The following definitions refer to published, available information. The information is put in a (reasonably) permanent form.
Primary Sources are the original resources that first report research or ideas. In research, these are often research articles in scholarly journals. However, they may include newspapers, research reports, trade journals, conference proceedings, dissertations, Web sites, novels, poems, plays, speeches, interviews, letters, case studies, test data, findings from surveys, archaeological drawings, experiments, films, drawings, designs, paintings, music, sculptures, etc. IF it is the original source of information.
Secondary Sources are resources that analyze, describe, and synthesize the primary or original source. These include review articles, newspaper articles, reference books such as encyclopedias and dictionaries, and textbooks.
This definition is a little vague. Tertiary sources are resources written about the secondary literature. In other words, literature which explains, teaches you how to use, and leads you through the vast array of primary and secondary scientific literature. Examples may include textbooks, monographs, bibliographies, encyclopedias and reference books of all kinds which provide a summary of accepted knowledge about a topic or subject area in broad outline. Librarians disagree on the precision of this definition and some do not use the term at all, preferring categories of only primary and secondary sources.
What you are looking for can make a difference in where you should look. Different types of sources offer different information.
Books:
Books take about a year to be published. They will not include the latest studies and research. Textbooks and encyclopedias are good for basic information. Further editions of books demonstrate that a source has been updated to reflect new information and may be a standard source in the field. Are there newer editions available?
Reference Books:
Reference books, such as encyclopedias and dictionaries, collect accepted facts from the established literature. In health and science, they can be huge and may take years to put together. Therefore, they do not contain the most current information, although they may mention studies that were recent at the the time of publication. But they are a good one-stop-shop to start by learning the basics of a topic.
Journals:
The latest research is published in journals. It can be difficult to find basic information in journals. Nowadays, most journals have a web site that allows viewing of the table of contents and summaries of articles.
Databases:
Databases are very useful and efficient for searching through journals. Sometimes they include books, and other sources. Every database follows different rules for searching and storage. Effective use depends on knowing those rules. Commercial medical and science databases commonly provide only summaries of articles and do not include full text. They can be very expensive.
You may be writing a 3-5 page basic freshman comp-type paper, a detailed upper-level course in your major, a speech… it doesn’t matter; sooner or later, on your own, or with the help of your classmates, teachers and librarians, you have to decide exactly what you want to write about!
BEFORE you examine the resources below, you need to think about the requirements of the research project. It might help you to organize your thoughts using these steps:
[from Booth, The Craft of Research, 1995
You may start with one set of variables filling out the above, but as you do your preliminary reading & researching, you should expect it to change as you refine your final topic choice.
DATABASES can be used to help you CHOOSE topics before you do your in-depth RESOURCE-FINDING. Try TopicSearch. Try Points of View Reference Center. Try CQ Researcher.
SUBJECT ENCYCLOPEDIAS [many online as well as print] allow you to read overviews of general topics and often suggest narrower topics that would fit your requirements.
Look for more encyclopedias in the online catalog or the Electronic Resources portal; ASK a librarian!
Visit the BROWSING PERIODICALS (1st floor), choose a general magazine or a subject-specific one and browse several issues to find topics that might work.
Out on the Internet, head for Google News and see what topics are Trending. Go to major news sites like CNN and look for in-depth reports on topics. Remember to use LEGITIMATE news sites! If you're not sure, ASK a librarian! Debate sites are good places to find topics that are interesting, researchable, and fit into your requirements. Hopefully your teacher will provide you with ideas. If not, ASK a librarian! Topic choice searching is one of the times when Wikipedia comes in very handy!
Also, why not just browse the subject categories of our Subject Guides here on the list? Bet you can find some possibilities! If you're not sure, ASK a librarian!
Identify what your hypothesis or research topic is. What do you know about it? What are the common beliefs and facts known? What are the known treatments or care options?
In a literature review, you are attempting to find out what is known about your hypothesis or research topic. What do others know through research? What competing theories are available? What relevant research has been done? These are the beliefs and facts that will either support or refute your hypothesis. These are the arguments to which you must respond to validate your research.
So how do you find out what is known about a topic?
Get an Overview of your Topic. Start with a specialized dictionary, encyclopedia, handbook, textbook, guide, or bibliography to get a brief overview of your topic. Use these to get competing theories, definitions of subject specific terms, an historical perspective, a chronology of events, or useful bibliographic references.
To search for specific print or electronic books owned by the ISU Library, we recommend the following:
Find a book about the topic to gather more information. Books are longer than encyclopedia entries and journal articles. They can tell you what is known about the topic in detail. They take about a year to be published so they will not include the latest information. That step will come next.
ISU LIBRARY CATALOG
If you live on or near the ISU campus, you may want to search the Classic Catalog and its collection of more than two million books, microforms, videos and journal titles.
A sample keyword search in the Library Classic Catalog would be:
eating disorders in the keyword anywhere field
AND
treatment? OR intervention in the keyword anywhere field
Look for journal articles for the latest research. Journal articles are more current than books. They are also shorter and often contain information about only a specific portion of a broad topic. Journals are very important to scholarly research.
The easiest way to find journal articles is to use the library databases. They have search engines that can be used to search for keywords, words in the title, author name, subject heading or other part of an article. Some sources may be more appropriate than others for your topic. If appropriate, don’t forget to check out art, literature, language, business, and education databases.
To find the most commonly used databases in a subject,
go to Library Homepage > Electronic Resources
Under Databases by Subject Area, choose your subject
The Internet contains a wealth of information but can result in "information overload," if you encounter too much information to digest. And, because anyone can create a Web page, you also may encounter incorrect or misleading information. therefore, it is very important to evaluate your sources.
Use search engines to search the Internet.
Other resources may also be appropriate.
Newspapers - Newspapers can tell you what the general public knows about a topic. They also will occasionally report new or interesting health information. "Researchers at Indiana State University published a report in the American Journal of Nursing that found..." You can track down the original article yourself given clues from the newspaper article. Does it say who the researchers are? They probably authored the paper. Does it say what institution is doing the research? Does it mention what publication published the original research? You can use our library resources to search for that author, institution, and publication.
