Select the most appropriate information for your purpose. Be critical! Professors expect you to be a smart judge of quality in what you choose to reference and read.
How to Read a Scientific Journal Article (that handout from class)
If this makes no sense, try this: Anatomy of a Scholarly Article
And here's a video, for you non-readers: How to Read Academic Research
New Resources Just for Academic Research
College research and writing is an opportunity for you to explore high-level, academic resources written by experts in the field. You may not have ever seen these types of resources before. These documents come in many forms, including:
- Academic/Scholarly/Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
- Conference Proceedings
- Trade (professional) Magazines
- Dissertations
This is in addition to the types with which you may already be familiar: books, popular magazines, association/organization websites, videos on YouTube or Netflix, brochures/pamphlets, etc. etc. etc. These resources are all useful in academic research, as long as you are a good judge of accuracy and expertise of the author.
These types of information can be found through Google, in print, and through Academic Databases.
Reading these resources can be more challenging due to more academic language (big words! jargon!), length (long! with no pictures!), and content (assumes you already know some things about the topic! maybe seems a little dry). As you continue with your college career, these types of resources will become more important to you as you become an expert yourself.
Let Wikipedia Explain
- Peer Review"Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people of similar competence to the producers of the work (peers). It constitutes a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review methods are employed to maintain standards of quality, improve performance, and provide credibility."
- Deep Web"Most of the web's information is buried far down on sites, and standard search engines do not find it. Traditional search engines cannot see nor retrieve content in the deep web."