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📚 Choose information sources

The type of sources you choose for your research depends on the information you're looking for. Are you looking for news, statistics, research results, facts, or opinions?

You'll find sources in various forms: books, newspaper articles, scientific papers, websites, videos, podcasts, etc.

Types of sources

There are three types of written sources: popular literature, professional journals and scientific sources.

Popular literature

These include newspapers, popular and popular science magazines, social media, diaries, letters, and so on.

Newspapers are often more current than specialist literature, but the journalists aren't always experts in the subject they're writing about.

The sources are written for a broad audience and use simple language. Citations are rare.

Professional literature

Professional literature is published by professional organizations with the aim of sharing knowledge among colleagues.

The articles are shared through websites, professional journals, or publications specifically for their target audience.

Scientific literature

The scientific articles have been critically reviewed by fellow scientists in the same field. The literature is often published in English. A bibliography is always included.

Articles follow the same structure:

  • Search Question
  • Theoretical Framework/Literature Review
  • Methodology/Research Method
  • Results
  • Conclusion

Finding information sources

You can find books and scholarly articles on your topic through the Media Hub catalogue. It includes an overview of the books physically available in the Media Hub, as well as a comprehensive list of e-books, bachelor's theses, and scholarly articles available online. To find these, you can use the search terms you created in step 3.

For newspaper articles, you can visit the websites of various news media or search the archives via Belgapress.

AI tools and applications

Tools like Elicit and Perplexity generate a report based on your search query and also include the sources they used. You can then use these sources for your own research or to find other relevant sources. Both tools also provide insight into the source-finding process, allowing you to follow their line of reasoning and later recreate it to find your own sources.

Step-by-step plan