Non-academic Sources - Assignment | Controversial Topic Research Essay (Pentecost) - Research Guides at Lone Star College

These types of sources more probably familiar to you. They're often available for free online, and they're not written with the formal tone of academic papers (hence 'popular' -- regular people are the audience).

Characteristics of Popular, Non-academic Articles:

Authors often aren't degreed or trained in the specific field they're writing on. (Think of journalists covering various news stories.)
No formal citations. You might see narrative citations referring to interviews or a list of places to "learn more."
These are usually produced for a more general audience, and will provide more background explanation in simpler language.
Published by a variety of entities of varying reputations.

Source titles might be descriptive, or they might be vague and enticing (or even misleading!). These sources often drop in stock art for decoration and may have ads on the page.

Examples

Magazine articles
Newspaper articles
Credible websites (e.g., .gov, some .org sites)

Websites

Make Google Work Harder:

Limit a Google search to a particular domain by adding site:.gov or site:.org to your search. You can also search a specific domain, e.g. site:.nih.gov or site:cdc.gov. Try it below!

Note: be cautious with .org. It's slightly more restrictive than a regular .com or .net, but... it doesn't take much to form an organization with a .org page. If you've never heard of them before, do some cross-referencing of their claims or just look for articles about the organization on Google.

Discover Websites with Opposing Viewpoints

When you look up a topic overview in Opposing Viewpoints, you get a variety of source types back, one of which is websites. This section just recommends some major entities who are involved in policy or advocacy or public information for a topic.

Hint: you'll know you're getting a topic overview page with the options like those shown to the right if the term is in bold in the suggested search list that appears when you start typing.

Pew Research Center
Organization conducts and reports on public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research in order to support sound decision making.
Congressional Budget Office
CBO produces independent analyses of budgetary and economic issues to support the Congressional budget process. Each year, the agency’s economists and budget analysts produce dozens of reports and hundreds of cost estimates for proposed legislation. CBO is strictly nonpartisan and does not make policy recommendations.
govinfo
govinfo is a service of the United States Government Publishing Office (GPO), providing free public access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government.

Recommended Databases

Academic Search Complete (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
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For non-academic sources:
Do a search, then from the results page under Source Type (left-hand filter column), limit to magazines and/or newspapers and/or trade publications.
US Major Dailies (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
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US Major Dailies provides access to The New York Times, Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Chicago Tribune. The content is available by 8 a.m. each day and provides archives stretching as far back as 1985.
New York Times: Subscription Access This link opens in a new window
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Find both news and reviews as well as access to historical NY Times issues dating back to 1851.

First time user: To get access, you need to first register for an NYT account.
1. Click the link. You will have to enter your LSC library barcode.
2. Select Create Account and complete registration fields. Use your LSC email address!
3. Once you have an account, you may access NYTimes.com and NYT mobile apps like any subscriber, or go through this link but select "log in."

Note: Site passes will expire after 365 days. To renew, you will have to activate a new pass by repeating this process.

If Google Chrome shows a warning about this link, hit Ignore. You must use the proxy to get the special access.
Gale in Context: Opposing Viewpoints This link opens in a new window
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Filter to the news articles and audio broadcasts. Don't use the viewpoint articles as sources for this assignment (though they may help you understand the counter-viewpoint to your argument!).

Accessing the Databases

Access online library materials through the library databases!

Student ID Badge Browse by subject area

A-Z sortable database list

To access the databases from off-campus, you will be prompted to enter your 14-digit library barcode.

Don't have one yet? Request a barcode number online.

Evaluating Information

The CRAAP Test

Evaluate your source's...

Also, The Three Rs

Is your source
Recent? Reliable? Relevant?

Is this source up-to-date? Is it about my topic, and does it go into enough depth? Does it come from an authoritative source? Is the information accurate (and are there citations given to back it up)? And why was this information written in the first place?

CRAAP Worksheet

Assignment | Controversial Topic Research Essay (Pentecost): Non-academic Sources