Ethnic Studies Research Guide

College professors will usually require some scholarly (also academic, peer-reviewed) sources.

Three things to look for:

• Was it written by experts? The authors are specialists in their field, list their educational background (e.g. PhD), and are usually affiliated with a university.
• Is it based on research? The findings are based on a study conducted by the authors, or on a review of other expert literature. There will *always* be a bibliography or works cited list of the research used.
• Who is the intended audience? Scholarly sources will use complex, expert language and be fairly lengthy. Most academic research is published in peer-reviewed journals or books, not freely available through Google.
  
  

Find out more about scholarly research with this short summary and explanatory video. What's the difference between qualitative and quantitative research (chart)?

College professors will expect you to identify, find, and use different types of information. Learn more about when and how information is published and see a quick information timeline.