Sources for college-level History papers:

Best:

·         Primary sources in scholarly editions (information about original manuscript/manuscripts, editor/translator, some evidence of peer review of publication process)

·         Peer-reviewed journal articles

·         Peer-reviewed scholarly monographs (books on a single, narrowly defined topic)

·         Peer-reviewed collections of essays (conforming to the same high standards as journal articles)

Acceptable:

·         General interest scholarly books (books written for non-specialists but with citations of sources)

·         Specialized reference books (books written with a narrow purpose; for example, an encyclopedia of early modern women writers or a multi-volume dictionary of medieval culture)

·         Primary sources without full documentation of manuscripts and editors

·         Collected lectures (usually peer reviewed but also usually intended for a more general audience, without the fullest possible citations)

Marginally acceptable:

·         General purpose reference books

·         Non-scholarly books by reputable presses (no citations, but suggested readings or other indications that the author is well-read in the subject)

·         Out-of-date research (more than 50-75 years old)

·         Textbooks

·         Lecture notes (if from on-line lectures, be sure to give adequate citation so that reader can access information; if from in-person lectures, be sure to check with lecturer to make sure that you understood the information correctly)

Unacceptable:

·         Most web sites (except for sites that reproduce previously published information or that have clear statement of peer-review procedure or that reproduce primary sources)

·         Popular history books (no indication of larger context for scholarly debates, no list of other books in the field)

·         Historical fiction

·         Papers of college or high school students

·         Papers from "essays for sale" sites