From post 1:
There are three basic ways to divide information sources for academic purposes. These are:
- sources classified by audience
- sources classified by closeness
- sources classified by quality measure
These classifications refer to non-fiction.
Sources classified by quality measure:
- Peer reviewed / Refereed
- Edited
- No determination
Peer reviewed & refereed
Peer Reviewed and referred mean essentially the same thing:
- An article is submitted to a journal or a monograph to a book publisher.
- The editor sends it out to a 2-3 anonymous reviewers making sure the author is anonymous too.
- In very specialized fields, reviewers & authors may know or guess each other’s names, but they’re still supposed to be objective.
- The reviewers are experts in the article or book’s subject area.
- They review the information and send back comments for the author.
- The author fixes any problems and eventually the information is published.
- Sometimes the problems are too severe to fix or the author chooses not to fix them and the information is not published.
The review of the information by other experts helps to ensure that most information in scholarly journals or in monographs is of high quality. In general, the process works well; however, it can sometimes make it difficult for new ideas to get published. Occasionally, bad information makes it into publication. Often, this is because more recent information renders the older information useless. Sometimes, there is fraud on the part of the author. Fortunately, this is rare. If fraud or significant error is discovered, the publisher retracts the article or book. One famous example is the article that first claimed vaccines cause autism and bowel disease. After numerous studies, no supporting evidence has been discovered. What has been found is that the author fabricated data and was involved in a scheme to make money on testing for people bringing court cases.
Edited
With edited sources, an author turns in work to an editor, who then suggests changes if necessary. Edited sources include journal, magazine & newspaper articles, and books. Websites, newscasts and blogs often have editors as well.
- An editor for a journal or magazine or newspaper or book looks over the information.
- It may also be looked at by a fact checker, who makes sure the author’s claims are factually correct, and a copy editor who reviews for grammar, spelling, etc.
- The information is published.
- Usually, the review is not as rigorous as that done by peer reviewers or referees; however, many edited sources are of excellent quality. Often, editors are experts in a specific field. Such articles in journals may be considered scholarly or academic, but not peer reviewed. NOTE: literature reviews, extended letters or editorials may fit into this category.
- Researchers may have problems evaluating an edited source because it is difficult to judge the ability of the editor.
- Most edited sources are popular.
- Exception: books of essays by experts in the field can be scholarly or trade
No determination of quality
Often, especially on the web, there is no determination of the quality of an information source by outside experts, either peer reviewers, editors, or other experts. For example: many blogs and personal websites fall into this category.
In some cases, editing is done, but it difficult to determine the quality of the editing from the information given. Wikipedia is a good example. Most articles are edited by whoever wants to do the edits. The featured and good categories of articles do have higher standards of editing, but even in those two instances, you don’t know who the editors are or what their expertise is.
Remember where we parked 