What type of source is this?
In order to correctly reference material, you first need to identify the type of source: is it a book, a journal, or something else?
This page describes the distinguishing characteristics of some of these different source types.
Books
Books are printed and bound documents on a particular topic or set of topics. Most books are written by either one person or a small group of people, but there are exceptions to this: edited books, conference proceedings, encyclopædias, and dictionaries.
Edited books and anthologies are books containing writing by several different authors. Typically, each chapter is written by a different author, and the whole compilation is organised by a named editor.
To identify edited books, look at the table of contents. In edited books each chapter or section has a different person's name. In the library catalogue an editor's name will be listed instead of an author.
Each chapter in an edited book is referenced separately. See edited books and anthologies in APA and MLA for details and examples.
Conference proceedings are books that collect many different presentations and papers from an actual meeting, conference, or symposium. Like edited books, each chapter is written by a different author, and the whole compilation is organised by a named editor.
Published conference proceedings look similar to edited books, but usually have the name of the meeting in the title (e.g. Proceedings of the IASTED International Conference on Information and Knowledge Sharing).
As with edited books, each chapter or section is referenced separately. See conference proceedings in APA and MLA for details and examples.
Encyclopædias and dictionaries are collections of a number of small articles or definitions (often on a single topic). They almost always have “encyclopædia” or “dictionary” somewhere in the title (e.g., Britannica Encyclopedia of World Religions, The Oxford English Dictionary).
As with edited books, specific entries can be referenced separately. See encyclopædias in APA and MLA for details and examples.
Journals
Journals are periodically published collections of articles on a particular subject, similar to a magazine or newspaper. However, the target audience of a journal is usually academic, professional, or technical. Journals represent the cutting edge of research in a field: pioneering studies and analyses are published here first.
| Magazine | Journal |
|---|---|
| General audience; easy to read | Academic, professional, or technical audience; may use a lot of jargon |
| Lots of advertisements | No (or very minimal) advertising |
| Articles provide broad but not necessarily deep coverage | Articles are in-depth, and contain a thorough reference list |
| Not usually peer-reviewed | Peer-reviewed |
This last difference is especially important. Peer review means that experts in the field (often academics) have checked each article before publication, to ensure that there are no inaccuracies.
When writing an assignment, journal articles are more likely to be comprehensive and useful than general magazine articles. For more on this, see identifying academic sources.
Many academic journals are available online, either directly (e.g., Massey University's PRism) or through the library's article databases.
Journal articles are referenced individually. See journals in APA and MLA for examples.
Grey literature and other material
Sometimes sources have not been published in book or journal form and are less likely to be found in a library. For example, institutional reports, brochures, and press releases. This type of material is sometimes more difficult to access than books or journal articles and is less likely to be useful for academic assignments. See Grey literature in the APA Style section and Referencing other material in the MLA Style section for examples.
Web pages
Web pages are online documents found on the World Wide Web. Only choose this type if there is no more specific description.
Newspapers
Newspapers are daily or weekly publications that focus on news and current events.
Magazines
Magazines are periodical publications of general interest or technical articles on a particular subject.
Reports
Reports are official numbered publications analysing an issue or situation.
Study material
Study material is provided by your lecturer for you to study as part of your course.