User: | Open Learning Faculty Member:
I’ve attempted to classify two sources of information – the first one (journal article) I am confident that I’ve assessed correctly, and the second (book) I am not so sure. I also didn’t know which documentation style to use here, so I used CSE.
Journal article:
Arft AM, Walker MD, Gurevitch JM, Alatalo MS, Bret-Harte M, Dale M, Diemer M, Gugerli F, Henry GHR, Jones MH, et al. 1999. Responses of tundra plants to experimental warming: meta-analysis of the international tundra experiment. Ecological Monographs. 69(4):491-511. http://doi-org.ezproxy.tru.ca/10.2307/2657227.
I have classified this as academic, peer-reviewed research material.
This article is academic, as the authors are all listed as being associated with various departments of well-known universities, making them likely to be experts in their fields; in-text citations are included; and there is a formal literature cited section with nearly a hundred references. The article is peer-reviewed because the website for the journal Ecological Monographs details a comprehensive peer-review process that is applied to all papers considered for publication. The paper also has “methods” and “results” sections, so it is research material.
Book:
Ehrlich PR, Dobkin DS, & Wheye, D. 1988. The birder’s handbook: a field guide to the natural history of North American birds. New York (NY): Simon and Schuster, Fireside.
I have classified this as Non-peer reviewed academic material.
The reasons I classified this book as academic are:
- that Dr. Paul R. Ehrlich is an esteemed expert in his field receiving numerous science awards and honors. At the time the book was published he was Bing Professor of Population Studies and Professor of Biology at Stanford University, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. David S. Dobkin was a Henry Rutgers Fellow and Assistant Professor of Zoology at Rutgers University, and a publishing scientist, and Darryl Wheye was a biologist and writer.
- the book includes some in-text citations by noting the name of the author of a study in the text material, enabling the reader can look up the related article or book in the bibliography.
- the book has an extensive 62-page bibliography of books and journal articles.
Although many scientists have informally reviewed this book, it has not undergone a formal peer-review process in the sense of having referees assigned, so I have classified it as non-peer reviewed. If I had to categorize it as research or review, I’d say it was review because it is a massive compilation of the knowledge gained by many studies.
good level of detail!