Choosing & Identifying the Best Source Types for Your Research
Learn about all the different source types and when they are appropriate and helpful to you in the research process: encyclopedias, Wikipedia, books, scholarly articles, popular articles and magazines, trade magazines, news, and websites!
Using the Database to Identify Source Types
A library database can help you narrow down to or identify source types.
1. Narrowing down your search.
A) For example, you are searching "cereal industry" in Business Source Premier. Here is the initial screen of results: 5043
B) Beneath the search box, you see a button "Source Types." You can limit your search results immediately to a specific source type, and only those types of articles will display.
C) If you just need Academic Peer Reviewed Journals, click on the Peer Reviewed button, instead of Source Types.
2. Identifying a source.
On the search results page, you can see the source types above the source
Note: Different databases have different levels of specifcity or terminology in identifying source types. When in doubt about your source type, ask a librarian!