If you are researching the gender issue in online computer use, don't use data that is over six months old. There are survey sites that are updated monthly, so using outdated material will skew your statistics. When using the sources from other media, including the library, let your topic inform currency. Check out the author. Also, be aware of the difference between primary and secondary sources.
Secondary sources are comments, reviews, critiques upon another source.
The primary source is the original poem, story, article, book, or research. Most of the time you will want to use the primary source in your research. There are literally hundreds of journals, educational sites and information repositories just waiting for your perusal. If a quotation is less than three lines long, place it within the paragraph. For an example, click here .