Because research articles are written for an audience of scholars and professionals in the area of study, they can be hard to understand at first! This page has some resources to help with understanding the research in an article, and how to decipher some of the terminology used.
Primary sources are original materials or evidence. In your field, you may be looking for "primary research articles," or articles that describe a study and provide the study results. An example of a primary source is a randomized controlled trial.
Secondary sources analyze, interpret or synthesize the primary materials. An example of a secondary source is a systematic review. These reviews compile randomized controlled trials and other studies to provide the reader with a picture of the research on a specific topic.
In many fields, primarily the health sciences, there are comprehensive secondary research sources compiled in order to assess empirical evidence more fully. The most common of these formats include systematic reviews and meta-analyses.
Systematic reviews conduct comprehensive literature searches, attempting to find all existing relevant research, appraise its quality, and then summarize key findings to answer a focused clinical research question
Meta-Analyses involve the conducting of a systematic review, and in addition to the systematic review process, provide statistical analysis of the numerical results involved in the studies that address the focused clinical question
These evidence syntheses can be specifically sought out using the following library databases.
SAGE Research Methods (SRM) is a specialized database of resources about research. The resources in SRM will help you read, understand, conduct, and write up your own research studies. SRM has handbooks and guides to understanding research methods and concepts. You can also use tools like the Methods Map to visually navigate between concepts.
SRM can help you...
Learn how a literature review is written
Search to learn more about specific theories
Understand the structure of a scholarly article
Ask a librarian for help navigating and using SRM!