Q. How would I go about researching grade inflation, what it is, and why it matters?

1) First, do an internet search to learn background, key terms, and different views on the topic.  

Grade inflation has been in the news lately with Harvard vowing to crack down on it. Basically, it means that it's easier to get A's and good grades now than it was in the past, so they don't mean as much and people's diplomas are not as impressive since it seems easy to get good grades. There is debate about what causes this, whether it's a real problem or a good thing, and how to fix it if it is a problem.

There are several good articles in this search that give a good sense of different views and the background (see the articles from NEA, Fordham, EBSCO, the Chronicle, and the Department of Education as you scroll down). Use discernment on the web to separate the good sources from the non-credible ones.  These are all good sources. Also see the Harvard sources here.

2) Then, search the library for academic sources.

Here is a search at the library in Primo:

https://regent.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,%22grade%20inflation%22%20AND%20(trend%20OR%20comparison%20OR%20rate)%20AND%20(america%20OR%20united%20states)&tab=Everything&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&vid=01REGENT_INST:01REGENT&lang=en&offset=0

The first source there looks excellent and others like number 9. Just sign in to access online sources.

I also did a search on solutions and there are a lot of good sources here:

https://regent.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,%22grade%20inflation%22%20AND%20(policy%20OR%20fix%20OR%20solution)%20AND%20(america%20OR%20united%20states)&tab=Everything&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&vid=01REGENT_INST:01REGENT&facet=rtype,include,articles&lang=en&offset=0

Note, you can save favorites by clicking the "pin" next to a source if you're signed in to Primo.

Also, I used the Articles filter there, but you should also try the filter for book chapters, e-books, books, etc. on the left.  Articles and books found at the library will usually be academic/scholarly/peer-reviewed sources.  Articles will be labeled as such (peer-reviewed) if they are from journals and most of our books are academic ones, but if you're not sure you can look at the publisher and look the publisher up online to see if it's an academic one.