The information cycle refers to the creation of different types of information resources over time. Usually, the term is referring to a specific current or newsworthy event and the information created as a result of that event. However, it can apply to all research topics. Resources that offer an in-depth exploration or analysis of a topic (ex: scholarly journal articles, full length books) take a longer period of time to be produced than news or magazine articles. Some information has less editorial oversight than other types. When looking for information sources, a student needs to find a variety of information types.
(Graphic used by permission of Thompson River University Library, British Columbia)
Scholarly journal articles, books & eBooks, and reference work are generally only found for free in your GCC Library Databases. You can also find magazine and newspaper articles in the databases.
All guides are available under the CC-BY-NC-SA license.
