In the sciences, a primary source is typically an article reporting original research. This might be an experiment, study, or investigation performed by one or more individuals.
There are other primary sources including conference papers, patents, and technical reports. However, this guide will focus on locating research articles published in journals.
A research article might use these words in the abstract: "The aim of this study was to investigate..." In this study, we focused on ..."
In addition, a research article in the sciences often follows this format: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion.
Secondary sources serve to provide background information so that you can better understand your topic. These might be review articles or books such as textbooks or specialized handbooks and encyclopedias.
Review articles can be especially useful in providing a current synthesis of a research question plus providing an extensive list of references. Often an article database has the option to limit your results to review articles.
A review article might display the word "Review" as this example. In addition the abstract might use words such as, "this article provides a state-of-the-art overview ...."
