Who is the author?

• Author may be a popular media figure or journalist.
• Often lack credentials such as advanced degrees or experience with the subject matter.

Who is the intended audience?

• Anyone interested in this topic

Who is the publisher?

• Usually a commercial publisher or other popular source

What is the content? Why was this book written?

• Content is often meant to entertain or present opinions about a certain topic; author's bias is often very evident without much evidence behind it. 
• May also include the author's own personal/firsthand accounts of events discussed in the book.

Where is the evidence?

• Limited or no bibliography/references
• Lack of data (charts, graphs, research studies) to back up opinions presented

Who is the author?

• Author is a reliable scholar in a particular field
• Credentials are listed, such as degrees, experience, previous scholarly publications; or affiliation with a scholarly institution, such as a university.

Who is the intended audience?

• Students, researchers, other scholars

Who is the publisher?

• Often the publisher is associated with an academic institution (such as Oxford University Press), or known for producing scholarly materials (such as Greehnaven Press or Routledge).

What is the content? Why was this book written?

• Focuses on a certain field or area of study, often very specific.
• If opinions are presented, they are backed up with empirical data/research that the author has conducted.

Where is the evidence?

• Extensive bibliography and/or footnotes which show research to back up the scholar's assertions
• Suggestions for further reading for additional information on the subject 

Your research may lead you to investigate both primary and secondary resources.

Primary resources are the basic evidence for any good research project, and can come in many formats: documents from archives, interviews or eyewitness accounts, newspaper articles, video footage, etc.  For example, if you were examining the political relationship between the Allied powers during WWII, you might look at primary sources such as diary entries, correspondence and/or interviews given by the key political figures of that time period.

American Foreign Policy: The Twentieth Century in Documents

This book is a compilation of many primary resources, including speeches and other correspondence.

Secondary resources are also valuable to use as sources for your paper, and are works that interpret, analyze, and often synthesize primary source materials to give a broader understanding of a certain topic.  These may come in the form of scholarly books or journals.  They often cite primary source materials, but are a step removed from those events.

 FDR & Stalin: A Not So Grand Alliance, 1943-1945

 This book is an example of a secondary resource: a scholar presenting the results of research he has done regarding the alliance between FDR and Stalin.