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Is a book or magazine a valid source?

Is a book or magazine a valid source?

  • Total voters
    25
paddymcdougall said:
For example, John Grisham's book "The Innocent Man" - it was NOT a fiction book;
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Everyone knows this. Why do you present such as some kind of revelation.

The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town is a 2006 nonfiction book by John Grisham. It is, like Grisham's Skipping Christmas, outside the legal fiction genre.
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The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

However, I'm not sure I saw a lot of critiques of it, either confirming or disputing it. Maybe I just missed them.
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https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=critique+of+john+grisham+the+innocent+man
 
ecofarm said:
We, in academia, do not.

Who reviews the 'professional journals' that you read? Where are these reviews available? Do you have an example of a 'professional journal' article and its critical reviews?
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Most of the articles in my profession are concerning nursing practice, and are sometimes published in textbooks or other medical journals, but we also have several monthly nursing mags that are probably what you are referring to, with a broader audience of nurses. As for critical reviews, I don't know specifics. Most of them appear to be authored by masters or doctorate level nurses, or nurses who work in various fields of research.
mag·a·zine


/ˈmaɡəˌzēn,ˌmaɡəˈzēn/


noun

noun: magazine; plural noun: magazines



1.



a periodical publication containing articles and illustrations, typically covering a particular subject or area of interest.

"a car magazine"


synonyms: journal, periodical, serial, supplement, quarterly, monthly, weekly, news magazine;
 
jimbo said:
No offense meant, but I've read hundreds of peer reviewed magazine articles, and thousands of non peer reviewed blogs, books, and the like. I trust one as much as the other.
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:screwy

I try to do my own confirming. The few times I haven't, I find myself getting shot down with a buttload of facts.
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Everyone tries to do their own confirming; however, thinking that's sufficient is stupid.
 
lizzie said:
Most of the articles in my profession are concerning nursing practice, and are sometimes published in textbooks or other medical journals, but we also have several monthly nursing mags that are probably what you are referring to, with a broader audience of nurses. As for critical reviews, I don't know specifics. Most of them appear to be authored by masters or doctorate level nurses, or nurses who work in various fields of research.
mag·a·zine


/ˈmaɡəˌzēn,ˌmaɡəˈzēn/


noun

noun: magazine; plural noun: magazines



1.



a periodical publication containing articles and illustrations, typically covering a particular subject or area of interest.

"a car magazine"


synonyms: journal, periodical, serial, supplement, quarterly, monthly, weekly, news magazine;
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Please tell me you're joking. Are you really trying to equate a magazine and a (real) journal via a thesaurus? By 'journal' we are not talking about someones notes from vacation, we're talking about peer reviewed material.
 
ecofarm said:
Please tell me you're joking. Are you really trying to equate a magazine and a (real) journal via a thesaurus?
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No. I was giving you the definition of magazine, one of which is a journal. Regardless of your opinion, professional journals fall under the category of magazines. There isn't a category for only the intellectuals of the human race.
 
lizzie said:
No. I was giving you the definition of magazine, one of which is a journal.
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:lamo

Regardless of your opinion, professional journals fall under the category of magazines.
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Because they are not peer reviewed. Just because a magazine has credential does not make it citation material.

Try citing a magazine in college, see what happens.
 
ecofarm said:
Not by reputable sources and not in any easily found works. Scientists do not bother reviewing magazine articles - it does nothing for their career and in no way advances science.

You think a blog review of a magazine article is worth a ****? It's not.
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And articles on the web ARE critiqued? seriously?

It's not all about scientists reviewing articles - if it's a political article or a historical article, I would want people knowledgeable in those areas to comment on them.

But to toss out an article because it was in a magazine is as dumb as tossing out something as dailykos or breitbart. Ok, I'm very skeptical about breitbart. But again, one needs to look at the content and look for backup data, just as if it was in a book or a magazine.
 
ecofarm said:
:lamo



Because they are not peer reviewed. Just because a magazine has credential does not make it citation material.

Try citing a magazine in college, see what happens.
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I'm not trying to cite anything. I'm participating in this discussion, regarding whether or not magazines and books are credible sources. In a setting such as this, sure. If I were in a professional setting, of course it would be different. When I was in college, I used sources appropriate for that as well. It all depends on what the endeavor is.
 
paddymcdougall said:
And articles on the web ARE critiqued? seriously?
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Who told you that.

It's not all about scientists reviewing articles - if it's a political article or a historical article, I would want people knowledgeable in those areas to comment on them.
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That's nice. Enjoy your blogs. Good luck citing them in an academic setting. I wish I could see you try, that'd be a laugh.

