a wide range of other types of geographical data including geological, environmental, census, historic and aerial.
Reference texts for religion and philosophy
These reference texts will help you to gain overviews of key theorists and their works. Useful resources include:
Original literary works and their critiques
There are online services which offer access to both literary works and the criticisms written about them.
A key search tool for original literary works and their critiques is ProQuest One Literature.
Government and Parliamentary sources
Governmental and parliamentary sources are available, some through free services and some subscription-based services.
UK census data and Parliamentary information, such as the transcript of debates in Hansard, is available via Government websites.
To access these sources of information, you can use the Subject Specialist Resources databases for the various humanities subjects.
Audio and visual material
These are sources of information presented through sound, images or video, usually in combination. Examples of these are documentary and film recordings, music recordings and image libraries.
You can use services you find through a general search engine to find such material, but Library and Learning Services subscribes to many services which provide high-quality audio-visual materials.
Services for audio material include:
- Music and Performing Arts
- Popular Music Library
- Smithsonian Global Sound for Libraries
- York St John Library CD collection
Sources for video material include:
Reference information for performance and media production
This type of information will help provide you with overviews of key theorists, practitioners and their work.
You can find these resources in the Oxford Handbook range, or services such as Oxford Music Online.
Music manuscripts
Music manuscripts include study scores, solo and ensemble performance scores and full orchestral scores.
You can access music manuscripts in our Music Score section on the first floor of the Fountains building, or search the Classical Scores Library Volumes I and II.
Trade and industrial publications
Trade and industrial publications can provide useful information from a non-scholarly perspective.
These publications have usually not undergone academic review, so you should evaluate the information to see if it is appropriate to use in your research. Ask your tutor for further advice on this.
To access trade and industrial publications, search our databases and choose 'magazines' and 'trade publications' from the source types.
