Skip to Main Content

Research 101: Source Types

An introductory guide on how to conduct academic research.

What are source types?

Information is created in and distributed through various mediums and formats. Listed below are some examples:

  • Books/E-books
  • Government Documents
  • Peer-Reviewed Journals
  • Encyclopedias
  • Newspapers
  • Directories
  • Magazines
  • Bibliographies
  • Trade Publications
  • Dictionaries
  • Multimedia
  • Photographs

What are peer-reviewed articles?

Peer-reviewed articles are published in scholarly journals that use the peer-review process to select articles for publication. In the peer-review process, an article written by an expert in a particular field of study is submitted to a scholarly journal on that academic subject. The article is then reviewed by a panel of individuals who are also experts in that academic subject; they are the scholarly peers of the person who wrote the article. The panel members use a strict set of standards to determine the quality of the article, and ultimately decide if the article will be published in that journal. This review adds an element of authority and validity to the article due to the confirmation from other experts within that field.