What is a Primary Research Article?
Primary / First / "I" /
eyewitness
Scholarly journals include articles that are reports and discussions of the results of original research, are written by those who carried out the studies, and are based on the results of their experiments or observations.
These articles are primary research articles.
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.
- Methods & Results: how the study was conducted, what was found (samples, measurement, procedures)
- 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
- [May include] Appendices or Supplemental Information files
- Anatomy of a Scholarly ArticleAn interactive graphic describing parts of a typical scholarly article. From NCSU Libraries.
- How to Read a Scientific PaperReading scholarly literature isn't like reading a fiction book. Don't read scholarly/scientific papers straight through. Save time by learning how to scan and read articles. PDF slides. From Purdue University Libraries.
How Can I Tell (Evaluate)
1. Is the journal academic/scholarly? Does it include peer-reviewed articles?
A. Search for your journal title in Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory to see if it is scholarly/academic and refereed (peer-reviewed).
- Ulrich's International Periodicals DirectoryHelpful hint: Look for the referee shirt to see if the resource is a peer-reviewed publication.
- Ulrich's Glossary of TermsWant a refresher on Refereed vs Reviewed? Use the glossary to check definitions in Ulrich's Directory.
B. Use the Scholarly/Academic Journals limit within many databases
Most article databases allow you to limit your results to only scholarly/academic journals.
⇒ Use other methods to verify if some results seem wrong: this method does not always work well.
C. Check the journal's website
Search for the journals website. It will describe the purpose of the journal.
Look in the About This Journal section, or in the Instructions to Authors to see if the .journal is peer-reviewed,
2. Is it a primary research article?
(i.e., a report of original research, written by the researcher(s))
Even if you have determined that the journal in which an article was published is scholarly, these journals usually also contain other types of articles such as editorials, commentary, review articles, book reviews, and news.
A. Clues you might find in the abstract include words such as:
study, results, methods/methodology, data, experimental, field trial
B. Look at the format of the article. Does it follow the typical format? (see previous tab)