Desk research: finding and recording reliable sources
For anyone asked to 'look into' something before a decision: coordinators, administrators, analysts, team leads and project staff. No prerequisites. You'll turn a vague request into a research question, start from evidence your organisation already holds and from primary and official sources, search efficiently with operators, judge whether each source is good enough for the purpose, and keep a source log that lets someone else find and check every source. It complements 'Critical thinking at work: evaluating claims, evidence and sources', which goes deeper on testing claims. Based on GOV.UK Service Manual guidance, university library guides and Google's search help. Follow your organisation's rules on which tools and internal data you may use.
- Level
- Beginner
- Length
- About 95 minutes
- Contents
- 5 lessons · final exam
- Status
- Published · updated 10 Oct 2026
Skills you'll practise
- Write a desk research question that names the decision it supports, its scope and the evidence that would answer it
- Choose where to look first: existing internal evidence and primary or official sources before secondary commentary
- Use search operators to find specific sources quickly: exact phrases, site:, excluded words, filetype: and date limits
- Judge whether a source is reliable enough for the purpose by checking authority, purpose, date, documentation and independent confirmation
- Record each source in a source log with enough detail to find, check and cite it, marking quotes, paraphrases and summaries
Course outline
- 1.Writing a desk research questionLesson · 15 min
- 2.Choosing where to look firstLesson · 17 min
- 3.Searching with operatorsLesson · 15 min
- 4.Judging whether a source is reliable enough for the purposeLesson · 16 min
- 5.Recording sources in a source logLesson · 14 min
- 6.Desk research: finding and recording reliable sources: knowledge checkKnowledge check · 14 questions
- 7.Desk research: finding and recording reliable sources: practical exerciseKnowledge check · 1 question
- 8.Final exam10 questions · passing it completes the course, so people who already know the material can test out
Sources it draws on
The lessons and questions are written from these references, so learners can go back to the original.
- GOV.UK Service Manual: Start by learning user needs (reviewing existing evidence; treating opinions as assumptions)
- GOV.UK Service Manual: User research in discovery (examining existing data and previous research)
- Google Search Help: Refine Google searches (operators)
- Purdue OWL: Evaluating Sources: Where to Begin (scholarly and popular, primary and secondary sources)
- Purdue OWL: Evaluating Sources: General Guidelines
- Purdue OWL: Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing
- UC Berkeley Library Guides: Evaluating Resources
- Office for Statistics Regulation (UK): Official Statistics Policies (official, accredited official, and in-development statistics)
- Internet Archive Help Center: Using the Wayback Machine (Save Page Now)
See it with your own jobs and topics
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