Research and Course Guides: BIOL 363: Immunology: Finding Research

Primary Sources

Primary sources are ones written by the scientists who performed the experiments, during the time of the study - these articles include original research data.

Secondary sources are ones that summarize or compare lots of research in a particular area.

So how can you tell if a science article is a primary source? Primary research articles will include sections about:

methodology - explaining how the experiment was conducted
results - detailing what happened and providing raw data sets (often as tables or graphs)
conclusions - connecting the results with theories and other research
references - to previous research or theories that influenced the research

How do you know when you are done researching?

Are you seeing the same articles over and over?

Research Strategies

Core Databases

BioOne This link opens in a new window
BioOne provides full-text access to both current and archival "bioscience research journals, featuring timely content on a wide-array of today’s most pressing topics, including global warming, stem cell research, ecological and biodiversity conservation."
PubMed This link opens in a new window
Indexes articles on all aspects of medicine, published all over the world. Use for human biology, anatomy, and physiology, psychiatry, pharmacology, and health care management, administration, and policy. The MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) search is extremely helpful in finding terms. After you find an especially appropriate article, click on Related Records to find other articles of interest.
ScienceDirect This link opens in a new window
ScienceDirect offers access to the publications of Elsevier Science and its subsidiaries - nearly 2,500 journals and 30,000 books. The collection contains selected full text of journal articles (since 1995) and book chapters. The collection focuses on science, technology and medicine, it also contains many journal titles from other social science disciplines.
Scopus This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Scopus calls itself the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature: over 21,500 scientific journals, 130,000 books and conference proceedings, covering all fields of academic study: science, technology, medicine, social sciences, and arts and humanities. Scopus also includes 8 different citation metrics, analyzing impact at the author, article, journal, and institution levels.
Scopus vendor guide is here: https://elsevier.libguides.com/Scopus/home.

BIOL 363: Immunology: Finding Research

Research is M E S S Y

Primary Sources

How do you know when you are done researching?

Research Strategies

Core Databases