What is an Academic Resource and How to Find One

Learn what academic resources are and how to find them for your research projects and essays. Understand the types of sources that are acceptable in your field of study and how to find them.

What is an Academic Resource and How to Find One

Academic resources are any extracurricular support for your academic work. This includes academic journals, online essay tutoring services such as Spires Online Essay Tutors, and other reliable, accurate, and valid sources. It is important to understand the types of sources that are acceptable in your field of study and how to find them. Academic journals are a great source of information. They publish accredited research articles by academics or experts in a discipline.

These articles go through a rigorous review process, often using a system called peer review, to ensure they are an authorized, valid, original, and significant contribution to the field of study. In some cases, it may be acceptable to use a non-academic source. However, these are special cases and are more common in some academic disciplines than in others. For academic courses and research project tasks, it is best to use academic or professional resources.

When looking for an academic source, it is important to check if the author currently works or has worked as an academic at a university. Additionally, you should look for sources that have gone through a peer-review process as this will ensure they are of higher quality and widely accepted in your field. The most important piece of advice that academics want to give to their first-year students is usually to use the library as the only source of reference for their essays and assignments until they have a solid understanding of the types and quality of sources that are acceptable to their discipline. In journalism and media studies, you may often have to consult media sources which are not academic sources.

It is also a good idea to check with your teacher or tutor first if they're okay with you using non-academic sources. In some cases, you may find the work of an academic published on a separate website such as their blog.

Richard Evans
Richard Evans

"Richard Evans is the dynamic founder of The Profs, NatWest’s Great British Young Entrepreneur of The Year and Founder of The Profs - the multi-award-winning EdTech company (Education Investor’s EdTech Company of the Year 2024, Best Tutoring Company, 2017. The Telegraphs' Innovative SME Exporter of The Year, 2018). Sensing a gap in the booming tuition market, and thousands of distressed and disenchanted university students, The Profs works with only the most distinguished educators to deliver the highest-calibre tutorials, mentoring and course creation. The Profs has now branched out into EdTech (BitPaper), Global Online Tuition (Spires) and Education Consultancy (The Profs Consultancy).Currently, Richard is focusing his efforts on 'levelling-up' the UK's admissions system: providing additional educational mentoring programmes to underprivileged students to help them secure spots at the UK's very best universities, without the need for contextual offers, or leaving these students at higher risk of drop out."