2. Free & Open Sources information
on the Web
By
Syed Habib Akhter Jaffri
Senior Librarian
PASTIC National Center
Islamabad
3. What is source?
source
1. The point or place from which something originates
2. (Earth Sciences / Physical Geography)
a. A spring that forms the starting point of a stream;
headspring
b. the area where the headwaters of a river rise the source
of the Nile
3. A person, group, etc., that creates, issues, or originates
something the source of a complaint
a. Any person, book, organization, etc., from which
information, evidence, etc., is obtained
b. (as modifier) source material
4. Type of Sources
As you conduct research, you will consult different sources of
information. A professor may request primary, secondary, or
tertiary sources.
Primary sources
The definition of a primary source may vary depending upon the discipline or
context.
Journal articles published in peer-reviewed publications;
Letters;
Newspaper articles written at the time;
Original Documents;
Patents;
Photographs
Proceedings of Meetings, conferences and symposia;
Records of organizations, government agencies;
Speeches;
Survey Research (e.g., market surveys, public opinion polls);
Video recordings (e.g. television programs).
5. Secondary sources
They are accounts written after the fact with
the benefit of hindsight. They are
interpretations and evaluations of primary
sources
Catalogues/ Bibliographies (also considered tertiary);
Biographical works;
Commentaries, criticisms;
Dictionaries, Encyclopedias (also considered tertiary);
Histories;
Journal articles (depending on the disciple can be primary);
Magazine and newspaper articles (this distinction varies by
discipline);
Monographs, other than fiction and autobiography;
Textbooks (also considered tertiary);
Web site (also considered primary).
6. Tertiary sources
Tertiary sources consist of information which is a
distillation and collection of primary and
secondary sources.
Almanacs;
Bibliographies (also considered secondary);
Chronologies;
Dictionaries and Encyclopedias (also considered secondary);
Directories;
Fact books;
Guidebooks;
Indexes, abstracts, bibliographies used to locate primary and
secondary sources;
Manuals;
Textbooks (also be secondary).
7. What is Open Information Sources ?
Open information sources provide access
to knowledge without the need to pay for
the knowledge itself, although there may be
marginal fees for access (membership in
trade associations, attendance at
conferences, subscriptions to journals).
8. Secondary sources
Bibliographies (also considered tertiary)
PASTIC
Catalogues
Union Catalogue of PASTIC ; OPAC of PAK Univ
World Cat
Dictionaries (also considered tertiary)
List of Online Dictionaries
Encyclopedias
Info please
Wikipedia
Abstracting & indexing
PASTIC
9. Primary sources
Peer-reviewed Journal articles
NISCAIR Research Journals
New School Education N.Y
Directory of Open Access Journals (D
Newspaper articles
Newspapers
12. Some useful Links
Online open Access Books
Encyclopedia.com
Kitab-Ghar for Urdu Books
Biology Corner
Learners TV
Depth-first.com
Free-ebook
Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University