How to find credible academic sources for any essay topic — full guide

Here's the workflow I teach to every undergraduate I tutor:

**Step 1 — Start with your university library portal, not Google**
Your uni has subscriptions to databases that give free access to journals that cost £30+ per article otherwise. Log in through your university's library page.

**Key databases by subject:**
- All subjects: **JSTOR**, **Web of Science**, **Scopus**
- Science/medicine: **PubMed**, **Medline**
- Social sciences: **PsycINFO**, **SocINDEX**
- Humanities: **JSTOR**, **MLA International Bibliography**
- Business: **Business Source Complete**

**Step 2 — Use Google Scholar as a discovery tool, not a reading tool**
Search Google Scholar → find the title → search that title in your university library to get free access.

**Step 3 — Snowball your sources**
Find one good paper → look at its bibliography → find more good papers. Then look at who has *cited* that paper (Google Scholar shows this) → find even newer papers.

**Step 4 — Check source quality**
- Journal article > book chapter > book > everything else
- Check the journal's impact factor (Journal Citation Reports)
- For UK universities: anything from Russell Group university presses is generally solid

Also: **ResearchGate** and **Academia.edu** have many papers uploaded by the authors themselves — sometimes you can find paywalled papers for free there legally.

And **Unpaywall** is a browser extension that finds legal free versions of academic papers automatically. Genuinely useful.