A book isn't just a long article.
A chapter isn't an article that lives in a book.
A reference book is not the same as an argumentative book/monograph.
Every type of scholarly source has a specific purpose and scope, and knowing what each publication is meant to do will help you know where to start. The general types are:
- Reference Books: Broad overviews of a very large topic
- Research Books: (monographs): Argumentative study of a reasonably large topic
- Book Chapter: Narrow focus on a specific topic, but within the context of a larger topic/book. Can be both summary & argument)
- Article: Narrow focus, very argumentative. Extremely specific. Not good for general information -- you need to know background info already.
- Book Review: a brief summary of a book. Not a peer reviewed source
- Dissertation: You shouldn't be using these in this class. A dissertation is an Extremely focused, book-level study of a very specific topic. These are not peer reviewed & not really considered "published."
