Chemistry

16. Reliable and unreliable sources

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Essays cannot be written without research, and research involves looking up sources. Sources are pieces of already published work that are open to you to consult. To write a well-researched essay, you'll use the authors' findings, expand on their ideas and even quote from them directly.

N.B. Every time you consult a source, whether you are going to quote from it or not, write down all the reference information you need. You'll need to cite this information in your references section. If you don't acknowledge your sources - and identify any quotes you use - you'll be guilty of plagiarism (see section on 'Plagiarism: what you need to know). For a list of the reference information you'll need to cite, you can click into the 'In text referencing and references section' of this site. As all academics will tell you, trying to re-find your source details once you've closed the book, returned the journal to the library or clicked away from the web-page is time-consuming and irritating. Best to take down all the information whilst the source is in front of you.

Not all sources are the same. You can divide them roughly into:

Primary sources
or primary literature

Secondary sources or secondary literature
Both primary and secondary literature can be found:
Sources can also be divided into reliable and unreliable.

Reliable sources include:
Unreliable sources include:
Any journal accessed through the University of Glasgow library, the Web of Knowledge, the Web of Science or the Royal Society of Chemistry will be peer reviewed and safe to use.


TaskTask TypeDifficulty
Task 1Multiple choiceMore Challenging
Task 2Multiple choiceModerate
Task 3Multiple choiceMore Challenging
Task 4Multiple choiceModerate
Task 5Multiple choiceModerate
Task 6Multiple choiceEasier
Task 7Multiple choiceEasier
Task 8Multiple choiceModerate