Storage Guide of Reusable Content

Not sure of the differences between primary, secondary, and tertiary sources? This guide provides definitions of each with examples.

Statistics are useful for social work practice because they provide information about social issues. Look for statistics on this guide if you need information/numbers about a topic. If you need raw numbers to download and analyze yourself, use the datasets boxes below. 

Knowing how to find relevant, reliable, and accurate information can help you create better research assignments. These same skills will help you make informed decisions about real world questions, too, such as buying a car or evaluating financial aid options. Use the criteria below to help you evaluate the information you find. 

Authority: The source of the information.

• Who is the author?  Is the author qualified to write on the topic?
• What makes this person knowledgeable on this topic?
• What are the author's credentials or organizational affiliations?

Accuracy: The reliability, truthfulness and correctness of the content.

• Is the information supported by evidence?
• Are sources documented with footnotes or bibliography?
• Has the information been reviewed or refereed?
• Can you find some of the same information given elsewhere?

Relevance: The importance of the information for your needs.

• Is there information in the source that is strongly related to your topic?
• Have you looked at a variety of sources before determining this is one you will use

Currency: The timeliness of the information.

• When was the information published?
• Has the information been revised or updated?

Purpose: The reason the information exists.

• The purpose, intent and audience should be clearly stated.
• Are arguments supported by facts? Are other viewpoints recognized?
• There should be no broad generalizations that are not supported by evidence.

Adapted from  Evaluating Information – Applying the CRAAP Test, Meriam Library, California State University, Chico. http://www.csuchico.edu/lins/handouts/eval_websites.pdf

Primary sources are the raw materials of history. They are the original documents/creative works which contain or demonstrate the firsthand knowledge or experience of the creator(s) of an event or creative work. Some examples of primary sources:

• Artifacts (clothing, furniture, tools, buildings, paintings, artwork)
• Experiments
• First–person accounts (including newspaper accounts)
• Government publications (statistics, court reports)
• Historical documents including maps
• Internet resources (especially digitized versions of historical documents)
• Lab reports
• Draft copies of manuscripts
• Journals
• Diaries
• Ledgers
• Correspondence (i.e. written or electronic letters, email)
• Photographs
• Observations/Field notes
• Official government or corporate papers
• Audio Recordings (e.g. radio programs, speeches, oral histories, music)
• Film/Video/Digital Visual Recordings

Learn how to identify the characteristics of scholarly articles in Introduction to Scholarly Articles in this six minute tutorial.

This is a quick quiz on the typical characteristics of scholarly and popular articles that takes approximately 3-5 minutes.

Two minute video on how to skim the key parts of a scholarly article to determine if it is relevant for your assignment.

Used with permission of Western University under Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 US)

Scholarly articles in the sciences follow a particular format. You may not always see every part labeled, but the content will include the following:

ABSTRACT – a summary of the article

INTRODUCTION – a brief explanation of the research topic and why this particular research was performed.

MATERIALS and METHODS – How the research was performed

RESULTS – The results of the research. An explanation of what happened.

DISCUSSION or CONCLUSION – What do the results mean?  What is significant or important of them?  What was learned?

REFERENCES – The research of others that was consulted in the writing of this article.

Below is an example article with each of the above elements labeled.

This Overview of Scholarly, Trade, and Popular Publications will help you understand the key differences between each of these source types.

Downs-Jones Library

This video, Evaluating Database Results, is helpful for understanding the criteria you can use in determining if an article is good to move forward with. The criteria is often referred to as the "CRAAP Test" because of its focus on Currency, Relevancy, Accuracy, Authority, and Purpose.

Length: 2:34

Introduction to Scholarly Articles helps students who are new to scholarly research learn how to identify the characteristics of scholarly articles.