Two Main Types Of Sources In Scientific Literature

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There are two main types of sources used in scientific literature. These are primary and secondary sources. A primary source can be defined as original content. It is information that has been obtained via original research, experimentation, thoughts and observations. Usually a primary piece of literature is written in first person. In contrast, a secondary piece of literature is one that examines a primary source (1). A review article would be an example of a secondary piece of literature because it is not a compilation of original ideas, but rather a response/ analysis of a primary source. In contrast, a letter (communications) would be an example of a primary source because a letter can be classified as new raw data and original thought. …show more content…
Not all articles submitted to journals are published. Journals have a multistep process, which articles are subject to, before a select few are chosen for publication. When an article is submitted for publication it is first read by the journal editors. It is during this initial read that the editors decide whether or not the article content matches the journal’s theme as well as if the article meets the journal’s standards (2). Once the paper passes this initial reading it is sent to be peer reviewed. “Peer- Reviewed” means that an article is looked over by a panel of professionals that are experts in the particular field the article is covering, hence the authors “peers” (3). After a paper is peer reviewed it returns to the journal’s editors and they make a final decision regarding whether the article will be published in the journal. The journal’s editors can respond to a submitting author in several ways. These include a complete rejection, a complete acceptance, an acceptance with revisions and a major revision with encouraged resubmission. A complete acceptance without revisions is a very rare outcome …show more content…
All articles include the same sections; the title, abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, conclusion and works cited. The title is essentially a one line summary of the entire research paper. It should communicate exactly what the researcher was trying to study. It is also appropriate to include the final conclusion as part of the title sequence. The abstract is the first block of text in a research paper. It is a very important section that allows for readers to get an overview of the paper’s contents. This is often the section of the article that determines whether a reader will continue reading the study or discard it. Therefore, it is important that the abstract is written thoroughly but still remains concise. The next section is the introduction. The introduction is used to the provide the reader with insight and information as to how the author thought of and designed his experiment as well as any necessary background information for understanding the research that was done. The introduction should answer four main questions. These are the importance of the author’s topic, the questions that arise when discussing and researching this topic, background research with regards to the topic and a research objective and hypothesis. The introduction should end with a strong objective that ties together all the information presented in the section. Introductions should be

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