EBIO 4040/5040: Speciation: Primary vs. Secondary Sources

Primary sources are original materials that are used to report research or scientific discoveries for the first time.

Examples of primary sources include:

• A journal article that describes the results of original research or scientific experiments
• Statistics or data
• Theses or dissertations
• Technical Reports
• Conference Proceedings
• Patents

Secondary sources are materials that summarize, interpret, or otherwise repackage the information found in primary sources.

Examples of secondary sources include: 

• Review articles in journals that summarize current literature on a topic
• Textbooks
• Newspaper or magazine articles reporting on primary research or studies
• Blogs
• Criticism or analysis of primary research

Because both primary and secondary resources can be found in peer-reviewed academic journals, it can be tricky to determine if a given journal article is primary or secondary.  The most reliable way to determine if something is primary or secondary is to look at whether the overall purpose of the article is to report on the authors' own research or to examine the research of others.  Remember that authors of primary sources will still cite the research of others in order to contextualize their own research, so it's important to look at the purpose of the article as a whole.

Example 1 - Primary

Example 2 - Secondary

Example 3 - Primary

Example 4 - Secondary