Introduction to Sources

Welcome!

Today we're going to walk through information about sources.  We're going to start with information about what sources you might like to use.  We'll go over how to find these kinds of sources in class.

This is the LibGuide for your course.  It has been specifically designed by a librarian to include information to help you succeed in your FYS course.

Click on the "Starting with Sources" tab.

First, let's talk about what kinds of sources you might like to use in your research.

The most common sources are research articles, but don't forget about books, news articles, government and NGO reports and media.  Depending on your research, they may also be relevant. 

Most research papers require the use of scholarly articles.

Please look over the "Scholarly vs Popular" chart on the left side of your LibGuide.

A scholarly source is one that is written by a researcher for a specific subject area.  The author assumes that the reader has some knowledge in the field and they are usually longer than popular articles.  The scholarly articles will usually use jargon related to the field of study (because the author assumes that the reader knows what the jargon means).  Most importantly, a scholarly article will have full citations to the sources it uses.

Can you tell me why full citations are important?

Scholarly articles are also peer reviewed.

Please watch the "Peer Review in Three Minutes" video on the right side of your LibGuide.

Why does peer review make an article more credible?

Evaluating a Resource

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Click the "Evaluating Sources" Tab at the top of your LibGuide.

Now that we've introduced research sources, let's talk about how to decide whether a source is good for you.

The library recommends applying something called the CRAAP Test to a source to determine whether a source is useful to you.  This means evaluating a source for Currency, Relevancy, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose.

Please watch the video, "Learn more: Checking for CRAAP" on the left side of your LibGuide.

You need to evaluate any sources that you use in your research and be able to justify why you decided to use it.  Applying the CRAAP test to your sources will help you decide if it is useful and explain why you chose to use it.

Evaluating a Resource

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You've completed the brief introduction to sources!  Please send your certificate of completion to your instructor.

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