And congratulation on achieving this milestone -
you are almost a professional social worker!
What's in Your Information Literacy Toolbox?
Reference materials are information sources which provide definitive, factual, and concrete information.
Reference articles discuss the foundational knowledge associated with a subject as it has been vetted by the experts in the field. Reference articles may be used to provide background knowledge written for a general audience; to provide a definition of a concept or theory; to get a quick overview of what is widely accepted as authoritative on the topic.
Research articles report on new, original research. They are published in academic journals. Many, but not all, academic journals use a "peer review" process, also sometimes called "refereed". This is an anonymous process in which experts in the discipline evaluate articles submitted for publication to ensure that the submission employs sound methodology and contains high quality content.
Typically a research article consists of : an abstract; a review of the literature; a statement of hypothesis, query or problem; a description of methodology; an analysis of data; and discussion. The discussion may contain interpretive elements concerning the data.
"A systematic review is an academic research paper that uses a method called ‘evidence synthesis’, which can include meta-analysis, to look for answers to a pre-defined question. The purpose of a systematic review is to sum up the best available research on that specific question." - The Campbell Collaboration
'Open source' refers to systems and software products that are freely available online to all users and for which the source code is freely available for use, modification, and re-distribution.
'Public availability' or 'open access' describes webpages and information items that are freely available to anyone with internet access.
'Open access research' is a term used to describe research published by the academic press that has been made freely available (not behind a paywall) online, in the open access environment.
"That which is produced on all levels of government, academics, business and industry in print and electronic formats, but which is not controlled by commercial publishers." From the Fourth International Conference on Grey Literature, October 1999
Grey literature resides in the open access environment – it is created to be freely available to the public (it is NOT produced by the commercial and/or academic press).
Grey literature is an umbrella term that covers many types of information sources and many different information products.
•Sources: Grey literature is produced by organizations whose primary function is NOT publishing. Such sources frequently used in social work include governmental entities, professional organizations, advocacy organizations, research institutes, and think tanks.
•Products: Reports, commentaries, white papers, press releases, policy briefs, FAQ’s and data sheets, conference proceedings, power points, and lots of other stuff
“… think tanks are private organizations that emphasize the creation and dissemination of information in the form of policy ideas and advice. Their mission is to win the political war of ideas that surround policy making. Advocacy think tanks do not attempt to present neutral information; rather, they are aggressive ideological advocates for specific policies.
“Advocacy think tanks mostly repackage existing research on policy issues, adding their own ideological spin in order to present their policy ideas in the best light possible.”
Think Tanks. (2007). In G. L. Anderson & K. G. Herr (Eds.), Encyclopedia of
Activism and Social Justice (Vol. 3, pp. 1369-1372). SAGE Reference.