Source Types

Source refers to the specific piece of information, like a specific video on YouTube or an article in a journal.

There is a range of source types that reflects their intended audience; purpose; appearance; and length of their creation, review, and publication processes.

Popular Sources

Content created and published quickly
Some review, maybe none
May or may not cite sources
Written by anyone
Audience is the general public
Appearance is colorful, contains images, and may contain ads
Purpose is to inform, entertain, discuss current events, share opinions, sell a product, monetize content

Scholarly Sources

Content is created after considerable research done by experts
Content is reviewed extensively by other experts
Written by experts in that research area
Audience is other researchers or scholars
Appearance is plain, starts with an abstract, and contains a lengthy list of references at the end
Purpose is to share findings from original research

Other Sources

These sources include information from books, primary sources, government publications, or statistics. These kinds of sources are reviewed more thoroughly and take longer to be published than a popular source, but have not gone through the official peer review process.

Primary sources are materials that were written or produced at the time of an event. Many historical newspaper articles are examples of primary sources. Other types of primary sources include court cases, legislative documents, letters, photographs, advertisements, cartoons, and more.

The next pages show you some examples of scholarly and popular sources.