Scholarly Sources

One of the first steps in writing essays and research papers is to understand sources. In academia, there are primary and secondary sources. Primary sources are the evidence and documentation that happens at the same time as the event in question. Secondary sources are works that use the primary sources to make their own conclusions, analyze, and/or summarize the primary sources.

Scribbr gives a great list of examples of sources: 

Primary Sources:

• Novel

• Painting

• Letters and diaries written by a historical figure

• Essay by a philosopher

• Photographs of a historical event

• Government documents about a new policy

• Music recordings

• Results of an opinion poll

• Empirical study

Streefkerk, Raimo. “Primary vs Secondary Sources: Explained with Easy Examples.” Scribbr, February 16, 2021. https://www.scribbr.com/citing-sources/primary-and-secondary-sources/.  

Finding Scholarly Sources

Sources can be found in a lot of places, but it is the job of the writer to determine their credibility. Start by getting sources from your class or ask your teacher where you should begin. For many assignments in high school and college, sources will be given to use on an essay or in lower-level research. 

Libraries: Digital Databases and in Print

Sources can be found in libraries, online, in media, and from individuals like writers or researchers. Many universities have extensive databases of sources that are freely available to their students. For high school students and those without university credentials, try using your local public library’s database and print texts. 

Google

If using a library database is not an option for your research you can look for trustworthy articles on Google Scholar (https://scholar.google.com/). Using Google Scholar can be a little bit scary because it gives every possible result all across the internet. Our suggestion is to be very specific with the topic and keywords you use to search. We will eventually make a guide to getting the best out of Google Scholar, but in the meantime check out this guide to using Google Scholar:

“How to Use Google Scholar: the Ultimate Guide.” Paperpile. Paperpile LLC, 2020. https://paperpile.com/g/google-scholar-guide/#related-articles. 

Analyzing Sources

Finally, we have reached the good old-fashioned Google search. Searching in Google is perfectly fine as long as you critically evaluate your sources. Look at the sources before using them, ask yourself some of these questions from Scribbr to determine the credibility of the source:

• Who is the author or publisher?

• What are the motives for publishing the information? Do they want to teach or educate the audience, sell something, or convince the reader of a certain point of view?

• Was the source published or updated recently?

• What is the URL? .edu (educational institutions, including universities) and .gov (government institutions) are the most reliable.

• Are the links still working and what kinds of sources do they lead to?

• Is there contact information where you can reach the author/publisher?

Gahan, Courtney. “CRAAP Test for Websites, Books and Journal Articles: Infographic.” Scribbr, January 25, 2021. https://www.scribbr.com/citing-sources/craap-test/. 

Annotated Bibliography

Coming Soon!

Find trustworthy sources in the Scholarly Sources guide, then keep track of them and take notes with an annotated bibliography.