Who are appropriate references?

On a job application, appropriate references are those who are in a position to know your work strengths and to verify your credentials. In an academic paper, appropriate references are those which are recognized as credible and reliable sources. Wikipedia is not applicable as a source for most academic research papers because its peer editing may result in eroneous information. However, it is a good source of further sources in its citations section. Government, organization, and education sites are considered credible sources for the most part. Web sites ending in .org are discouraged as sources for most rigorous academic papers. Books by credible authors, academic or professional journal articles, and standardized reference materials such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other specific reference texts such as Black's Law dictionary and Grey's Anatomy are considered authoritative and useable. Any reference previously cleared with your instructor is an appropriate reference.