Often when we are doing research, we are looking for certain types of sources. We categorize materials in three different ways depending on how they share information: Primary & Secondary Sources, Scholarly & Popular Sources, and Material Type.
The first way we often sort sources is by how they interact with the information they are presenting. Primary sources are written as a firsthand perspective. In a historical source, this would mean that the source would be presenting lived experiences; meanwhile, in a biology source, this would mean that the source is presenting observations or data gathered in the study. Secondary sources are materials that analyze or interpret primary sources. In history, this may be a source that summarizes an event and evaluates the factors and contexts; in biology, this could be a source that summarizes and collates several research studies. There is also a third level of sources when we categorize materials this way: tertiary sources, which are better known as reference materials. These sources provide short entries to introduce a concept or topic. Common reference sources are dictionaries, thesauruses, and encyclopedias.
For more information about primary & secondary sources and how to tell the difference, see the Primary vs Secondary Sources tutorial here (optional for most FYI, though required for any sections visiting Special Collections, also listed on the Home page).
A second way we sort sources is by how they share information, often in terms of their audiences and tone. Popular sources usually have a broader audience (often the general public), the purpose is to entertain readers or overview a subject, the design is usually more colorful in order to attract attention, and the language is general and less formal. Common examples of popular sources would be news articles, magazine articles, or social media posts, among others.
Scholarly sources (sometimes referred to as peer-reviewed or refereed sources), on the other hand, are usually intended for a specific audience of scholars and professionals in that field, the purpose is to publish new research and developments, the design will be more professional and plain, and the language will be more scholarly -- often using field-specific jargon and terminology. Common examples of scholarly sources would be journal articles and academic books.
You will often be asked to incorporate scholarly sources into your research while you are a student. There are many ways to ensure you are using scholarly sources, but the two main ways to do so would be to:
1. filter your search results (for example, in OneSearch, select "peer-reviewed journals")
2. evaluate the source yourself, using the above descriptions and distinctions to guide your evaluation (for example, look at the design and language of a source to determine an intended audience, or look at the publisher to determine what materials they publish)
For more information about popular and scholarly sources and how to tell the difference, see the Popular vs Scholarly Sources tutorial here (optional for FYI, also listed on the Home page).
A third way we generally sort sources is by medium or format of the material. This is usually the easiest way to sort sources because we are often already familiar with different types of materials: books, journal articles, news articles, social media posts, films, images, etc. As a student, you may be asked to research a specific medium or format, which will likely impact the research database you choose to complete the research. The library offers several databases that specialize in a specific medium/format, but the general databases and our OneSearch function can all be filtered by resource type as well.