A source is a person or book that provides information for a news story or for a piece of research. Military sources say the boat was heading south at high speed. She quotes secondary and primary sources without distinction.

Understanding the Context

You might also consider using sources such as radio and television broadcasts, interactive talks, and recorded public meetings. Though we often go online to find this sort of information today, libraries and archives offer a wealth of nondigitized media or media that is not available online. WebFX reports provide a 3-step guide to connect marketing spend to revenue, focusing on attribution, data accuracy, and insightful reporting. Learn the difference between primary and secondary sources in this guide.

Key Insights

See examples of each type of source and learn how they're used. Data have been collected using a variety of sources, including parent interviews, teacher assessments, child interviews, standardized psychometric tests, medical and official records. There are many types of sources commonly used in research. These include books, journal articles, and newspapers. Beyond definitions of source types, this video provides useful examples of what would be primary, secondary and tertiary sources for research questions in different disciplines.

Final Thoughts