Identifying a source

There are a lot of different types of information sources, and you may need to use a combination of these in your assignments. You will also need to identify the source you are using so that you can reference it correctly as there is different information required for citing and referencing books, journal articles and websites etc. This information in your references will also help your tutors understand what kind of sources you are using.

Library Search will tell you what types of sources are listed in your search results; this is shown just above the title of the item and you can refine your search to specific source types using the ‘Resource Type’ filter.

For other ways to identify the type of source that you are using look out for these pieces of information when doing your research:

Books

Books are good for providing an overview and analysis of a particular topic and can be found by using Library Search. 

They can be written by an expert or multiple authors who contribute to the book overall or specific chapters which are then collated by an editor. There are academic publishers that you can look out for, and the publisher’s name and location are a good way to identify a book. These books will often include an index or bibliography.

Things to look out for:

• All books should have a publisher’s name, print books will have a geographic place named as well.
• Only a year is given as the publication date.
• There is an ISBN listed but this is not required in your reference.
• An index or bibliography.

Journal articles

Academic journals are the best source to find the most up to date research on specific topics. They are published several times a year and will be longer pieces of work than newspaper articles and written for a specific audience interested in that research. Most journal articles are peer-reviewed which means it has been reviewed by experts in that subject. Journal articles can be found in Library Search, specific databases or Google Scholar. Guidance on using Google Scholar can be found on the page: Access eresources using Google Scholar

Things to look out for:

• There is an article title and journal title.
• There is a volume and issue number as well as a year of publication.
• There are page or article numbers specified even though most articles are found online.
• There is a bibliography or reference list.
• There may be a DOI number listed. This is a unique identifier for each article and can be used as a permanent link to the article’s location. They are assigned when the article is published and made available online.

Newspaper articles

Newspapers can be useful to provide an insight into current or past events, however different newspapers are more reliable than others and most contain some editorial bias. News articles are not written for an academic audience and generally do not cite where they found their sources so you will need to use your critical evaluation skills when reading them. They can be found online in Library Search, a newspaper database such as Nexis or on the newspaper’s website.

Things to look out for:

• The publication date will often include a day, month and year.
• Articles are short and about current news and events.
• There will be an article and newspaper title to reference.

Websites

Websites are good starting points for information, but some are more reliable than others and it can be hard to know who wrote them and when. You can usually tell what type of organisation has written the website by looking at the end of the URL. Always make sure you can be certain that the information you are reading is up to date, there is information on evaluating sources on Finding resources for your assignment

Things to look out for:

• May have an individual author, but organisational authors are more common.
• May not have an obvious publication date/year.
• Check the URL to make sure it’s not an online newspaper, journal article, report or pdf.
• URLs that end with .edu or .ac.uk are educational sites.
• URLs that end with .gov are governmental sites.