Categories of APTs Dr. Dania Bilal IS 530 Fall 2005

Types of Sources Primary Secondary Tertiary

Biographical Sources Information about people Biographical dictionaries, directories, indexes Adults, young adults, children General and specialized Print and online Examples: Current Biography, Who’s Who, Biography Index

Online Catalogs List of titles held in a library collection Location service/lead-in tool Directs users to information about subjects, authors, etc. but does not provide the information itself. Type of questions: Person, subject, specific publication

Dictionaries Information about terms, language, historical background of a term, syllabication, pronunciation, etc. Adults & children Abridged & unabridged General & specialized Print and online

Encyclopedias Articles on subjects in a general or specific field of knowledge. Multi-volume & one volume set Adults/children/young adults Print & online

Encyclopedias Type of questions answered in encyclopedias Background information on events Overview of a topic Profile of a person Outline/chronology of events Other

Geographical Sources Information about places Atlases, maps, gazetteers, guidebooks Each provides a different type of information about places Adults, young adults, children Print & online

Gazetteers Geographic dictionaries Places, physical features and information about them Spelling, pronunciation of place names, history of name changes, population, industries, agriculture, climate, and history

Maps Pictorial representation of earth’s surface or a section of it. Physical/historical/political information Information is more tabular and pictorial than narrative Print & online

Atlases Collection of maps Simple depiction of a geographical area to detailed information about aspects of an area, such as population, mineral and energy resources, and agriculture Articles, tables, weather, geology, zip codes

Guidebooks Focus is on a specific country, region, city, building, museum, etc. Guidebooks have unique information appropriate for answering specific reference questions.

Guides to the Literature Focuses on a specific subject area or discipline Lists available sources related to subject or discipline May cover more than one subject area

Guides to the Literature Lead-in tools Selection tools May include bibliographies, guides, indexing & abstracting services, periodicals, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other sources along with annotations of each title

Handbooks & Manuals Compact sources Information on a specific area/discipline or discipline in a concise or comprehensive form Compilations of literary, historical, and statistical data

Handbooks & Manuals Narrative information with charts, tables, graphs, formulae, etc. Directed toward specialist or practitioner Examples: Physician’s Desk Reference (PDR), APA Style Manual, U.S. Government Manual

Indexes Guides to the contents of a source of knowledge Systematic arrangement of contents using different schemes Examples: Book index, periodical index, online catalog

Bibliographies Lists of writings or publications, such as books and journal articles, on a given subject or by a given author Information for cited materials using bibliographic citations Example: Bate’s Bibliography of Works on Information Seeking, Indexing, and Information Retrieval Systems

Abstracting Sources Expanded index citations with a brief summary of the essential points of a document Arrangement is systematic but varies Indexes, bibliographies, and abstracting sources function as Lead-in tools

Monographs and Texts Treaties on a subject or class of subjects Intended to be read completely Detailed discussion of a subject Include tables, illustrations, bibliographies Not typical reference sources

Yearbooks & Almanacs General or specialized Current information in descriptive and statistical form Information about people, places, organizations; numeric information, measurements, etc. (almanacs) Chronology of world events and other info.

Non-biographical Directories Directories with no emphasis on people Information about organizations, agencies, societies, clubs, official bodies, institutions, manufacturers, businesses, professions, regions, and the like

Class Activity Match the question to the most suitable APT: Address of the White House Synonyms for the verb negate Date of assassination of president John Kennedy Causes of death of Kennedy, Jr. Name of the CEO of Coca Cola Co. Citation for latest article published by Bilal & Wang Meaning of IEEE Calories of an average size bagel Conversion formula from Centigrade to Fehrenheit A review of the movie Fahrenheit 911