An Event Occurs (An event, discovery, artistic creation...)
Minutes to Hours: Television, radio, the Internet, News Sites, Social Media report basic facts of the event. Since information is reported as the event happens, facts may not be accurate or verified. Audience? General Public. Purpose? Response to the Event.
Days to Weeks: The event appears in newspapers and magazines. There has been some time to fact check. New information is reported and often includes expert opinions. Analysis of the event begins. Audience? General Public. Purpose? Analysis of the Event.
Months to Years: Academics and experts begin researching, experimenting, and studying the event. Academic articles and books appear. Audience? Academics, Experts, Professionals. Purpose? Analysis of the Event.
More Years: General facts about the event are established and overviews appear in reference materials like textbooks and encyclopedias (e.g., Wikipedia). Audience? Both General Public and Academics. Purpose? Place the event into the general context of knowledge.
Adapted from: "Knowledge Cycle" Start Your Research Tutorial, IUPUI University Library http://iu.libguides.com/startyourresearch from an original at the University of California Irvine and an adaptation at Claremont Colleges Library under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License; and, Meagan Lacy, "Problems with Authority," Guttman Community College, slide 5, http://academicworks.cuny.edu/nc_oers/1/.
