This document defines and provides examples of primary and secondary sources in scientific research. Primary sources are original research conducted by scientists, such as lab notebooks and reports or scholarly research articles. Secondary sources analyze and review primary sources to create a response, including magazine articles, review articles, encyclopedias, and textbooks. When determining if a scholarly article is primary or secondary, original research articles present one study's methodology, results and conclusions, while review articles analyze multiple primary sources on a topic.

1. Identifying primary and
secondary sources in the
sciences
By Jeanne Hoover

2. What is a Primary Source?
A primary source is original research
conducted by a scientist.
Examples:
Lab notebooks
Lab reports
Scholarly research articles

3. What is a Secondary Source?
A secondary source seeks out primary sources,
analyzes or reviews them and creates a response to
them.
Examples:
Magazine or news articles
Scholarly review articles
Encyclopedias
Textbooks

4. You . . .
Do an experiment in your You write down your results
class
These are primary sources
You write a research article
on your experiment

5. As a Result of your published article . . .
A science journalist reads your A publisher decides to add
article and references it in his information about your article
article in National Geographic in a new Biology textbook
These are secondary sources

6. When it gets complicated . . .
 Most of the scholarly research articles that you find in
journals are either original research (primary sources) or
review articles (secondary sources). It can be tricky to
tell them apart.

7. Similarities Between Original Research
Articles and Review Articles
 Authors are experts in the field
 Academic journals publish them
 Typically includes the following sections: Abstract,
introduction, and a reference list
 Geared towards other scientists and college students
 Very technical or advanced in their topic or study

8. Original Research Article or
Primary Source Article
 These articles cover one study or experiment that was
completed by the authors
 The title or topic will be very specific
 Look for the following sections for clues that you’re
looking at a primary source article
 Methodology Section explaining how the experiment was
setup
 Results Section which includes the data or results from
the experiment

9. Review Articles or Secondary
Source Articles
 These articles analyze or compare multiple original
research articles on a topic (aka. a literature review)
 The article gives an overview of a specific topic or
technique
 These articles may have “review” in the journal or article
title
 The authors of the article did not do a study or
experiment
 The article usually has headings related to the topic

10. Have More Questions? Ask!
Email: askref@ecu.edu
Phone: 252-328-6677
Website: www.ecu.edu/lib