Writing a Research Paper: 3. Appropriate Sources

What Type of Information Do You Need?

The type of sources you might need for your research will depend on the type of research you are conducting. Familiarizing yourself with various types of sources will help you with both your current paper and future research. Below you will find a quick overview of common types of resources that will help you navigate how best to choose sources for your research.

 Broad categories of information and where you can find them can be broken down into the following areas:

• Background or introductory information - dictionaries or encyclopedias 
• General information - history or overview - try books from the library catalog
• News and current events - newspapers and current periodicals 
• Scholarly information - scholarly journal articles in databases
• Discipline specific information - discipline specific databases

Scholarly Resources

Scholarly resources (sometimes called academic resources) have the following qualities:

• Written by experts with credentials or affiliations
• Written for other experts - each work is a voice in an ongoing conversation
• Scholarly language - technical, discipline specific vocabulary
• Verifiable and reliable evidence - look for citations
• Peer reviewed - editorial process where other experts review and assess information 

Peer review is an important process in scholarly communication. The process of peer review is supposed to ensure that corrections are made to an article before publication, holding the article's content to a higher standard. 

Scholarly journals are the main publication format for scholarly research. Most scholarly journals are available for students online and are accessible through library databases. 

Choosing a Resource

The library has many way to help you narrow down what source to use for your research.

• Contact a librarian 
• Get individualized help
• Check out our subject guides