Are certain sources required?
Look at whether the assignment specifies using peer-reviewed articles, newspaper articles, data, books, and/or videos. You will look for these different sources in different places (see below).

Does your topic lend itself to a particular type of source?
The topic you are researching will have an impact on the kinds of sources you can find. For example, some topics are more likely to be covered in books, and others are more likely to be covered in the news. You may not be able to find books or peer-reviewed articles on very current topics because they take a long time to publish.

Who cares about and writes about your topic?
A topic like "race relations in prisons" might be explored by scholars in sociology, law, criminal justice, public policy, psychology, or ethnic studies. You can see which sources are recommended by librarians for each discipline in our Library Guides.

How to find different types of sources:

• Looking for books? Use the Library Catalog.
• Looking for articles? Proquest-all Databases is a good starting point because it is a general, multidisciplinary database. You can also use the Library Search box, located on the library homepage, or use the Library Guides to find subject-specific article databases recommended by the librarians.
• Looking for newspaper sources? Try searching Gale OneFile: News or Proquest Newsstream.
• Looking for data? You can search Google for data on your topic. Search for "[your topic] statistics" or "[your topic] data"