CHE 380: Assessment and Program Planning in Health Education, Cedergren

Start with Background Information

Each part of the research process will require different types of sources. You first want to start with basic background information by looking at websites, books, popular sources (newspapers, magazines, etc.), or reference sources like an encyclopedia. 

It is very normal to start the research process by doing an internet search. Looking at a Wikipedia page on a topic can be a great place to start. While we should never use Wikipedia as a source, it is a great way to learn basic information and find other sources. Be sure to evaluate each source you decide to use for credibility. For more information about this, check out the Evaluating Sources tab.

Narrowing your Topic

As you begin to learn more about your topic, you can identify ways to narrow it down to make your topic or research question more manageable for your research purposes. See the Search Tips tab for more information about brainstorming topics. You will find scholarly sources are easier to search for once you have done background research and learned more about your topic to make it more specific. 

AI and Background Research

We briefly discussed how AI can be used to brainstorm a research question, and it can also be a useful tool in the early stages of background research. Most citation styles do not recommend citing AI, but acknowledging it instead. Here's an example of what an acknowledgement statement might look like:

I acknowledge the use of [insert AI system(s) and link] to [specific purpose of generative artificial intelligence]. The prompts used include [list of prompts]. The output from these prompts was used to [explain use].

Library Databases for Background Research

The Library Connects You to All Types of Information

Check out UW-Green Bay Libraries' Types of Sources table!

Popular sources are information intended for a general audience or for the public. Popular sources can be anything from a social media post to a news article; it's a broad category. Some distinguishing traits of popular sources:

• Written to inform, entertain, or persuade
• Short-to-medium length, with language that is understandable to a wide audience
• Often contain colorful photographs, illustrations, charts, or advertisements
• Rarely list their sources formally, may have interviews or contextual links
• Written by staff writers, freelance contributors, or even users of a platform
• Often produced in a short timeline to cover current events

Before we move on to scholarship, it's important to note there is a middle ground! "Grey literature" refers to published professional information sources outside of the realm of scholarly, peer-reviewed books or journal articles. Grey literature can include things like trade publications, government information, reports, patents, standards, and more!

Scholarly sources, in contrast, have distinguishing traits such as:

• Written by experts in a field for other experts, scholars, or scholars-in-training (authors' names are usually listed with their credentials, like institutional affiliations and/or degrees)
• Contribute new knowledge (empirical research article) or summarize what is known (review article)
• Use formal language and only contain figures, tables, charts, or graphs that convey information
• Usually divided into sections and include headings such as abstract, introduction (or literature review), methods, results, and discussion and/or conclusion
• Have in-text citations and a formal list of references
• Often produced over a longer period of time, as research and review are conducted

It's important to remember the distinction between scholarly and peer-reviewed: peer review is a formal process in which works are evaluated by fellow experts in a field prior to publication. Not all scholarly sources have gone through the peer review process!

Often times, professors expect students to cite peer-reviewed journal articles. To be sure you've found a source that fits your needs, ask yourself:

Is it a journal article?

Look for both an article and a journal title. Look for volume and issue numbers. Look for an abstract (this is a summary; most scholarly articles are long, usually 6+ pages). Look for a DOI (digital object identifier).

Is it peer-reviewed?

Look for a publication history or revision dates on the first page of the article (the dates indicate when the article went through the peer review process). Look for the name of the journal and search up the journal's homepage, then look for a description of the journal, or for a section with a "peer review policy" or information for authors.

Activity: Which is the peer-reviewed journal article?

1. Considerations for Documenting and Sharing Health-Related Social Needs Information in Pediatric Care Settings

2. WHO Releases New Guidance on Monitoring the Social Determinants of Health Equity

3. Associations Between Health-RelatedSocial Needs and Cardiovascular HealthAmong US Adults

Infographic created by UW-Green Bay Libraries and is icensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Activity: Which is the credible source?

1. American Academy of Pediatrics

2. American College of Pediatricians

Media Bias Sites

Fact-Checking Sites

Looking into Funding

Looking for Retractions of Academic Papers