Types of Electronic Sources
As technology has advanced more and more information is available in Internet-ready format. The standard free web sources (.com, .edu, .gov, etc.) are still widely available. Your professor may restrict your use of web sources and are often referring to the free web and not the scholarly sources available via academic databases.
Today a significant amount of scholarly research is available via the Internet. How and why you utilize these information sources depends on your research project. To learn how to find and access scholarly electronic sources look at the Search Tools and Search Strategies sections of this tutorial.
Resources that were once available exclusively in a specific format are now available electronically. Examples of these sources are:
| Non-Internet format | Internet format | Examples |
| Print journals | e-journals (HTML or Acrobat pdf) | JSTOR (Purdue only) |
| Print books | e-books (HTML or Acrobat pdf) | Safari Books Online (Purdue only) |
| DVDs / video tapes | streaming videos | Amazon Video On Demand |
| Radio broadcasts | podcasting | NPR |
| Television broadcasts | vcasting | Hulu, CNN |
Many resources that are historically significant are being converted or digitized for access via the Internet. The Purdue Libraries e-Archives is an example of this type of initiative.