Primary articles will be your main focus in this class and during your time here at SU. They also make up the bulk of research and reading that working scientists and researchers use.
In the sciences, primary articles refer to original research about a given topic. Most of the articles in our science databases are primary articles. These quality scientific articles come from regularly-published journals and include new information about scientific research.
Look for articles that contain the following sections:
Primary STEM articles generally contain charts, graphs, or some other form of data. The authors did some kind of experiment, observation, clinical trial, or case study in the hopes of answering a question. They are writing about data or new information.
Also called secondary sources, review articles summarize the known findings on an existing topic. This topic is usually broader than individual primary articles. You will also use our library databases to find reviews.
Many, but not all, review articles contain one of these terms in their title or abstract:
Review articles in the sciences usually do not have sections like methodology or results. If they include any data, it will be drawn from other articles, not an original experiment. They are reviewing other sources.