- University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Research Guides
- CHEM 311: Chemistry Across the Periodic Table (Fall 2025)
- Evaluating and Using Articles
CHEM 311: Chemistry Across the Periodic Table (Fall 2025) : Evaluating and Using Articles
Source Types in the Sciences
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Primary and Secondary Sources in the SciencesThis is an expanded tutorial on differentiating between primary articles and secondary (review) articles in STEM disciplines.
Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources
Primary
A primary source in the sciences is a report of research results written by the scientist(s) who conducted the research.
- Contains original research results or “raw data”
- Written by the scientist(s) who conducted the research
- Includes enough detail for other scientists to evaluate and reproduce results
Examples: Research articles, Conference papers, Theses, Technical reports, Patents, Data sets, Lab notebooks
Secondary
A secondary source in the sciences synthesizes, summarizes, interprets or analyzes one or more primary sources often in an attempt to summarize the current state of knowledge on a topic.
- Contains no original data found or produced by the author
- Typically written by a scientist or journalist who has read primary research papers
- Draw conclusions based on research done by others
Examples: Review articles, meta-analyses, news reports, some book chapters, some government reports
Tertiary
A tertiary source in the sciences collects and condenses information from primary and secondary sources.
- Introduce general readers to what is currently known about a topic
- Distill information from experiments or research (e.g. chemical properties)
- Collect or list primary and secondary sources from more information
Examples: Textbooks, Encyclopedias, Bibliographies, Almanacs, Chronologies, Dictionaries, Manuals