Searching for Information on a Topic
4.4 Types of Information Sources
Identifying Information Sources
When you’re doing any kind of research, you are likely to encounter many different types of information sources. Usually, your instructor will ask you to find scholarly or academic sources, which are written by experts with the goal of advancing knowledge in their field.
The following interactive slides list some common information sources and their characteristics.
Check Your Understanding
The Peer Review Process
Your course instructor might ask you to find peer-reviewed or scholarly articles on a topic. But what does peer review actually mean? The next video explains.
When you use the main library search box, you can limit your results to “Peer-reviewed articles” in the “Refine your results” menu. But keep in mind that this will remove any scholarly books from the search results.
Check Your Understanding
In the next module, you’ll learn about citing your sources.
A process that articles go through before they are published in a scholarly journal. Peer review helps ensure the quality and integrity of published articles.
