How to distinguish the difference between Primary and Secondary Sources?
Primary Sources are original documents about an event, person, object, product or work of art; written or created by someone directly involved in the event or experience and presenting information in its original form.
Examples: Monographs, Autobiographies, Letters, Diaries, Interview Transcripts, Statistical data from research study,
Secondary Sources - Not original; created using an original source. It is anything that describes, interpreters, evaluates, analyses information from primary sources.
Examples: Encyclopedias, Biographies, Reviews, Books, Textbooks and Articles that analyze and summarize information from the primary research. The authors of the secondary sources did not do studies or experiments.
Primary (Original Research) Articles:
Written by scientists or experts in their subject field.
Contain a very specific topic or title
Contain sections Introduction, Methods, Materials, Results,Discussions, and Conclusion
May include charts, diagrams, graphs, or tables
Contain lengthy reference list
Secondary (Review) Articles:
Do not contain an experiment, study or research
Analyze or compare multiple original research articles on a topic