Research & Instruction Librarian
Scientific Primary and Secondary Sources
Primary sources = Original Research, Discussion, or Ideas
- Written by the scientist(s) or researcher(s) who conducted the experiment or study
- Original work submitted to a governing body (i.e. standards or patents)
- Should include sections detailing how the research was performed such as methodology, results, and discussion/conclusions
- Ex: standards, studies or surveys, patents, conference proceedings, and technical reports
Secondary sources = Define, Summarize, Review, or Compare
- Authors did not conduct the research studies which are mentioned or cited in the article themselves
- Purpose is to define, summarize, review, or compare the published research on a specific topic
- Ex: systematic reviews, handbooks, tables, and dictionaries
Search Tips & Strategies: Constructing Your Search
| AND | AND narrows your search by telling Find It @ USC, article databases, or other library resources that ALL keywords must be found in a source in order for it appear in your results |
| OR |
OR broadens your search by telling Find It @ USC, article databases, or other library resources that ANY keywords much be found in a source in order for it to appear in your results. This is a great option for searching synonyms or related terms. If you type in women OR females, results will have either term but not necessarily both. |
* |
This is a truncation symbol that will broaden your search by including various word endings. influen* will search for influence, influences, influential, influencer, as well as influencers |
" " |
Use quotation marks to match an exact phrase or word. If there are different spelling or punctuation options those results will not be returned (Ex: "3-d model" will not show any results that use "3d model" ) "engineering analysis" |
Here is an example of how to construct a search:
