The selection of the material type depends on your information needs. The table below summarizes some commonly used scholarly sources and popular sources for different research purposes.
| Type of Materials | Purpose | Recommended Library Resources |
| Scholarly Sources | ||
| Reference Works (dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks) | To get some background information of a subject; to look for "definition", or a fact, like the entries in Wikipedia, but in a scholarly format. | |
| Books | To get the whole picture and more in-depth context of a subject. | Direct search in OneSearch |
| Scholarly Journal Articles | To understand the latest research on a very specific topic. |
Subject-specific:
Multi-disciplinary:
|
| Standards | To find the rules or requirements concerning definitions of terms, procedures, or quality of performance for materials, products, systems, etc. |
|
| Popular Sources | ||
| Newspapers | To find information on current or historical events, local and international. |
|
| Magazines (Popular Journals) | To find up-to-date information and opinions about events and popular culture. |
Direct search in OneSearch Some examples: Time, The Economist, National Geographic |
| Others | ||
| Statistics | To find numbers, data, statistics to answer "how many" or "how much" questions. |
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