Finding academic sources for your papers is one of the most important steps at the pre-writing stage. There are several essential criteria to consider when choosing scholarly literature. This guide will help you differentiate between primary and secondary sources, understand their level of evidence, and filter based on the criteria.
1. Where to Find Academic Sources
The first way to find academic articles, that is works written by professionals and experts in their field, is to use Google Scholar. It typically contains peer-reviewed studies, meaning that they have been reviewed by other experts.
For finding books by professionals and checking publication information, worldcat.org is a useful database.
If you need professional sources in a certain field, you can use narrow-focus databases:
- CINAHL or PubMed for medicine and nursing,
- LexisNexis for law,
- JSTOR, Web of Science, and Scopus for multidisciplinary studies and others.
ResearchGate and Academia.edu are also great resources to find scholarly literature and research publications.
Finally, you can use university library access and set filters there.
2. How to Find Academic Sources
Unless you do not write on historic events, consider publication time (current, modern, and recent). For a scholarly paper, (a) a current source means being published within 5-10 years); (b) recent within 1-3 years maximum; or (c) at least not more than 10 years.
- Exception: outdated sources (more than 10 years) are allowed in papers on history or to support historical facts, or when such a source is a classic theoretical work used for analysis or review.
One more criterion is quality and reliability. Consider authors’ expertise and support with references. Check for the availability of ads and whether the source targets a professional instead of a wide audience.
Scholarly sources include:
- Peer-reviewed journal articles;
- Governmental publications (websites with .gov);
- Books;
- Websites with .org and .edu without or with a few banners and advertisements.
They are usually supported by reliable references.
In contrast to academic and scholarly sources, popular publications that target the general public (not professionals in the field) include:
- Websites with .com and .net and advertising;
- Blogs;
- Wikipedia, WikiHow, study.com, Quora;
- Websites for a wide audience seeking advice, but not for professionals.
Peer Review
Peer-reviewed sources are articles in professional journals reviewed by experts in the same field as the author of the study. An important thing is that mostly journals use a peer review, while books have only reviews or feedback from the reader. Governmental publications are academic sources but they are not peer-reviewed.
An example of a peer-reviewed article formatted in APA:
Kenney, E. L., Wintner, S., Lee, R. M., & Austin, J. B. (2017). Obesity prevention interventions in US public schools: Are schools using programs that promote weight stigma? Preventing Chronic Disease, 14, E142.
Sources Based on Levels of Evidence
In research, sources can be differentiated based on levels of evidence with examples:
- Level I – sources of the highest quality – for example, systematic reviews;
- II – randomized control studies
- III – case-control research,
- IV – case reports (on a single participant),
- V – opinions, expert reviews.
Primary vs. Secondary Sources
Another categorization is based on whether the author or researcher conducted their own research like case-control research or wrote a book at the time when events in it were actually taking place (primary) or relied on other or primary sources (secondary).
Key Takeaways
Remember that good sources are the basis of great research. Therefore, consider the following factors in choosing them:
- Use of a library, database, or appropriate websites,
- Relevance in time and topic,
- Levels of evidence,
- Reliability and credibility.
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Updated on May 16, 2025
Reference
Levels of evidence in research. (2021, May 11). Elsevier Author Services. https://scientific-publishing.webshop.elsevier.com/research-process/levels-of-evidence-in-research/
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