When a writers gather information that has already been recorded by others, then those writers are performing secondary research.

Identifying Credible Sources of Information

Insofar as a writer wants the target audience (of a particular instance of writing) to perceive the text (being created by the writer) as credible (i.e, worthy of acting upon),

• the writer must select sources of information the target audience will perceive to be credible.

Therefore, when selecting sources (of recorded information) for an instance of writing (meant to achieve the desired consequence) in a college (or university) course,

• the writer is well advised to adopt an academic perspective on investigating the credibility of sources (of recorded information)