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Because there are several categories of sources (see Types of Sources), the options available to you to meet your information needs can seem complex.
The following descriptions and summaries of when to use what kind of source should help.
When you first get a research assignment and perhaps for a considerable time afterward, you will almost always have to learn some background information as you develop your research question and explore how to develop a response to your research question based on the evidence you discover.
To Learn Background Information
Sources from most categories and from any subgroup within a category – except scholarly journal articles – can meet students’ needs to learn background information and understand a variety of perspectives. (Scholarly journal articles focus on a specific aspect of a research topic and goes deep, which makes it an unlikely candidate to provide good background information. These sources contain a lot of jargon and specialized language sufficient to turn off the novice or beginner in the field. As a result of this specialized and more “technical language”, journal articles are often hard to dissect and to assess without the reader already knowing quite a bit of content and context before entering into the conversation.)
In contrast, newspaper articles, reference sources such as subject specific encyclopedias and dictionaries, or surveys and overviews will be much more digestible for those who need to familiarize themselves with any topic. Simply put, the earlier the information product appears in the information cycle, the more superficial and basic the information is. The body of knowledge that makes up the discipline hasn’t had the time to grow and develop more complexly or deeply. (Ironically, for a specific event’s information cycle, the very end of its information timeline is when reference sources such as encyclopedias on the topic will be produced. This is because the event will have gone through its information timeline; tertiary sources such as encyclopedias essentially “recap” or repackage information for the general or novice reader to the topic.) The body of knowledge that makes up the discipline hasn’t had the time to grow and develop more complexly or deeply.
From easy-to-understand to more complex sources, read and/or view those that advance your knowledge and understanding. As an information consumer, you need to make decisions about the amount of background information you will need before you deep dive into research. Each consumer brings a different level of knowledge and expertise to any topic, so what may be one person’s complex academic source, might be another person’s background information source.
For instance, especially while you are getting started, secondary sources that synthesize an event or work of art and tertiary sources such as guidebooks can be a big help. Wikipedia is a good tertiary source of background information and is a source we all go to for information. Not all entries in Wikipedia are created the same, at least from the start. So, be discriminating in what and how you view sources in Wikipedia. Make judgments about each item/entry, and not just Wikipedia as a monolithic source. This being said, it is not recommended that a source from Wikipedia be cited. Keep in mind that the sources you cite confer authority and credibility for the topic/research question you are writing about. The reality is, your readers (whether your professor or your peers or ?) are not going to be overly impressed if you cite it as a source. However, depending on the context, your decision to include such a source should be seriously considered. Alternatively consider Britannica Academic, one of the GCC Library’s reference databases.
Sources you use for background information don’t have to be sources that you cite in your final report. Such sources simply give you a good foundation to be able to begin developing a working knowledge of your topic, and eventually, your research question.
Recommended Sources to Acquire Background Information
- Qualitative Sources are less technical and more narrative, therefore, more digestible for the novice researcher. Depending on the subject discipline and your own comfort level, quantitative information may be too technical or even unnecessary for your specific information need.
- Fact-based sources are more useful in the early process of your research. At this stage, you are developing an understanding for your topic. Opinion-based sources may be easier to read, but they are not the most reliable information to start with. Develop your own sense of your topic before adopting someone else’s opinion that you may or may not agree with. Be cautious of these sources as these may be too persuasive at this stage to ignore. Think of it this way, you want to develop a good foundation for constructing your research question before you become influenced by compelling arguments that might be too emotionally-tinged, biased, or slanted.
- Popular, and possibly, Professional/Trade Sources: These sources are easier to read than scholarly sources for novices to any field or topic. Again, it will depend on the individual. For a true novice, a professional or trade journal may be too technical or advanced to be useful in providing background information. These sources provide a context for your burgeoning understanding of a topic. If you dive too deep, too soon by using scholarly sources, you could be turned off by the specialized language and technical detail before you have a chance to develop a facility for the specific area of knowledge.
Note about primary, secondary, or tertiary sources: Unless your instructor specifically requires that you use primary sources from the discipline, do not base a source’s usefulness for background information on this criteria. Tertiary sources are often encyclopedias, which make them useful for background information. Depending on the discipline, primary sources can be scholarly journal articles or newspaper articles written during the time of a historical event. Therefore, a source identified as “primary” is irrelevant as to whether it can provide you with useful background information. What is relevant is that a newspaper article will be more useful at the beginning stages of your research process no matter what your discipline, and whether or not it is primary, secondary, or tertiary. Whereas a scholarly journal article is best reserved for later in the process of research.
One caveat is that newspaper articles are less reliable nowadays than say 25 years ago; technology, the internet, and the open web have made newspaper companies more competitive. As such, newspaper establishments have had to forego some accuracy in order to more quickly produce information. What we may gain in timeliness, we lose in accuracy and reliability. Make sure that your news sources are authoritative, credible, and reliable before using any one particular news source to fulfill your need for background information.
One important reason for finding background information is to learn the language that professionals and scholars use when writing about your research question. That language will help you later, particularly when you’re searching for sources that address your research question.
To identify that language, you can always type the word glossary and then the discipline for which you’re doing your assignment in the search engine search box.
Here are two examples to try:
(Putting a phrase in quotes in most search engines ensures that the phrase will be searched in that particular order rather than as individual words appearing in any order, and however far apart from each other.)
