Research

MLA 8th Edition Research Guide

• Save to your Google Drive; used primarily in English classes

How to create your Works Cited Page

Commonly Used Citations

• Books

  One Author, Multiple Authors, Dictionaries/Encyclopedias, Anthologies/Collections, etc.

• Electronic Resources

  Web Sites, Databases, Online Journals/Magazines, E-mails, Images, Tweets, YouTube, etc.

• Periodicals

  Magazines, Newspapers, Articles from Scholarly Journals (citations are based on PRINT).

• Other Sources

  Interview, Digital Recording, Music, TV, Movie, Speech, etc

From Purdue OWL

APA 6th Edition Research Guide

• Save to your Google Drive; used in Psychology and other Science courses

How to Create a Reference Page

Commonly Used Sources

• Books

  One Author, Multiple Authors, Dictionaries/Encyclopedias, Anthologies/Collections, etc.

• Electronic Resources

  Web Sites, Databases, Online Journals/Magazines, E-mails, Images, Tweets, YouTube, etc.

• Periodicals

  Magazines, Newspapers, Articles from Scholarly Journals (citations are based on PRINT).

• Other Sources

  Interview, Digital Recording, Music, TV, Movie, Speech, etc.

From Purdue OWL

Primary sources are original artifacts or documents. They offer firsthand accounts from the given author or individuals directly involved in an event. 

• Diaries and literary memoirs

• Letters/ Correspondence

• Visual Artistic works (photographs, paintings, sculptures, cartoons, etc.)

• Written Artistic works (poems, songs, music, etc. )

• News segments/transcripts

• Speeches

• Interviews

• Editorials

• Legal documents and Statistics (Government records)

Secondary sources are documents written after an event has occurred, providing secondhand accounts of that event, person, or topic. Unlike primary sources, which provide first-hand accounts, secondary sources offer different perspectives, analysis, and conclusions of those accounts.

• Journal, news, and magazine articles
• News reports
• Encyclopedias
• Textbooks
• Books​

Tertiary Sources provide overviews of topics gathered from other primary and secondary resources. Another clue is that secondary sources are almost always written by experts, but tertiary sources may be written by staff writers who have an interest in the topic but are not scholars on the subject. Many tertiary sources could be considered secondary sources.

• Dictionaries
• Encyclopedia
• Almanac
• Bibliographies
• Chronologies
• Directories
• Fact books
• Guidebooks
• Manuals
• Textbooks

From University Library of UIUC