Can someone help differentiate between primary and secondary research sources?

2010-03-31 12:29 pm

I'm a nursing student and learning how to differentiate between primary and secondary source research reports/ documents. Could someone help me categorize the following types of journal articles into
A. Primary sources and
B. Secondary sources?

1) Research/ empirical articles
2) Review articles
3) Descriptive articles
4) Case studies
5) Editorials
6) Commentary
7) Position/ policy statement papers

Thanks

回答 (1)

[匿名]

2010-04-03 3:34 am

✔ 最佳答案

Primary sources are materials that describe actual situations. If you were studying history, primary sources would be public records, newspaper articles from the time you're studying, interviews with witnesses to the event you're describing, and so forth. Secondary sources would be other scholars' work on the subject.

In medicine, primary sources are, well, the patients you care for. They are also articles that describe actual patients, procedures, and cases. Secondary sources are all the other stuff: opinion pieces, commentary, reviews, and longitudinal studies.

Here's how to tell the difference. If an article is about actual patients or people, it's a primary source. If it's about other articles, it's a secondary source.

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