This web page is intended to help with the BISC 102 assignment. 

If you need help, please contact Hazel Plante, Liaison Librarian at 778.782.4173 or hazel_plante@sfu.ca or Ask a librarian.

What is a primary scholarly article?

Primary scholarly articles:

• Report on new experimental results.
• Typically include sections such as Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion, Bibilography
• Are sharply focused information on discoveries, research and recent events. They do not usually provide much basic information.
• Are peer-reviewed; experts examine submitted articles before accepting them for publication.

For your assignments you will need to use primary not secondary sources. In other words, you will need to find a paper that focuses on original physical experiments not a review paper or a meta-analysis.

How do I find primary scholarly articles?

Search in an article database! Key databases: Web of Science | Zoological Record | Google Scholar

Remember:

• Identify the key terms that best represent the concepts in your topic and type those words into the search box.
• Scan the abstract to see if the article is a primary source. Look for words like experiment or methods or study.
• Use the Get@SFU button to search the library’s holdings and locate the full-text article.

Is the article I found a primary scholarly article?

Ask yourself the following questions. Yes should be the answer for most of them.

• Is the article written by experts and for experts in the field?
• Does the article report the results of experimental research?
• Does the article have a bibliography or list of references at the end?
• Does the journal have an editorial policy that includes peer-review?
• Look at the structure of the paper. Does it follow the structure of a scientific paper?

What is peer-review?

• An editorial board asks subject experts to review and evaluate submitted articles before accepting them for publication in a scholarly journal.
• Submissions are evaluated using criteria including the excellence, novelty and significance of the research or ideas.
• Scholarly journals use this process to protect and maintain the quality of material they publish.
• Members of the editorial board are listed near the beginning of each journal issue.

Structure of a scientific paper

Scientific papers follow a structured format. They consist of distinct sections which each contain a specific type of information:

• Title - describes contents clearly and precisely
• Abstract - provides a complete, but very succinct summary of the paper
• Introduction - background information and hypothesis
• Materials & Methods (or Methods) - describes both specific techniques and the overall experimental strategy used
• Results - contains the data collected
• Discussion - explains how the authors interpret their data and how they connect it to other work
• Acknowledgements - people or institutions (in addition to the authors) that contributed to the work
• Literature cited - provides the sources cited throughout the paper