Types of books

Textbooks

These are the 'set texts' or main books for a course of study.

They explain the main topics of the subject and their relation to each other.

They are likely to be important throughout the course.

You might make notes for reference, and take notes from them.

Reference books

These are books such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, or atlases.

These are used occasionally when seeking specific facts.

Learn to find your way around such books as efficiently as possible.

Use their lists of contents, indexes, glossaries, and further reading.

Gather information quickly, and write notes using standard abbreviations.

Remember to make a full note of the book itself.

Standard texts

These are works which have become famous in a particular subject.

Darwin's The Origin of Species [biology]

Marx's Capital [economics]

Plato's Symposium [philosophy]

Machiavelli's The Prince [politics]

They might be literary works which have become 'classics'.

Milton's Paradise Lost [a long poem]

Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness [a short novel]

Critical works

These are books which offer criticism of another book or writer.

They are usually written in response to some existing work or opinion.

In rare cases they might become well known in their own right.

Journals, magazines, periodicals

Academic journals are suitable for advanced forms of study.

These contain scholarly articles of interest to specialists.

Popular magazines and periodicals may be good sources of information.

This can be especially true for current affairs.

'Readers'

This is the name given to books which contain extracts or articles relating to a single theme or subject.

The original articles will have been written by specialists or experts.

They might be important passages from longer works.

They provide students with a collection of views in one volume.

You may be asked to read all or just some of the articles.

Newspapers

These are an important source for recent history, economics, or current affairs.

Old newspapers are a rich source for local and national history.

The best UK on-line daily newspaper is the Daily Telegraph.

If you are reading this whilst connected to the Internet, just click on the title to be taken to that site.

Radio and television

Lectures, documentaries, and reviews are broadcast on the radio.

Television is an increasingly rich source of archival materials.

The Open University transmits study programmes on both radio and television.

Using these sources requires good listening and note-taking skills.

Official archives

These might be documents or statistics held by local libraries or the Public Record Office.

They might be nineteenth century newspapers or information on birth and death certificates.

To deal with these materials you will need good research skills.

You might need to consult documents such as the official reports of planning committees or development bodies.

These papers might contain important information related to public decision-making or geographical history.

Online sources

An enormous amount of data (and opinion) is now available on the Internet .

You need to develop the skills of net searching to locate this information.

Follow the new conventions of describing these electronic documents.

Reading on screen is more tiring than reading printed materials.

You might wish to print out any longer documents.

Alternatively, save them on disk and read in stages.

You will also need to evaluate the information you locate.