Information resources for different needs
Everyday information and scientific information
Information seeking in a research process aims at finding scholarly sources on a given topic. Therefore, it’s important to understand the difference between everyday information and scientific information.
Information resource means e.g. databases, search portals
Information source means e.g books, articles
Everyday information and reasoning |
Scientific information and reasoning |
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Information resources for different needs
The term information resource refers to databases, search engines, reference works and other resources that we use in order to find different publication types, such as books and articles. Your choice of information resources depends on what kind of information you wish to find. For example, when you need to get a certain course book, you will use the library database, whereas for scientific articles on your topic, you need to consult a field-specific database.
Information need |
Source of information |
| Defining the topic and getting an overview | Encyclopedias, literature reviews, theses and dissertations |
| Browsing scholarly sources, preliminary search | JYKDOK (books), JYKDOK International e-materials search (articles), Google Scholar |
| Systematic information searches |
Field-specific databases |
| A fact |
Reference books |
| A book (when you know the name of the book) | Library database JYKDOK (if not found in JYKDOK, check national database FINNA) |
| An article (when you know the name of the article) | Field-specific databases, JYKDOK International e-materials search (e-articles), Google Scholar |
| Research methods | SAGE Research Methods Online (SRMO) |
Scholarly and popular sources
In addition to scholarly publications, research results are also reported in popular publications such as newspapers, journals and online sources like Google and Wikipedia. Although the subject of these publications is scholarly, the source itself is no. Therefore, you cannot use it as a source in your research.
Note also that resources such as library database JYKDOK can contain both scientific and non-scientific sources. You are responsible for assessing your sources. More about assessing sources in Section 2 Finding Sources.
JYKDOK, the library materials database
- JYKDOK is a database of library materials: books, e-books, printed journals, e-journals, databases, newspapers, theses and dissertations.
- You cannot search for articles in the basic JYKDOK, but you can do so via the JYKDOK International e-materials search, which includes journal articles. Nota that databases are usually more accurate and offer more efficient search options and subject-specific help.
- You can access electronic materials from computers connected to the Jyväskylä University network or at home using remote access.
- Visit the Help page in JYKDOK to find tips for searching.
Access databases via JYKDOK
- Write the name of the database in the JYKDOK search box, if you already know which database you want to use. Otherwise:
To browse databases, choose Search functions (in the blue bar, top of page) > Browse for databases > Research area > e.g. Articles
- Click on the link Database interface to access the database and start searching.
- Most databases contain both scholarly and other sources. You can usually limit your search results to peer-reviewed or scholarly articles.
