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Researching for Biology Labs: The Scientific Literature

A lab guide for scientific writing and research.

The Information Cycle in the Sciences

 

Where you begin your search for information depends on what you already know about the topic.

 

 

Source:  Sathrum, R. (2011, May.)  The Literature of Science.  Retrieved from: http://library.humboldt.edu/infoservices/staff/rls/litscience.html

 

Primary Literature

  • Literature that describes an event or research in a “first-hand” or “primary” way
  • Scientific primary literature reports the results of original scientific research
  • Key example is a research article
  • Other examples include conference proceedings, technical reports, theses and dissertations
  • Informal communication can be referred to as “grey literature” and can include emails, social media, unpublished conference papers, colloquia, etc.

Secondary Literature

  • Secondary literature provides a second-hand account by drawing on multiple other sources, both primary and secondary, and synthesizes what is known about a topic or aspect of a topic
  • Examples include review articles, scholarly books (known as monographs), and reference tools (handbooks, manuals, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and atlases)
  • A good way of finding an overview of a topic

NOTE:  Reference tools (e.g., handbooks, manuals, dictionaries, encyclopedias, atlases, etc.) are considered by some disciplines to be tertiary literature sources.  For our purposes, we will include them in the secondary tier of scientific literature.

Tertiary Literature (or Access Tools)

  • In this context, also known as access tools
  • Includes tools used to index and access primary and secondary literatures
  • Examples include the Library’s catalogue and the journal databases/indexes we subscribe to

The Flow of Information: Research in the Sciences

Research in the Sciences presents a timeline which illustrates, using Watson & Crick's discovery of the double helix, how information flows from a research study is created and disseminated from the lab to a specialized audience and eventually to the public, how it changes and morphs over time relative to the audience, and how it informs research going forward.

Source:  Online Library Learning Center. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.usg.edu/galileo/skills/unit01/flow_02/c_science/index.phtml