Content
Current information
Current information concerns recent developments and is intended to keep the reader up-to-date with the latest developments in a particular field. This information can be found in newspapers, magazines and on websites. Consulting these resources is a good way of keeping track of the latest developments. However, it is important to be cautious of their reliability (see Select: reliability).
LexisNexis is a good resource for current news. Here, you will find Dutch and international newspapers which you can use to check whether news has been published on your subject. If you wish to easily keep in touch with the latest news in your particular field, please check Nice to know: RSS.
Background information
It is important to know what exactly a certain field of study encompasses and also the meaning of relevant terms and theories. This concerns background information which can be found in books and manuals. Knowledge of a subject makes the search process easier (see Defining the problem: Exploration).
Books are increasingly available in digital form. You can find these using the HvA catalogue, or you can search in an eBooks database such as Books 24x7.
Factual information
Sometimes, you only need to find out facts, for example to supplement your report. These could be facts concerning a company, statistical facts or concrete facts. You can find this factual information in databases, encyclopaedias and dictionaries.
A number of databases contain specific, factual information. Euromonitor contains statistical details of countries, industries and consumer markets; LexisNexis Company Data and Business Source Premier contain company informationand. An encyclopaedia, such as Wikipedia, can be a good starting point.
Research results
Research results may be the results of experiments, or descriptions, theoretical calculations, models and computer simulations and reports on practical applications (Sieverts, 2011). Research results should be both objective and independent.
Research results are found not only in reports or PhD theses, but also in scholarly journal articles. These can be found in databases such as ScienceDirect and Pubmed.
