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STEM Librarian
Emily Alling
Subjects: Biology,
Chemistry,
Computer Science,
Environmental Studies,
Health & Medicine,
How-To,
Library Resources,
Mathematics,
Physics,
Psychology,
Research,
Science & Technology,
Sports Medicine
Types of Information Sources
Source type: Popular press article
- Where it's published: Newspaper; magazine; media website
- Where to look for it: Library database; Google
- Who creates it: Journalist or writer
- Who reads it: General public
- Purpose: General interest/enlightenment
- Characteristics to look for: Plain language; Usually no citations/references
- Example: Lumpkin, Laura. (July 25, 2020). Study says virus made college students’ stress, anxiety, depression worse. Washington Post.
Source type: Primary source
- Where it's published: Scholarly journal
- Where to look for it: Library database, Google Scholar
- Who creates it: Researchers (institutional affiliations and credentials listed)
- Who reads it: Other researchers, scholars, experts
- Purpose: Report results of original research (studies, experiments, trials, etc.)
- Words to look for: Trial, Study
- Characteristics to look for: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion
- Example: Yang, C., Chen, A., & Chen, Y. (2021). College students’ stress and health in the COVID-19 pandemic: The role of academic workload, separation from school, and fears of contagion. PloS One, 16(2), e0246676.
Source type: Secondary source
- Where it's published: Scholarly journal
- Where to look for it: Library database; Google Scholar
- Who creates it: Scholars, researchers (institutional affiliations and credentials listed)
- Who reads it: Other researchers, scholars, experts
- Purpose: Build upon previous work and findings: analyze, synthesize, criticize, draw conclusions
- Words to look for: Review, Analysis
- Characteristics to look for: Citations to many different sources integrated and distributed throughout article
- Example: Singh, S., Roy, D., Sinha, K., Parveen, S., Sharma, G., & Joshi, G. (2020). Impact of COVID-19 and lockdown on mental health of children and adolescents: A narrative review with recommendations. Psychiatry Research, 293, 113429.