10 Producing Information

The process of information creation follows a timeline. As soon as an event occurs, social media and online news sources are the first to provide coverage. Magazines and newspapers will follow shortly after, and journal articles and books take even longer to get published.

Knowing this will be important in your research: if you choose a very recent event to write about, you will likely not find information about it in a book or scholarly article. You may, however, need to expand your topic to look for a similar or related event, or broader treatment of the subject, to find sources that you can still use to support your writing.

ACTIVITY: Explore the timeline

The following timeline details how the media covered an important news event in 2012. (Maximize the screen for best viewing and use Esc button when finished.)