Primary Sources - Primary sources are original materials. They are from the time period involved and have not been filtered through interpretation

• Diaries

• Interviews (legal proceedings, personal, telephone, e-mail)
  Letters

• Original Documents (i.e. birth certificate or a trial transcript)
  Patents

• Photographs

• Proceedings of Meetings, Conferences and Symposia

• Survey Research (such as market surveys and public opinion polls)

• Works of Literature

Secondary Sources - Secondary sources are accounts written after the fact with the benefit of hindsight. They are interpretations and evaluations of primary sources. Secondary sources are not evidence, but rather commentary on and discussion of evidence

• Biographies

• Commentaries

• Dissertations

• Indexes, Abstracts, Bibliographies (used to locate primary & secondary sources)

• Journal Articles

• Monographs

Tertiary Sources - Tertiary sources consist of information which is a distillation and collection of primary and secondary sources

• Almanacs

• Encyclopedias

• Fact books

Research Links

American Institutes for Research: click on link to document titled Ethics in Research and Publication Executive Summary. Many of the departments have reports linked.

Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies: a research and public policy institution devoted to issues of concern to African Americans and other persons of color. Includes a Data Bank of social, political, and economic indicators.

LiveScience: a website devoted to science news. Its content may be written by Live Science staff based on information in scientific journals and the news.

Promoting Research: a forum for promoting research, including ethics. Includes links to scholarly content on the web to enable scientific collaboration.

Rand Corporation: a think tank that provides objective research for public policy.

Research Methods Knowledge Base: an online textbook. Only certain parts are available for free, but this is an excellent resource for understanding key research concepts.

Research Resources for the Social Sciences: Author Craig McKie links resources from various websites. It is particularly helpful for statistics information.

Science Daily: a science website that organizes science news stories from leading universities, newswires, and research organizations.

University of Calgary: Beginner's guide to the research proposal.

University of Michigan Documents Center: provides statistical resources. Their listing of Think Tanks helps place institutions on the political spectrum.

Effective Internet Searching:

UC Berkeley: Finding information on the Internet. Includes several links, including a tutorial on Internet seraching, using Boolean search strategy, and fully exploiting Google Books and Google Scholar.

Research Design and Methods:

• Colorado State University Writing Guides: this link to case study writing provides guidance on applications of this research method, tips on collecting data, and analysis and general applicability.
• Haig Grounded Theory: provides information on social sciences research methodology that is a social sciences alternative to the scientific method.
• Research Methods in the Social and Natural Sciences: an online lab that helps students differentiate research models and determine which is best for different research questions.

Topics: when you find a website, evaluate before using.

Alternative Medicine:

Natural Stress Relief - an alternative to Transcendental Meditation.

School Reform:

• John Holt - argues against traditional school structures.
• Unschoolers unlimited - argues that families, including their children know the best ways to learn.

Forced Sterilization: Against Their Will: North Carolina's Sterilization Program.

White Privilege: a website devoted to making visible the privileges associated with race in America.

You can't be too careful:

• Committe for Skeptical Inquiry: home of the Skeptical Inquirer, a magazine devoted to research of the paranormal and fringe science.
• Snopes.com: this service rates Urban Legends and provides background.
• Truth or Fiction: an online service that helps fact check online stories, hoaxes, e-mails, etc.