Integrative Biology (IBIO) : Evaluating Sources

Peer-reviewed articles, often called scholarly or refereed, are articles that are critiqued by reviewers prior to publication. The reviewers are often anonymous, and their expertise comes from being scholars or experts in the field that the article/journal is published in. Reviewers are asked to judge the quality of the article by addressing the validity of the research, whether or not the methods chosen address the question(s) asked, and the accuracy of the data. If an article does not meet standards set by the journal it is usually sent back for revisions or is rejected for publication.

Some common characteristics of peer-reviewed articles are:

• Publication in a journal published by a scholarly society, professional association, or academic press.
• Based on original research or offer a critical analysis of research performed by experts or scholars in the field.
• Charts, diagrams, and/or tables showing data or results of experiments are included.
• A list of references or sources is provided at the end.
• Language used often contains specialized vocabulary and uses terms or concepts specific to a particular discipline or field of study.
• Often highly structured and contains an abstract, introduction with literature review, methods, results, discussion, and conclusion.

An article that meets one or more of the above criteria is likely to be peer-reviewed, however non-peer-reviewed resources may also have some of these traits. 

What Are Primary Sources

Primary sources are the direct, uninterpreted records of the subject of your research project. As such, a primary source can be almost anything, depending on the subject and purpose of your research. Be creative in thinking of possible relevant primary sources of information on your topic.

Why Use Primary Sources?

• A primary source is as close as you can get to the event, person, phenomenon, or other subject of your research.
• A primary source on its own is likely only a snippet or snapshot of the full picture; thus it is often difficult to interpret on its own.
• Reference sources and secondary analyses give you a framework for interpreting primary sources.
• The real work of research is examining primary sources to test the interpretations, analyses, and views you find in reference and secondary sources.
• Use primary sources to find evidence that challenges these interpretations, or evidence in favor of one scholar's interpretation over that of another; then posit an interpretation of your own, and look for more primary sources for evidence to confirm or refute your thesis.
• When you present your conclusions, you will have produced another secondary source to aid others in their research.

Types of Primary Sources:

• Lab reports: experiments, observations, etc.
• Historical documents: official papers, maps, treaties, etc.
• First –person accounts: diaries, memoirs, letters, interviews, speeches, etc.
• Recordings: audio, video, photographic, etc.
• Artifacts: manufactured items such as clothing, furniture, tools, buildings
• Newspapers: some types of articles
• Government publications: statistics, court reports, etc.
• Internet resources: see, especially, digitized versions of historical documents
• Manuscript collections: collected writings, notes, letters, and other unpublished works
• Books: extensive and detailed discussions of a particular topic or set of topics, written by the scholars and researchers who came up with the ideas or discovered the findings

Learn the difference between three major types of articles. Get tips for using each type.

Direct link to "Popular, Scholarly, or Trade?" on MSU Mediaspace

Video credit: Emilia Marcyk

This video will walk you through what a citation is and the different parts of a citation.

Direct link to "Anatomy of a Citation" on MSU Mediaspace

Video credit: Megan Kudzia