BIOA01 & BIOA02: Research & Writing Help

When scientists have information or an experiment to add to the body of knowledge in their field of study, they usually write up their findings in a scientific journal. Before it is published, these articles go through a process of peer review.

In the sciences, a journal article is sometimes called a scientific article, a peer-reviewed article, or a scholarly research article. Together, journal articles in a particular field are often referred to as the literature.

Journal articles are most often primary research articles. However, they can also be review articles. These types of articles have different aims and requirements. Sometimes, an article describes a new tool or method.

Because articles in scientific journals are specific, meticulously cited and peer-reviewed, journal databases are the best place to look for information on previous research on your species. Journal articles may be hard to understand if you don't have a background in the field - however, you do not need to understand an entire article to be able to get valuable information from it.

Reading a journal article may lead you to other journal articles on closely related topics. When reading a journal article, mark the citations that you are interested in. Later, you can find those articles to continue your search.

Primary Sources are:

• Researchers reporting first-hand about their new research
• Includes some Journal articles and some Books (monographs)

The most common type of journal article you will find in the sciences deals with primary research. These articles describe an original experiment or analysis that adds to current knowledge a particular topic. 

Typically, Primary journal articles will have a common structure that includes:

• Abstract
• Introduction 
• Methods/Methods & Materials 
• Results 
• Discussion 
• Conclusion. 

Look for a Methods or Methods and Materials Section as a quick check to see if an article may be primary. Read this section to see if the researchers are talking about their new research.

Secondary/Review articles frequently contain many of the same sections as primary articles but frequently will not have a Methods or Methods & Materials section. If they do, they will discuss how the articles to be reviewed were found and selected.

Review articles synthesize current research on a specific topic. Often an article will summarize past research, identify important people in the field, outline recent advances, and point out gaps in a body of knowledge. Review articles are often located in the same journals as primary research articles, but do not report original research.

Review articles are a great resource if you're looking for an overview of a small topic, with complete and current information. Review articles are well-cited, so they can provide a starting point for more extensive research.

The following journals focus solely on review articles:

When decifing which articles to use to support ideas and arguments in your paper, keep these criteria in mind:

The content on this page has been re-used with permission from the Heather Cunningham's (Gerstein Science Information Centre's) Biology Library Research guide.