An excerpt from Choosing and Using Sources:
These sources, such as books, TV shows, newspaper and magazine articles, podcasts, social media, and most websites, are meant for a large general audience and are generally easy to purchase or available for free. Their subjects include news, politics, government, health, music, art, hobbies, what to buy, entertainment, and opinions about the news—anything, really, that we could be interested in.
These types of sources are more attractive than scholarly journals because they have catchy titles, attractive artwork, and many advertisements. Some might quote named sources, identify how they got their experience and expertise, and provide links to other sources. But you’ll not likely see a formal list of footnotes or references at the end.
These sources are published by both commercial and nonprofit publishers. They are written by staff writers, journalists, and sometimes just by people enthusiastic about the subject matter. News and magazine articles are published after review and approval from editors or producers. But with other examples of popular sources, such as the many forms of social media, they are published without any review at all.
Substantive Popular Sources – This category is a subset of popular sources. Unlike the rest of popular sources, they are aimed at a college-educated audience or those otherwise well-informed in the subject matter, even though they are available to people in general. They may be more difficult for a complete novice to understand.
Their creators are serious about their intent to inform and want to be thorough. These sources are frequently about the news, health, science, societal problems, politics, and government–but they can be about any topic. Even when they are about entertainers or entertainment, they are intended to inform more than to entertain.
Resource |
For Free At Forsyth Library |
For Free | For Purchase |
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Blogs |
Search Engines, such as: |
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Books, Ebooks
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Many library books are not available in e-reader format (such as Kindle) but on an e-reader available through a web browser. |
Local Public Libraries, such as: State Library of Kansas eBooks (see note on Home tab) |
Local and Online Booksellers, such as: |
Encyclopedias, Dictionaries | Forsyth Reference Databases |
Local Public Libraries, such as: State Library of Kansas eBooks (see note on Home tab) Online Reference Sites, such as: |
Local and Online Booksellers, such as: |
Magazines
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Local Public Libraries, such as: State Library of Kansas Online Databases (see note on Home tab) Search Engines such as: -Bing Magazine articles will be mixed in with websites, blogs and all other sorts of resources. There is no good way to filter out resources that are not popular magazine articles. Some magazine publishers offer free access, while others limit access to a certain number of articles per month. |
Search Engines such as: -Bing Magazine articles will be mixed in with websites, blogs and all other sorts of resources. There is no good way to filter out resources that are not popular magazine articles Some magazine publishers limit access to paid subscribers
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News and Newspapers |
Forsyth News Databases |
State Library of Kansas Online Databases (see note on Home tab) Newspapers of Record Websites Local News Websites such as: Search Engines such as: -Bing Some news publishers offer free access, while others limit access to a certain number of articles per month. |
Newspapers of Record Websites Local News Websites such as: Search Engines such as: -Bing Some news publishers limit access to paid subscribers |
Online Video |
Video Hosting Platforms, such as: |
Streaming Media Services | |
Podcasts |
Podcast Hosting Platforms, such as: |
Some podcasts and platforms offer premium, additional, or ad-free content for a fee | |
Websites |
Search Engines such as: -Bing
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Search Engines such as: -Bing |
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