Books, newspapers, tweets, news articles, blogs, and internet memes. Information sources are created for a variety of purposes and come in many formats. All information formats can be useful depending on how you use it. The value of the information and its potential use in your research often depends on WHO is creating the source, WHY they are sharing the information, and WHAT the process is to get it published. Some common types of resources are listed below.

• A scholarly article is often written by people who have expertise in their field. After they conduct research, they write an article. When they are ready to publish they send it to a scholarly journal. If the journal is interested in publishing the article they will send it to a panel of experts to check the methods and quality of work. This is called the peer review process. The experts will make notes about where it needs to be improved or changed. The author will then edit the article before it is published. The extensive process of peer review means that often what is published in academic journals is well documented and thoroughly researched.
• A popular article is usually called a magazine article. It's usually a short article that offers an overview of subject matter rather than original research. It's intended to attract a general readership without any particular expertise or advanced education. It's almost always written by staff (not always attributed) or freelance writers using general, popular language and rarely contains references or footnotes. It is also often filled with photographs or illustrations and printed on glossier paper
• Whether found online or in print format, a news story goes through a slightly different process to be published. News articles often come from a single reporter whose job it is to write about a particular topic. He or she is not an expert but tries to do enough research to explain a topic to a general audience. An editor or other manager must sign off on the reporter's work before it can be published.
• A primary source is your direct evidence; another way think of a primary source is as a source which you analyze directly. For example, if you are writing a paper on a novel, the novel itself will be your primary source. If you are writing a paper on a recent scientific discovery, the data and findings of the experiment could be your primary sources. If your paper is on a historical event, your primary sources could be photographs or official documents. Primary sources are materials which have not been processed by another person’s analysis; you are the one doing the processing.
• A secondary source is another person’s account of your primary source. Secondary sources tend to combine information from primary sources, interpret or analyze them, and attempt to give a broader understanding of the material. For example, in your paper on the novel, your secondary source could be a literary review of the novel, or a paper about the author's life. In the case of your paper on a recent scientific discovery, your secondary sources might be responses to other scientists' findings in the field or a newspaper article summarizing the discovery. Nothing is intrinsically a primary or secondary source. It is how you use a source which makes it primary or secondary.