Primary and Secondary Literature

Finding good sources for research

Types of Scientific Literature Popular Science

News Articles Interest Articles Books

Meeting Abstracts, Papers, and Proceedings Research Articles Review Articles Encyclopedia or other reference material Books

Reviews Textbooks

Primary Literature Report of original research Written by the person(s) who conducted the

research Most reliable if published in a reliable peer-

reviewed joural Example: original journal articles May be a full report or Brief/Note/ Letter

Secondary Literature Information others have written on the topic Resource that informs us of scientific research Science writing in newspaper, magazines, TV

news, internet, etc Position papers, commentary, or review articles in

peer reviewed journals

Writing Your Background Research Should be a summary of your topic of study Covers journal articles, books and other sources

that describe the information that is currently known on the topic

Can establish the validity of your research

What am I trying to find?? Sources that are related to your research topic They may be identical or may just contain

information that is relevant for your topic. For lab reports

Looking for background information What have other scientists done on this topic?

Primary or Secondary?

Primary or Secondary?

Primary or Secondary?

Primary or Secondary?

Do I need more primary or secondary sources? Both are useful Secondary sources can give you an overview of

the topic Primary sources are most reliable and give more

specific information

Searches Best to use key words Search synonyms Sometimes phrases work well Primary literature, in general shouldn’t be more

than 10 years old unless it is a standard paper on which later research is based (source of later research ideas)

Searches Where do I look?

PubMed http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed

Google Scholar http://scholar.google.com/

Jstore http://www.jstor.org/

TEL and Gale Both available through our school library

Understanding the parts of a Scientific Paper

• Abstract – Brief summary• Introduction – Provides background information• Materials/Methods – Lists protocols,

techniques, and reagents used• Results – Clearly summarizes the data generated

from the experiments• Discussion- Provides explanations for the results• References- List Of Citations

What? I don’t get this article How to read an article to determine

relevance 1. Search for key words in the title or well

known scientists in the field 2. Read the Abstract! 3. Read the Introduction and Discussion

(Conclusion) 4. Then if you think it is relevant, read

other parts of the article as needed

What do I do today? 1. Practice search: by Wednesday turn in two primary and two

secondary sources on a topic of interest Label each source as primary or secondary How it relates to your topic of interest Citation of source Link to source

2. Find information for background research for your next lab report AP Biology: Behavior of Isopods APES: Acid Rain and pH in the environment You MUST have a minimum of three sources in your background

information one of which must be primary. Textbook sources may be used in addition to your three sources, but

not as one of the three