RAMAT 110: Race Matters, First-Year Seminar

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Research and Instruction Librarian for Student Success

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Contact:

302 Rolvaag Memorial Library
1510 St. Olaf Avenue
St. Olaf College
Northfield, MN 55057

507-786-3642

Subjects: Africa and the African Diaspora, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Race and Ethnic Studies, Sociology/Anthropology

Distinguishing Source Types

Information Resources serve a variety of purposes and may take many different forms. Finding the most useful resource for your research project depends on the type of work you are doing and the assignment parameters set by your instructor.

Defining resource types is challenging because of the variation across disciplines; what counts as a primary or secondary source in one field might not count the same way in another field. The following distinctions are offered as general guidelines. If you have questions about a particular resource, consult with a librarian or your instructor.

Popular vs. Scholarly Resources

	POPULAR	SCHOLARLY
AUDIENCE	General public, non-specialized	Academic, specialized
PURPOSE	Entertain, Persuade, Inform	Educate, Disseminate Research
CITATIONS	Informal attribution, citations rare	Always include formal citations
EXAMPLES	News or Magazine articles, Blog posts, Most websites, Wikipedia	Journal articles, Academic books, Conference proceedings

Primary vs. Secondary vs. Tertiary Resources

	PRIMARY	SECONDARY	TERTIARY
INFORMATION	New/Novel/Unique	Interpretive	Reference
AUTHOR/ CREATOR	Original Source	Commentator	Editor or Unknown
EXAMPLES	Theories, Theorems, Theses, Dissertations, Research Reports/Articles, Conference Presentations, Original Artwork or Music, Poems, Letters, Interviews, Diaries, Autobiographies	Book Reviews, Interpretive Articles, Textbooks, Literary Criticism, Analyses, Commentaries, Biographies	Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, Almanacs, Manuals, Indexes, Fact Books