CMNS 125, Professional Communications (Matthew Michaud)

Things you should look for in the instructions as a researcher before going to look for information, 

1. Topic
2. Number of sources needed
3. Type(s) of sources needed

Academic sources (usually articles) are sources your professors will want you to read and pull evidence from to support your points in your own writing. These are considered credible sources in academia (university) because of who writes them, the level of review they go under, and the fact that they build on past research. Three main things that define academic articles/scholarly articles are:

1. Written by an academic/researcher/expert
2. Peer-reviewed
3. Bibliography/Reference List

Explore more about academic articles using the video and link below:

Academic articles are typically only used at university, so you will not encounter them in your daily lives, because this is how researchers communicate their knowledge with each other. There are other types of sources of information that exist (such as news, websites, social media, videos, etc.), so make sure to check your assignment instructions to see what your instructor wants you to use. 

If you are allowed to use non-library sources, the guide linked below has information on how to evaluate non-academic sources to ensure the content is reliable to use.