Information comes in many formats. Most of us are familiar with books, magazine and newspaper articles, or the Internet . Books, periodicals , and the Internet have different characteristics making them a better source of some types of information than for others. Books tend to be more comprehensive, but the information is usually older. They are good for an historical perspective or an overview.
Books are also an excellent resource for compilations or collections of facts, statistics, and data.
There are two types of periodicals, popular and scholarly. Popular magazines are similar to newspapers. They are frequently longer reports of events or circumstances in everyday language. Articles are written by someone who is reporting about something and are not often signed. Scholarly journals report a research activity and its results.