Responding to Your Research Question
You have to be much more selective when searching for sources to meet this need because only certain choices can do the job. Whether you can use quantitative or qualitative data depends on what your research question itself calls for, and in the case of those just beginning to learn about information research, the requirements of your professor’s guidelines for your assignment will dictate the type of sources you are required to have.
Primary and secondary sources of a professional and/or scholarly nature are preferable for most disciplines (humanities, social sciences, and sciences) and are the most reliable (as compared to tertiary sources) types of sources to use to address your research question. Keep in mind that sources about art are often found in more popular types of sources as well, such as newspapers, trade, commentary, and magazine sources.
The author’s purpose for most disciplines should be to educate and inform or, for the arts, to entertain. (As you may remember, primary sources are those created at the same time as an event you are researching or that offer something original, such as an original performance or a journal article reporting original research. Secondary sources analyze or otherwise react to primary sources. Because of the information lifecycle, the secondary sources produced later in the cycle are often stronger because their creators will have had the benefit of time and opportunity to assess and incorporate the best information from earlier in the timeline. As a result, your later, rather than earlier sources, will increase in accuracy and reliability.)
Example: Quantitative or Qualitative Data
Suppose your research question is “How did a particular king of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah, work to modernize his country?”
That question may lend itself to qualitative descriptive judgments—about what is considered the components of modernization, including, for instance, what were his thoughts about the place of women in society.
But it may also be helped by some quantitative data, such as those that would let you compare the numbers of women attending higher education when Abdullah became king and those attending at the time of his death or, for instance, whether manufacturing increased while he reigned.
So looking for sources that provide both quantitative and qualitative information (not necessarily in the same resource) is usually a good idea.
If it is not clear to you from the formats of sources you are assigned to read for your course, ask your professor which formats/types of sources are acceptable to your discipline for answering your research question.
Recommended Sources to Help You Respond to Your Research Question
- Quantitative or Qualitative: Will be determined by the question itself.
- Fact-based Sources: Professional and scholarly for most disciplines; the arts often use popular, as well.
- Scholarly, Professional, or Popular: Professional and scholarly for most disciplines; the arts often use popular, as well.
- Primary, Secondary, or Tertiary: Primary and secondary.
- Publication Format: Those acceptable to your discipline or determined by your professor/instructor.
To Convince Your Audience
Convincing your audience is similar to convincing yourself and requires the same kinds of sources—as long as your audience is made up of people like you or your professor; this is often the case when it comes to academic writing. That means using many of those sources you used to answer your research question.
When your audience isn’t very much like you and your professor, you can adjust your choice of sources to meet this need. Perhaps you will include more that are secondary sources rather than primary, some that are popular or professional rather than scholarly, and some whose author intent may not be to educate and inform.
Recommended Sources to Convince Your Audience
- Quantitative or Qualitative Data: Same as what you used to answer your research question if your audience is like you or your professor. (If you have a different audience, use what is convincing to them.)
- Fact-based Sources: Those sources used to answer your research question if your audience is like you or your professor. (If you have a different audience, you may be better off including some sources intended for a more general audience.)
- Scholarly, Professional, or Popular: Those with the same expertise level as you respond to the question if your audience is like you or your professor. (If you have a different audience, you may be better off including some popular sources.)
- Publication Mode: Primary and secondary sources if your audience is like you or your professor. If you have a different audience, you may be better off including more secondary sources than primary.
- Publication Format: Those acceptable to your discipline, if your audience is like you or your professor, or as determined by your professor/instructor.
To Describe the Situation
Choosing which kinds of sources you’ll need to meet this need is pretty simple—you should almost always use what’s going to be clear and compelling to your audience. Nonetheless, sources intended to educate and inform may play an outsized role here.
But even then, they don’t always have to educate and inform formally, which opens the door to using sources such as fiction or arts, as well as formats that you might not use with some other information needs, such as blogs or podcasts. Look at each source individually to determine if it is appropriate, relevant, credible, and reliable. ask yourself: What does a particular source bring to your argument/claim?
Recommended Sources to Describe the Situation
- Quantitative or Qualitative: Whatever you think will make the description most clear and compelling to your audience.
- Fact-based Sources: Often to educate and inform, but sources don’t have to do that formal here.
- Scholarly, Professional, or Popular: Whatever you think will make the description most clear and compelling to your audience.
- Primary, Secondary or Tertiary: Whatever you think will make the description most clear and compelling to your audience. Some disciplines will not accept tertiary sources for this need.
- Publication Format: Whatever you think will make the description most clear and compelling to your audience. Some discipline will accept only particular formats, so check for your specific discipline.
To Report What Others Have Said
The choices here about kinds of sources are easy: use the same or similar sources that you used to respond to your research question that you also think will be the most convincing to your audience.
Recommended Sources to Report What Others Have Said
- Quantitative or Qualitative: Those sources that you used to answer your research question that you think will be most convincing to your audience.
- Fact or Opinion: Those sources that you used to answer your research question that you think will be most convincing to your audience.
- Scholarly, Professional, or Popular: Those sources that you used to answer your research question that you think will be most convincing to your audience.
- Primary, Secondary, or Tertiary: Those sources that you used to answer your research question that you think will be most convincing to your audience.
- Publication Format: Those sources that you used to answer your research question that you think will be most convincing to your audience.
