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Primary vs. Secondary in Research Articles

Use this guide to help determine if the article is a primary or secondary source.

Library Search

Tips for searching/finding Research Articles

Keywords for searching - 

Primary   Secondary

study (e.g., clinical study, scientific study)

primary data

research article

randomized controlled trial

clinical trial

longitudinal study

cohort study

cross-sectional study

empirical study

data collection

review (e.g., literature review, systematic review)

meta-analysis

scoping review

thematic analysis

critical review

synthesis (e.g., synthesis of research, systematic synthesis)

research synthesis

comparative analysis

secondary analysis

descriptive analysis

Recommended databases

The following databases are available from the library web site and can be accessed off campus with your Canvas/Portal login information.