Choosing appropriate resources for research projects can be tricky. General encyclopedias are rarely sufficiently detailed to support a research project, although a major encyclopedia like the Encyclopaedia Britannica will provide a scholarly treatment of a subject with a list of references for further research. A general rule of thumb is to consult general encyclopedias, handbooks, and subject encyclopedias only for a basic understanding of a subject and for suggestions for further research. In depth research is best found in books and current periodicals.  

A further condition that applies to periodicals for academic research is that the periodicals are scholarly or research oriented. News magazines and popular publications like Newsweek, Time, Life, and Rolling Stone are almost NEVER suitable for academic research. Look instead for journals appropriate to the topic. For example, instead of looking for articles in People Weekly to support the hypothesis that alcoholism is genetically determined, a college researcher should look instead for articles in professional journals such as the Journal of the American Medical Association or Psychological Reports. Journal articles provide research, whereas popular periodical articles only provide easily digested articles geared toward laymen. For college research, these general purpose articles are not sufficiently detailed, just as encyclopedia articles are too general to completely flesh out a thesis.  

Criteria for Evaluating Sources

There are many things to take into consideration to determine if a source is scholarly or research oriented. A fairly quick way is to check for a bibliography at the end of the article or book (or at the end of the individual chapters in a book). Most scholarly books and articles are based on previous research and provide a list of references that reflect research that has been done previously. Scholarly articles often begin with a survey of existing literature on a particular topic. Masters theses and doctoral dissertations typically require a survey of the literature as an introductory portion of the research.

Scholarly books might be published by commercial publishers, professional associations, or university presses. While most university presses focus on publishing scholarly works, commercial publishers and associations might also publish books that are more suited to a general audience along with publishing scholarly books. While knowing who the publisher is won't hurt, it isn't in itself the best way to determine if a book is scholarly.

Most scholarly articles will be preceded by an abstract that identifies the primary focus and coverage in the article. Abstracts are typically written by the article's author, so they provide a researcher with a pretty good idea of what the article's author thought was most important. While books will not have abstracts, they generally will include introductions or prefaces that might help a researcher determine what type of publications they are. Another way to figure out a bit more about a book is to look for reviews of the book or to look for a preview of the book using Google.

It is not always possible to actually review a source being considered for inclusion in a research project immediately. Some materials may not be available in the local library and must be requested through interlibrary loan. A researcher can do a preliminary evaluation of sources without actually finding the articles in many cases.

Many article databases provide abstracts (summaries) that sketch article contents and help identify an article's research value. Many of these sources are computerized, including  

The vast majority of publications that have words such as journal or proceedings as part of their title are research publications. (A notable exception is the popular magazine Ladies Home Journal.) Even if the word journal is part of the title, be sure to evaluate the articles for characteristics that would identify them as scholarly. 

Publications by professional associations are typically research oriented. Examples are the Journal of the American Medical Association and the Publications of the Modern Language Association.  

Biographical information on the article's author can also provide important clues to the nature of the article. An author who is university faculty or a noted authority in a certain field most likely can be counted on to provide scholarly information.  

Some research projects additionally require that a researcher rely heavily on primary rather than secondary sources. A primary source is an article or book written by the actual observer of an event or phenomen. For example, a diary written by a survivor of the sinking of the Titanic would be considered a primary source of information on that historical event. A newspaper article written at the time of the sinking might also be considered primary if it was based on eye witness reports. A study of the effect of music on the achievement of first graders in a classroom documented by the observer would also be considered primary research.  

A secondary source either reports second hand events or research that has been previously documented or evaluates previously published works. Many college papers can be considered secondary sources because the researcher relies heavily on other people's research.  

Some papers can include both secondary and primary research. For example, if the previously mentioned study of the effects of music on first graders' achievement included as an introduction to the original study a review of previous studies done in that area, the review would be considered secondary research, while the report of the current study would be considered primary research.