White papers and position papers, less common in scientific fields, are also information types that have to be carefully evaluated for the potential bias of their sources. These resources can be valuable to portray opposing points of view on social issues. Popular periodicals, newspapers and magazines do not include articles considered to be scientifically credible. Instead, they record events and capture the spirit of public opinion and interests. You will not find sections on methods or literature surveys demonstrating that research is both replicable and significant.
Currency is a driving factor in science.
Years ago only publication in journals would meet the needs for currency and for peer validation. Listservs and servers hosting article or conference paper preprints now are important in some fields for their timeliness, although their contents may not be validated. Scholarly monographs, encyclopedias, and data collections have become even less credible because they contain information that is obsolete by the day of publication. It is a medium with no inherent level of quality. It is your responsibility to validate each site you want to use in your assignment.