But to toss out an article because it was in a magazine is as dumb as tossing out something as dailykos or breitbart. Ok, I'm very skeptical about breitbart. But again, one needs to look at the content and look for backup data, just as if it was in a book or a magazine.
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You're one of those "read the blog or you can't say it's useless" people? Sorry, but I don't get fooled into reading garbage on such moronic premise.
 
paddymcdougall said:
Um, I wasn't presenting it as a revelation. But as an example of a book I would use to support a point, that I'm not sure if it's been critiqued.
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I don't care what you're sure of. The professional critiques of the book are endless.
 
ecofarm said:
:lamo



Because they are not peer reviewed. Just because a magazine has credential does not make it citation material.

Try citing a magazine in college, see what happens.
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You are really funny. I cited magazines in college; it depends on the subject and the source. Some topics are so recent that there are no books out on them yet. And certainly you can't claim web sites are any better - or worse - than magazines.

IT DEPENDS.

It really does.

I trust magazines like The New Yorker, New York Review of Books. The Week does a decent compilation of recent items although doesn't hurt to fact-check it. Once Newsweek got rid of its fact-checkers (and possibly before that) I no longer trusted it. I hope it's new emergence is better; I don't read it anymore myself. I trust The Nation, with the understanding it has a particular perspective.

I don't trust tabloids, but even they can get things right sometimes. But yeah, I don't quote from (or read) stuff like The Star or People Magazine.

IT DEPENDS. I suggest you write that down and refer to it a few times a day.
 
paddymcdougall said:
And articles on the web ARE critiqued? seriously?

It's not all about scientists reviewing articles - if it's a political article or a historical article, I would want people knowledgeable in those areas to comment on them.

But to toss out an article because it was in a magazine is as dumb as tossing out something as dailykos or breitbart. Ok, I'm very skeptical about breitbart. But again, one needs to look at the content and look for backup data, just as if it was in a book or a magazine.
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While I agree with your point I would naturally be skeptical, at least initially, of anything presented by DailyKos or Breibart... because they are known to be partisan and would cherry-pick which information they do provide.
 
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ecofarm said:
Who told you that.



That's nice. Enjoy your blogs. Good luck citing them in an academic setting. I wish I could see you try, that'd be a laugh.



You're one of those "read the blog or you can't say it's useless" people? Sorry, but I don't get fooled into reading garbage on such moronic premise.
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So what sources do YOU trust? Only books? you're going to miss out on a lot of current discussions. But that's fine.

I agree, I don't read Breitbart even when someone points me to it. I admit, I'm biased against it. Doesn't mean it couldn't be right now and then, though.

By the way - this ISN'T an academic setting.
 
lizzie said:
I'm not trying to cite anything. I'm participating in this discussion, regarding whether or not magazines and books are credible sources. In a setting such as this, sure. If I were in a professional setting, of course it would be different. When I was in college, I used sources appropriate for that as well. It all depends on what the endeavor is.
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Do you recognize the difference between books and magazines is the availability of professional critical review?
 
ecofarm said:
Even community colleges don't allow magazine citations.



Are you a Truther?
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Tell that to my liberal arts college and my grad school.

And magazine articles ARE reviewed - if not before they are published, then after.

so back to the op - is a book or magazine a valid source for materials when discussing subjects on this discussion board?

Yes, they both can be, depending on the source.

You can disagree all you want. When I quote a magazine, feel free to disagree with my source. Until then, have a wonderful life.
 
paddymcdougall said:
I don't trust tabloids, but even they can get things right sometimes. But yeah, I don't quote from (or read) stuff like The Star or People Magazine.
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The National Enquirer is generally known as a crap publication, but they did get well-deserved kudos for their coverage of the OJ trial. Probably the only time they actually did serious work.

Even a People Magazine could be used as a source. If Actor A says "I like cheesecake" in an interview, that's a credible source that Actor A likes cheesecake. But, would you cite People Magazine on climate change? Probably not.

So yeah, it depends.
 
paddymcdougall said:
Tell that to my liberal arts college and my grad school.
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You did not cite magazines in grad school. That's an outlandish lie. If you cited them in undergrad, your professor was a piece of ****.
 
ecofarm said:
:screwy



Everyone tries to do their own confirming; however, thinking that's sufficient is stupid.
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And what would a "we in academia" consider a reliable source? A peer reviewed paper in a journal as opposed to an article written by one of the highest regarded experts in my field published in a magazine?
 
radcen said:
...but only if it's a clickable link.
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I never said I require clickable links. I said I require sources that have outside reviews.
 
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