Research typically involves using a variety of sources including:
What are they?
| Scholarly | Popular | |
| Scholarly or peer-reviewed articles are appropriate for academic research. They are written by scholars or professionals who are experts in their field of study. | Popular sources provide information for the general public. They aim to inform a wide audience about issues of interest and are more informal in tone and scope. |
Why do we care?
You want to base your writing and arguments on the best available evidence. While both types of sources contain credible information, scholarly articles usually provide the best evidence for the authors' claims.
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| Type of Source | Explanation | Examples |
| Primary | Contemporary accounts of an event, written by someone who experienced or witnessed the event in question. | These original documents are often diaries, letters, memoirs, journals, speeches, manuscripts, interviews and other such unpublished works. They may also include published pieces such as newspaper or magazine articles (as long as they are written soon after the fact and not as historical accounts), photographs, audio or video recordings, research reports in the natural or social sciences, or original literary or theatrical works. |
| Secondary |
The function of these is to interpret primary sources. They analyze, interpret, summarize, or reorganize information about the events reported in primary sources. |
These are usually in the form of published works such as journal articles or books, but may include radio or television documentaries, or conference proceedings. |
| Tertiary | Tertiary sources present summaries of or an introduction to the current state of research on a topic. They summarize or condense information from primary and secondary sources, or provide lists of primary and secondary sources. | Encyclopedias, Almanacs, Fact Books, Indexes, Bibliographies, CATs |