Skip to Main Content

BIO 112: General Biology II: Primary Sources in the Sciences

This guide supports the research needs of students enrolled in and completing the paper assignment for BIO 112 at Brunswick Community College.

Comparison Chart: Types of Sources

Primary Sources
Secondary Sources
  • Diaries
  • Letters
  • Maps from the era
  • Memos/E-mails
  • Speeches (both the text of the speech & the giving of the speech)
  • Manuscripts
  • Autobiographies
  • Interviews
  • Patents
  • Laws, legislation, court rulings
  • Newspaper & magazine articles from the era
  • News film footage
  • Raw data and statistics
  • Artifacts: buildings, clothes, jewelry, toys, fossils
  • Journal articles reporting original research or an experiment
  • Official records of governments, agencies, organizations: meeting minutes, reports, vital records (e.g., Census records)
  • Creative works: poetry, novels, drama, music, art, photography, movies, scripts, performances
  • Technical reports (i.e., accounts of work done on research projects)
  • Other documents describing original scientific research, such as notes and personal papers
  • Books or articles that explain or review research works
  • Histories and critical commentaries
  • Biographies
  • Textbooks
  • