Communicate findings using a variety of information technologies. There are many good places to learn about the research process. Information in print, on television, movies or videos probably went through many editors, publishers, and critics before it made it to the public. The process of getting information from its raw or primary source to a final or secondary source is called the information cycle. This process is a cycle because there is not always a specific beginning or end point.
Information can go through many different steps before it reaches a final form.
Knowing the difference between primary and secondary information sources is a good place to start. Primary sources of information are found in diaries, polls, first hand accounts, original photos or video tapes, or any other information that has not been filtered through an editor or re-intrepreted by a writer or researcher. Secondary sources are newspaper accounts, magazine articles and other accounts that compile and report various sources of information. In addition to the distinction made between primary and secondary information, there is also a distinction made between scholarly and popular information resources. Scholarly information resources are usually written by a scholar in a specific discipline, and papers are reviewed by peers before inclusion in a journal.