Depending on your research topic, you may need to reference different types of sources and publications.  Use the tables below to compare different criteria across the different sources to determine what best meets your needs.

Here’s a hint!  Scholarly and peer-reviewed publications will likely always be your first choice!  Books, trade publications, magazines, and websites can be very useful in your research, but they may also be biased, outdated, or authored by someone without expert knowledge of the topic, so a deeper evaluation of the source is needed.  Be sure to visit our page about the CRAAP Test for more guidance!