A quick guide to working with sources

Working with sources is an important skill that you’ll need throughout your academic career.

It includes knowing how to find relevant sources, assessing their authority and credibility, and understanding how to integrate sources into your work with proper referencing.

This quick guide will help you get started!

Finding relevant sources

Sources commonly used in academic writing include academic journals, scholarly books, websites, newspapers, and encyclopedias. There are three main places to look for such sources:

• Research databases: Databases can be general or subject-specific. To get started, check out this list of databases by academic discipline. Another good starting point is Google Scholar.
• Your institution’s library: Use your library’s database to narrow down your search using keywords to find relevant articles, books, and newspapers matching your topic.
• Other online resources: Consult popular online sources like websites, blogs, or Wikipedia to find background information. Be sure to carefully evaluate the credibility of those online sources.

When using academic databases or search engines, you can use Boolean operators to refine your results.

Evaluating sources

In academic writing, your sources should be credible, up to date, and relevant to your research topic. Useful approaches to evaluating sources include the CRAAP test and lateral reading.

CRAAP test

CRAAP is an abbreviation that reminds you of a set of questions to ask yourself when evaluating information.

• Currency: Does the source reflect recent research?
• Relevance: Is the source related to your research topic?
• Authority: Is it a respected publication? Is the author an expert in their field?
• Accuracy: Does the source support its arguments and conclusions with evidence?
• Purpose: What is the author’s intention?

Lateral reading

Lateral reading means comparing your source to other sources. This allows you to:

• Verify evidence
• Contextualize information
• Find potential weaknesses

If a source is using methods or drawing conclusions that are incompatible with other research in its field, it may not be reliable.

Integrating sources into your work

Once you have found information that you want to include in your paper, signal phrases can help you to introduce it. Here are a few examples:

Function	Example sentence	Signal words and phrases
Neutral: You present the author’s position neutrally, without any special emphasis.	According to recent research, food services are responsible for one-third of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.	According to, analyzes, asks, describes, discusses, explains, in the words of, notes, observes, points out, reports, writes
Supportive: A position is taken in agreement with what came before.	Recent research has confirmed Einstein’s theory of general relativity by observing light from behind a black hole.	Agrees, confirms, endorses, reinforces, promotes, supports
Argumentative: A position is taken for or against something, with the implication that the debate is ongoing.	Allen Ginsberg denies the importance of artistic revision …	Argues, contends, denies, insists, maintains

Following the signal phrase, you can choose to quote, paraphrase or summarize the source.

• Quoting: This means including the exact words of another source in your paper. The quoted text must be enclosed in quotation marks or (for longer quotes) presented as a block quote. Quote a source when the meaning is difficult to convey in different words or when you want to analyze the language itself.
• Paraphrasing: This means putting another person’s ideas into your own words. It allows you to integrate sources more smoothly into your text, maintaining a consistent voice. It also shows that you have understood the meaning of the source.
• Summarizing: This means giving an overview of the essential points of a source. Summaries should be much shorter than the original text. You should describe the key points in your own words and not quote from the original text.

Citing sources

Whenever you quote, paraphrase, or summarize a source, you must include a citation crediting the original author.

Citing your sources is important because it:

• Allows you to avoid plagiarism
• Establishes the credentials of your sources
• Backs up your arguments with evidence
• Allows your reader to verify the legitimacy of your conclusions

The most common citation styles are APA, MLA, and Chicago style. Each citation style has specific rules for formatting citations.

Scribbr’s free citation generator can generate perfect references and in-text citations in both APA and MLA styles. More citation styles will be available soon!

• Cite a website
• Cite a book
• Cite a video

Tools and resources

Scribbr and partners offer tons of tools and resources to make working with sources easier and faster. Take a look at our top picks:

• Citation Generator: Automatically generate accurate references and in-text citations using Scribbr’s APA Citation Generator and MLA Citation Generator.
• Plagiarism Checker: Detect plagiarism in your paper using the most accurate Turnitin-powered plagiarism software available to students.
• Paraphraser: Rewrite texts to make them simpler, more fluent, or shorter.
• Summarizer: Summarize information with the click of a button.
• Grammar Checker: Eliminate pesky spelling and grammar mistakes.
• Proofreading services: Have a human editor improve your writing.
• Knowledge Base: Explore hundreds of articles, bite-sized videos, time-saving templates, and handy checklists that guide you through the process of research, writing, and citation.