What are academic sources?

Writing academic papers require you to have a topic. Sometimes, the teacher can give you a complex topic you know nothing about. However, you may get the freedom to choose the topic that interests you. Whichever the case, you cannot get all the ideas and concepts from your head and write them down to bring out a meaningful paper. So, where do you get the information? You will need to check related books, websites, articles, and related materials trying to find information related to your topic. These websites, articles, and books are known as academic sources. Let us highlight academic sources examples below for a better understanding.

Types of academic sources

While researching, you can use the following list of academic sources to help you through your research process.

1. Government documents

The government has different departments specialized in different matters. These government reports publish useful statistics, reports, data, consumer information, and such information. When collecting data during the research, such sources can be helpful in many ways.

2. Theses & dissertations

Pioneer students had already written academic papers like dissertations and theses before they graduated. These papers are usually written under the supervision of a professional and reviewed by an academic panel. Once approved, they are then considered as referred publications, and other students can refer to such sources when doing their research.

3. Scholarly publications – journals

These are articles written by professionals in a specific field. These articles report already done case studies or original research. Most of these articles are usually reviewed by other experts before being published; hence they are known as refereed or peer-reviewed. Such as article is a top credible source a student can use in academic writing because:

• They are written by professionals
• They have a bibliography and well-cited
• They use technical or scholarly language
• They are reviewed by other experts in the same field

4. Books / book chapters

Most academic books are usually reviewed and edited by a group of experts. In most cases, such books aid a lot in academic research purposes. They have in-depth information a student can use to get more information about a particular topic compared to articles.  

5. Conference proceedings

In a conference proceeding, there are information, research, and related papers presented during the event. Conferences are common in the sciences and engineering fields and are always published later after being peer-reviewed by experts.

6. News and magazines

In most cases, these articles are written by professional journalists using easy-to-understand language meant for the general public. Reading such magazines and news can give a student a new concept and idea on how to approach a particular topic during the research.

What makes a source credible?

Now that we have looked at examples of academic sources, let us analyze what makes a good academic source.

Of course, the professor will expect you to use only credible sources with verified information to ensure you present factual content in your paper. Use the following aspects to determine a credible source to use in your research paper:

• Author’s qualifications

An academic author for such sources should have credentials from a recognized learning institute.

• Check the sources

All sources should have references or a bibliography list.

• Check if the source is peer-reviewed

A source reviewed by other experts means that it has credible information.

• Check the target audience

The type of audience will determine the writing style.

Conclusion

If you have always wondered what is an academic source for a paper, there you have it. I hope this article has presented you with useful facts, especially when determining the sources to use in your academic papers.

The research proposal definition

Before we discuss more on a research paper proposal and research paper proposal example apa, let us explain first what a research proposal means.

Well, a student writes a research proposal after choosing a topic, then explains and justifies why the topic is significant and why they need to carry out such research. Since the research proposal is an academic document, a student must ensure they understand the target audience well and include every single detail, from research methods, benefits of the research, challenges, and other ideas we will discuss later in this article. The purpose of this document is to convince the panel that your topic is crucial so that they can give a student the okay to start the research. Besides, a student can as well write a research paper proposal when they want to secure funding from funding agencies.

Writing a research proposal: the structure

When you are ready to write your research proposal, the question is, how will you start? And what content will you include in each section? Well, let’s highlight the appropriate structure and the relevant content you should include in the research proposal.

1. The introduction

Every academic paper should have an intro, and so is the research proposal. However, before the introduction, you must have a topic, and understanding how to write a topic proposal for a research paper is the first step towards writing a successful research proposal. In the introduction section of your research proposal, you simply introduce your topic and highlight the questions and problems you intend to answer after carrying out the research.

Note: in some instances, you might need to add the abstract and table of content just before the introduction.

2. Background significance

Here, you simply explain the significance of your research and its relationship with your field of study and what previous researchers have done on the same. For instance, do you need to challenge previous research, strengthen it, or compliment it?

Also, you answer the reader the questions highlighted in the introduction and explain approaches you will use while doing the research. For a better understanding, you can check an APA research proposal example and see how to arrange such ideas.

3. Literature review

Here, you explain the sources you intend to use and how you will use them while doing your research, such as scholarly articles, books, and related materials.

4. Research design, methods, and schedule

This section explains the type of research you want to do. For instance, is it quantitative or qualitative research? Also, determine if you are using data from other researchers or if you intend to collect new and original data. One more thing, explain the tools you will use during data collection. Other relevant information to include under this section include:

• Research proposal timeline
• The budget
• Any challenges to can foresee and how you will handle them.

5. Suppositions and implications

One thing for sure is that you cannot determine the results before you do the research. But the, once you decide to work on a given research project, you must understand how your efforts will contribute to your area of specialization. So, under this section, include the following:

• The existing problems your research can help to fix
• How your efforts will challenge existing research in the same field
• How your research can be used for academic purposes
• Ways in which your research will lay the foundation for future projects

Simply put, this section is all about stating the results you anticipate after the research

6. Conclusion

Like any other academic paper, the conclusion section is where you wrap all the ideas and concepts you have included in your paper. The same applies when writing a research proposal.

7. Bibliography

Here, you will list the list of sources and the authors based on the required citation style.

Conclusion

If you always find it challenging to write a research proposal, reading through a proposal for research paper example could be the best approach to understanding how to go about such papers.