Finding Academic Sources
Free Databases
Open Access Resources
Google Scholar, JSTOR (limited free), PubMed (sciences), ERIC (education), BASE, Core.ac.uk. Filter for peer-reviewed articles published after 2010 for most current topics.
School Library
Use Your IB Library Access
Many IB schools have subscriptions to JSTOR, ProQuest, EBSCOhost, or Britannica Academic. Log in through your school portal — these are premium academic databases.
Primary Sources
Original Documents & Data
Government archives, national statistics offices, UN data portals, digitised historical documents (HathiTrust, Archive.org), company annual reports, court records.
Subject Journals
Discipline-Specific Journals
Nature (science), The Economist (economics), JSTOR (humanities), IEEE (computer science), The Lancet (medicine). Search for the leading journals in your EE subject.
Citation Style Guides
| Style | Common In | Book Format | Journal Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| MLA 9th | Literature, Arts, Humanities | Author. Title. Publisher, Year. | Author. “Article.” Journal vol.issue (Year): pp. |
| APA 7th | Sciences, Social Sciences | Author, A. (Year). Title. Publisher. | Author, A. (Year). Article. Journal, vol(issue), pp. DOI |
| Chicago 17th | History, Philosophy | Author. Title. City: Publisher, Year. | Author. “Article.” Journal vol, no.issue (Year): pp. |
💡 Expert Tip
Use Zotero (free) or Cite This For Me to auto-generate citations. Always double-check the auto-generated output against the official style guide — tools make mistakes.
Research Quality Checklist
- ✓ At least 8 sources — all credible (peer-reviewed, official, or authored by named experts)
- ✓ No Wikipedia as a primary source (use it to find primary sources only)
- ✓ Sources span a range of perspectives — not all from one viewpoint
- ✓ All online sources have an accessed date recorded
- ✓ Citation style is consistently applied throughout the essay
- ✓ Every source in the bibliography appears as an in-text citation
Need help finding sources for your specific EE topic?
📞 Ask our tutors for subject-specific source recommendations