Sustainability Program

Secondary sources are helpful when you're not sure what topic you are interested in learning more about.  You can browse some of these titles to find inspiration.  But they can also be helpful when you are just starting to learn about a new topic.  Secondary sources are often much more readable and cover a topic more broadly than primary research articles which can be very specific and use technical language.  (Note, there are many secondary sources indexed in the databases as well.)

• Credo Environmental E-Reference - This is a great reference resource. It has high level coverage of topics like sustainability and urban planning.

• Natural History - This periodical has a sections on climate change, the environment, society and culture among others which may be helpful. This is considered a secondary source.

• Science Magazine - This magazine publishes BOTH primary and secondary sources so be aware of what kind of article you find. It is searchable by article type and clearly indicates the type on each record.

• New Scientist - Another secondary source on a variety of topics. It is searchable.

• Sustainability - open access journal - An international, cross-disciplinary, scholarly, peer-reviewed and open access journal of environmental, cultural, economic, and social sustainability of human beings. Sustainability provides an advanced forum for studies related to sustainability and sustainable development, and is published semi-monthly online by MDPI.

• Environmental News Network - Online environmental news source offering global perspective to promote thought, discussion and awareness.

• Grist - Offers reporting, interviews, opinion pieces, daily news, book reviews, food and agricultural coverage, and green advice. Its stated mission is "to inform, entertain, provoke, and encourage its readers to think creatively about environmental problems and solutions."

• Planet Ark - An Australian not-for-profit organisation with a vision of a world where people live harmoniously with nature. Established in 1992, we are one of Australia’s leading environmental behaviour change organisations with a focus on working collaboratively and positively.

You can use the CRAAP Test to evaluate non-library sources (such as websites) and determine whether or not they are reliable and acceptable sources to cite for your project.

The CRAAP Test

When you search for information, you're going to find lots of it . . . but is it good information? You will have to determine that for yourself, and the CRAAP Test can help. The CRAAP Test is a list of questions to help you evaluate the information you find. Different criteria will be more or less important depending on your situation or need.

Currency: The timeliness of the information.

• When was the information published or posted?
• Has the information been revised or updated?
• Does your topic require current information, or will older sources work as well?
• Are the links functional? (for web sources)

Relevance: The importance of the information for your needs.

• Does the information relate to your topic or answer your question?
• Who is the intended audience?
• Is the information at an appropriate level (i.e. not too elementary or advanced for your needs)?
• Have you looked at a variety of sources before determining this is one you will use?
• Would you be comfortable citing this source in your research paper?

Authority: The source of the information.

• Who is the author/publisher/source/sponsor?
• What are the author's credentials or organizational affiliations?
• Is the author qualified to write on the topic?
• Is there contact information, such as a publisher or email address?
• Does the URL reveal anything about the author or source? (.com .edu .gov .org .net)

Accuracy: The reliability, truthfulness and correctness of the content.

• Where does the information come from?
• Is the information supported by evidence?
• Has the information been reviewed or refereed?
• Can you verify any of the information in another source or from personal knowledge?
• Does the language or tone seem unbiased and free of emotion?
• Are there spelling, grammar or typographical errors?

Purpose: The reason the information exists.

• What is the purpose of the information? Is it to inform, teach, sell, entertain or persuade?
• Do the authors/sponsors make their intentions or purpose clear?
• Is the information fact, opinion or propaganda?
• Does the point of view appear objective and impartial?
• Are there political, ideological, cultural, religious, institutional or personal biases?

Adapted from http://www.csuchico.edu/lins/handouts/eval_websites.pdf accessed October 24, 2017.

Lateral reading is a relatively new concept and is a great way to evaluate digital sources.  This technique is very different from the CRAAP test which employs vertical reading.   Lateral reading essentially involves 3 questions one can ask about a resource that is providing information:

1. Who's behind the information?
2. What's the evidence?
3. What do other sources say?

To answer these questions, lateral reading involves opening new tabs in your browser in a addition to the source you are evaluating.  In these new tabs and using your internet browser, you can search for clues about who has provided the information you're evaluating (google a name), search for factual information (i.e. is bigfoot real) and find out what other sources say about the one you're looking at.  This may feel time consuming at first but over time, you'll become more familiar with sources you trust.  

Here's a link to a video about lateral reading which is part of a very helpful (and entertaining!) series on evaluating information you find on the web:

Check Yourself with Lateral Reading: Crash Course Navigating Digital Information #3

The table below shows which characteristics are more commonly associated with scholarly or popular sources. Both scholarly and popular sources can be appropriate for your research purposes, depending on your research question, but research assignments will often require you to consult primarily with scholarly materials. 

https://guides.lib.berkeley.edu/evaluating-resources

Your professors may require you to use different types of sources for your projects.  How can you identify these?  Basically, this distinction illustrates the degree to which the author of a piece is removed from the actual event being described, informing the reader as to whether the author is reporting impressions first hand (or is first to record these immediately following an event), or conveying the experiences and opinions of others—that is, second hand.

Primary Sources

A primary source provides direct or firsthand evidence about an event, object, person, or work of art. Primary sources include historical and legal documents, eyewitness accounts, results of experiments or scientific research, statistical data, pieces of creative writing, audio and video recordings, speeches, and art objects. Interviews, surveys, fieldwork, and Internet communications via email, blogs, listservs, and newsgroups may also be considered primary sources.

Secondary Sources

Secondary sources describe, discuss, interpret, comment upon, analyze, evaluate, summarize, and process primary sources. Secondary sources are not evidence, but rather commentary on and discussion of evidence.  These materials can be articles in newspapers or popular magazines, book or movie reviews, or articles found in scholarly journals that discuss or evaluate someone else's original research.

When evaluating primary or secondary sources, the following questions might be asked to help ascertain the nature and value of material being considered:

• How does the author know these details (names, dates, times)? Was the author present at the event or soon on the scene?
• Where does this information come from—personal experience, eyewitness accounts, or reports written by others?
• Are the author's conclusions based on a single piece of evidence, or have many sources been taken into account (e.g., diary entries, along with third-party eyewitness accounts, impressions of contemporaries, newspaper accounts)?

Tertiary Sources

Tertiary sources consist of information which is a distillation and collection of primary and secondary sources.  Tertiary sources can be encyclopedias, dictionaries, textbooks, websites, guidebooks, chronologies, manuals, bibliographies, interviews, etc.  (Keep in mind that some of these may also be considered primary or secondary sources depending on the context.)

Ultimately, all source materials of whatever type must be assessed critically and even the most scrupulous and thorough work is viewed through the eyes of the writer/interpreter. This must be taken into account when one is attempting to arrive at the 'truth' of an event.

Please note that a book is simply a format.  You can find both primary, secondary and tertiary sources published in book form.