How to Conduct Research and Find Credible Sources Like a Pro
When creating knowledge-driven storytelling content, research is key.
It’s one component of a framework I use for creating this kind of content—REI, which stands for “reporting, experience, and insight.
The “R” in the framework —the reporting—covers the who, what, when, where, why, and how of your content. It’s essentially the journalism component.
With reporting, you’re focusing on what happened. It’s purely facts and figures, meant to remain unbiased. And a huge part of that is conducting research and finding sources. So I thought I’d compile some of the best practices I’ve used over the last 10 years as a journalist and content marketer, some of my favorite places to find sources, and some tips you can implement as you create your own content.
Researching best practices
Research has a few components: figuring out what you want to talk about, finding sources, and ensuring the information you find is credible and sound.
Start with a strong question or hypothesis. Know what you’re investigating and why it matters to your audience. Ask: What do I want to prove, uncover, or understand? This helps guide your research so you don’t go overboard (it’s very easy to do, and before you know it, you have a 2,500-word piece).
Google is your friend. But don’t just rely on the search results—look at the “News” tab and Google Scholar for articles, journals, and more. You can even use advanced operators like “site:”, "exact phrase", “filetype:pdf”, “intitle:” to narrow your search.
Look at the date of the source. You want to make sure the information is recent (within the last 3 years or so is a good rule of thumb). Anything older than that can be seen as irrelevant.
Follow the hyperlinks. When consulting articles, click through the hyperlinks in the sources until you reach the original source. This is especially key for data—you’d be surprised how many articles published in 2025 link to stats from 2017.
Consult multiple sources. Don’t limit yourself to just one type of media; pull from a variety of sources to construct your argument. The more variety you have, the more well-rounded it is.
Find credible sources. Use discernment to assess whether or not a source is “credible” or not. Think back to the best practices you picked up in school when it came to essays and reports—the same principles apply here.
Cross-check your information. See if what’s being said is true across more than one source. If you notice more than one outlet or source type sharing the same information about a trend, it’s worth looking into.
Attribute information and cite sources. Link to where you pulled information from. If audio or video, provide the context (“According to…”).
First-person is your friend. Get as close to the source as you can by first consulting first-person information.
Places to find credible sources
There are so many places to find credible sources, from people you talk to, to data-driven reports, to higher ed institutions.
First-person sources: interviews, surveys, on-the-ground observations, official documents, press releases (you can conduct some of this yourself, too)
Research reports (leading brands in your industry put out a ton of these)
Newsletters
Media outlets
Industry thought leaders
Industry sources and publications (trade groups, professional associations, etc.)
Academic sources: Google Scholar, JSTOR, ResearchGate (library databases are great for this)
Government data: Census.gov, Data.gov, WHO, OECD
Educational institutes (.edu): journals, publications, etc.
Think tanks & nonprofits: Pew Research, Brookings, Knight Foundation, etc.
Public records: FOIA requests, court filings, SEC filings, local archives
Books
The types of data you’ll consult vary with your industry, but more than likely, you’ll find something on this list that applies.
Tips for keeping yourself organized
Part of success with research is staying organized. Here are some of the personal knowledge management tips I’ve implemented over the years to make it easier to collect and recall research from the sources I regularly use:
Develop a list of “go-to” sources that you can always go to when starting a new story.
Create a database or folder for any reports or research you compile that you can quickly pull from
Use a read later app like Reader to save articles and sources—these are highly searchable, so that you can find all your saves with just a few keywords. This one also has highlighting capabilities, letting you save highlighted sections and export them to tools like Notion.
If you want to go one step further, you can use a tool like Obsidian to bring in your highlights and link notes and topics together.
Reporting is just one piece of the REI Framework. I dive deeper into the framework as a whole and how you can use it to create knowledge-driven storytelling in my free training. Get instant access now.
