BIOL 391 Introduction to Biological Research - Scientific Literature PDF

10/20/24 Types of Scientific Literature Scientific Literature What is primary literature? Ch 7, Hofmann (2025)...

10/20/24 Types of Scientific Literature Scientific Literature What is primary literature? Ch 7, Hofmann (2025) What other types of scientific sources? BIOL 391 Science builds on acquired Introduction to Biological Research and documented knowledge. Burman, Fall 2024 1 2 Primary Literature The primary literature presents original observations and experiments and includes detailed information about how those observations or experiments were made or conducted. Articles encompassing this primary literature are published, after being reviewed and evaluated by other scientists in a process called peer review, in formal research journals such as Science, Nature, Ecology, Genome Biology, PLOS ONE, and Cell. 3 4 Characteristics of Primary Literature Secondary Literature The secondary literature, in contrast, is based Provide firsthand evidence gathered by on summaries of the primary literature the author(s). regarding the existing state of knowledge in a field at the time of publication. This makes them the best source of Describe, interpret, analyze or compare information on cutting edge topics. information from primary sources. Covers very focused and specialized topics. Good for comparisons of different ideas and theories and to see how they may have changed Could also include journals, conference over time. proceedings, interviews, lab notebooks, Review articles, some textbooks and patents, preprints, technical reports, or commentaries are examples of the secondary theses and dissertations. literature. 5 6 1  10/20/24 Tertiary Literature Compile and summarize mostly secondary sources. General and very broad topic coverage. They can be a good place to look up data or to get an overview of a subject, but they rarely contain original material. Examples might include reference publications such as most textbooks, encyclopedias, bibliographies or handbooks. 7 8 Know where to find sources. Manage sources Science databases Keeping track of all your references is – Science Direct, Medline, PubMed, Google important from the start. Scholar, etc Organize sources to an outline of your Covered with “Meeting with Librarian” manuscript. – Use appropriate search terms/phrases Use a reference manager like EndNote, – Select the most relevant references Mendeley, RefWorks, etc. – Verify sources found in a review or secondary Start using the formatting for the source against the original document citations and reference lists (next – Be careful with Web sources (use reputable chapter). sources) 9 10 11 2