You need to find primary research articles on your topic.
What is a primary research article?
Primary / first / "I" /
eyewitness
Primary research articles are reports and discussions of the results of original research, written by those who carried out the studies, and are based on the results of their experiments or observations.
Typical Format of a Primary Research Article
- Abstract: summary of what the study is about, how the research was conducted, what the findings are.
- Introduction and Literature Review: background of problem, reasons for/objectives of the study, prior research & literature on the topic.
- Materials/Methods & Results: how the study was conducted (samples, measurement, procedures), and what was found
- Discussion & Conclusion: Interpretation of the results, summary of important findings & their meaning to the field; sometimes what the limitations of the study are and need for future research.
- References: list of works referred to in the article.
- [May include] Appendices or Supplemental Information files
Sample primary research article
Review articles survey, summarize, and give context to primary research articles on usually very specific topics in a specific time frame. They are a way to discover primary research articles. Search for the references you find in review articles in Web of Science, Google Scholar, OneSearch, etc.
Sample review article