Library Research 101: Start Your Research

Different types of information can be helpful for your research.  Here are some common types of informational sources Fogler Library provides access to, along with the sort of information you are likely to find there:

News articles

• provide information about current events, often related to a specific geographical location.  News articles are written by reporters and published by newspapers.  Though news articles can be useful for describing local, national, or world events, they are not considered scholarly articles or peer-reviewed sources.

Scholarly articles

• provide detailed information about a very specific topic of interest.  Scholarly articles are written by researchers and published by scholarly journals.  Many, but not all, scholarly articles are peer-reviewed, which means the articles have been read and edited by other scholars who are experts on the topic.

Books

• provide an overview of a topic, sometimes in detail.  Books are written by authors who could be researchers, reporters, or another kind of writer, and published by publishing companies.  There are scholarly publishing companies that publish scholarly books, but not all books are considered scholarly sources. 

Library databases

• provide searchable access to many different publications at once.  They can focus on scholarly articles, news articles, or both, and may focus on a particular subject (Sociology Collection is a sociology-focused database, for example). 

To use library resources to find these types of information, check out the Where can I find different types of information? tab.  And remember, you can always ask your subject specialist librarian for help.  We'll be glad to hear from you!