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Primary Sources
Primary research is firsthand (original) research, study, or experimentationauthor(s), usually documented with an abstract (summary), method, results, conclusion, and bibliography. Research articles typically describe and discuss the research experiment in detail, and are written by and for the practitioner. Research articles can sometimes be difficult to read and interpret because of the terminology used.
Secondary Sources
Secondary research is a summary or overview of research conducted by others than the author(s) on a topic or in a field. One type of secondary source is a review article, which describes (reviews) research conducted by others. Review articles are sometimes published in research journals, and are also reported on in magazines, newspapers, and other sources (web pages). Review articles are usually easier to read and interpret, and often lead you to the original (primary) source through the bibliography. When searching medical databases, you can usually limit your search to publication types, such as research articles or review articles. You may want to start by reading a review article to get a broader understanding of the topic before reading specific research articles.
Popular vs Scholarly
Scholarly v's popular sources how can you tell the difference? Usually it
is easy to spot the scholarly sources, they are written by experts in peer
reviewed journals. Popular sources are generally reviews of other people's
research and are meant for a wider audience. The following Website gives a
list of criteria and examples for determining different sources. Distinguishing
Scholarly Journals from Other Periodicals
Reading Medical Papers
Papers in professional medical journals can be challenging to read and understand.The following links offer some strategies for overcoming that chllenge. They are a series of articles published in the British Medical Journal in 1997, volume 315 by Trisha Greenhalgh.
- How to read a paper: The MEDLINE database
- How to read a paper: Getting your bearings (deciding what the paper is about)
- How to read a paper: Assessing the methodological quality of published papers
- How to read a paper: Papers that report diagnostic or screening tests
- How to read a paper: Papers that tell you what things cost
- How to read a paper: Papers that summarise other papers (systematic reviews and meta-analysis)
- How to read a paper: Papers that go beyond numbers (qualitative research)
Page updated: April 17, 2007
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