Information produced by sociological research tends to flow in the direction of the arrows on this map, from the Informal and Semi-formal modes toward more formal types of publications, from Peer-reviewed through Summary. In general, material from the Informal and Semi-formal modes requires greater knowledge of the discipline to understand and use. Undergraduate students doing research for course work will tend to explore from the "summary literature" and only infrequently use material from "Informal" and "Semi-formal communication" until they reach graduate study. In general, material becomes more difficult for novices to understand and use as the reader moves toward the left in the model. Click on each text object to view a page that describes the information type represented. These pages provide descriptions, strengths and considerations, along with some examples of each type of information source.You may develop your own bibliography of similar sources using links at the bottom of each page. Resources marked with the lock icon [] are restricted to current UW students, faculty, and staff. If you are unfamiliar with the work of sociologists, a good starting point is this description of sociological research and the data sources used for it. If you want to follow the information path of a typical research project, we recommend starting at "informal communication" and following the arrows.