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Books cover virtually any topic, fact or fiction. For research purposes, you will probably be looking for books that synthesize all the information on one topic to support a particular argument or thesis. Libraries organize and store their book collections on shelves called "stacks". More and more books are also published in electronic format.
Books typically
- contain comprehensive information on a topic
- put a topic in context with other important issues
- are a good source for historical information
- are less up to date than journal articles and web sources
Reports, dissertations, conference proceedings
Books are just one type of monograph. Other types are dissertations, reports and conference proceedings a.o. As these types of publications are usually not published and distributed by official publishers, but by government bodies, institutions or even private persons they are often called "grey literature". Nowadays, a large part of these documents is published in electronic format on the Internet.
As these publications reflect the results of research, they are valuable sources of information.
A dissertation or thesis is a detailed, usually book-length paper on an original topic of research, usually presented as one of the final requirements for a Masters or PhD degree in university. A PhD thesis is heavily reviewed and will reflect high quality research over a longer period but subject coverage is usually not very broad.
Conferences provide an important channel of Information exchange between researchers. Presentations are recorded in conference papers. The collected papers are published as the conference proceedings. If only short abstracts of the presentations are recorded such a proceedings is usally called "book of abstracts". A conference proceedings or book of abstracts gives an excellent overview of the state of the art in a field of research.
Examples of books
- The future control of food : a guide to international negotiations and rules on intellectual property, biodiversity and food security [Book]
- Personalized nutrition advice : an everyday-life perspective [PhD thesis]
- Book of abstracts : annual meetings Dutch Mastitis Research workers, 2007-2010, Utrecht University [Conference proceedings]
- Relationships between nitrous oxide emissions from natural ecosystems and environmental factors [Report]