Recognizing Sources

• To collect & share snapshots of the news & current events 

• To attract new viewers

• To entertain 

• Ordinary people 

• Editorial staff 

• Freelance writers 

• “Citizen journalists” 

• Personal testimony or photographs 

• Little additional evidence 

• Hyperlinks to news sources or scholarly articles 

• Super-short entries; a handful of characters or paragraphs 

• Published immediately as event occurs 

• Uses more casual & informal language 

• No specific standards in terms of format and content 

IDEALLY 

• To share initial reporting on current events 

• To provide basic facts & details to a general audience 

• Journalists, who follow Standards of Practice 
• Freelance writers 
• Editorial staff 
• Undergo more rigorous fact-checking process

• Quotations from event participants, witnesses, or subject experts 
• Very little/no references or supporting sources 

• Shorter articles 
• Published or updated daily 
• Use everyday language for more general audience

• To provide more depth/broader scope on an issue 
• To entertain & inform on current events 
• To gain greater interest from audience than just providing facts 

• Journalists who may have a special focus or area of interest 
• Freelance writers 
• Editorial staff 
• Undergo fact-checking process 
• Depending on type of magazine, can have a slant or perspective 

• Interviews with event participants, witnesses, or subject experts 
• Summaries of outside research 
• Popularize a more esoteric/academic topic to general audience 

• Short-to-medium length articles 
• Published weekly or monthly 
• Use everyday language for more general audience 

• To share new discoveries & analysis with researchers, scholars, and other experts 
• Participate in the scholarly conversation in order to… 
• Contribute to the body of knowledge of an issue/topic/subject 
• Can take an aspect of a topic and go deep 

• Scholars & experts in a specialized field of study 
• Undergo strict peer- review process that takes months to complete 
• Can be longitudinal study over time 
• Can be original research (primary source) 

• Citations of earlier/prior research 
• Descriptions of original research methods 
• Statistics & charts document original findings 

• Lengthy articles 
• Published quarterly or biannually 
• Use highly specialized language 
• Include long reference lists 
• Higher degree of reliability, credibility, and accuracy 

• To provide a lengthy, thorough examination of a topic 
• NOT all books are the same; nonfiction vs fiction, more academic vs more popular, big press vs self-published, etc.  

• Often, experts on specialized topics 
• Can undergo extensive research, writing & editing process that can 
• take years to complete

• Varies but may include in-depth interviews, analysis of outside research, and/or citations 

• 100+ pages long 
• Published one time following years of work 
• Sometimes scholarly 

language, sometimes everyday language, depending on the purpose of the book and the intent of the author