When doing research in the sciences, you'll likely come across both primary research and review articles, but how can you tell the difference?
Primary Research
- Primary research describes the process of scientists designing an experiment, conducting the experiment by gathering data, and then analyzing the results. The methods section includes descriptions of the scientists gathering and analyzing data.
- The purpose of primary research is to contribute new data on a topic by designing and carrying out an experiment.
- Ask yourself: did the authors conduct the experiment and gather data themselves? If yes, it's primary research.
- Typically organized into sections that include: Abstract, Introduction, Methods & Materials, Results, Discussion/Conclusion, and References.
- Discussion about previous studies will be described in the Introduction section; the rest of the paper is about the scientists conducting their own experiment.
- Example: Depew, D. C., Krutzelmann, E., Watchorn, K. E., Caskenette, A., & Enders, E. C. (2021). The distribution, density, and biomass of the zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) on natural substrates in Lake Winnipeg 2017–2019. Journal of Great Lakes Research, 47(3), 556-566.
Literature Reviews
- Literature reviews discuss multiple primary research papers on a specific topic. Scientists conduct literature reviews to provide a comprehensive overview of a single topic by comparing multiple experiments on that subject. Literature reviews are helpful because they pull together research from different sources or can discuss areas of conflict on a scientific issue. They are also a great resource when writing your thesis because they identify multiple primary research articles on your topic that you can track down and read.
- Literature reviews will not typically have a methods & materials section. (If there is a methods section in a literature review, it would describe how the scientists selected or analyzed existing scientific research on their topic.) The authors may summarize the findings of previous studies but will not be doing experiments or gathering data of their own.
- Review papers will often have the word "review" in the title of the paper or will include phrases like "through this we review, we focused on...".
- Ask yourself: are the authors gathering their own data or summarizing the findings of other scientists? If they're discussing the findings of other scientists, it's a literature review.
- Example: Petrie, M. D., Wildeman, A. M., Bradford, J. B., Hubbard, R. M., & Lauenroth, W. K. (2016). A review of precipitation and temperature control on seedling emergence and establishment for ponderosa and lodgepole pine forest regeneration. Forest Ecology and Management, 361, 328-338.
If you're still not sure if an article is primary research or a literature review, ask a librarian or your professor.
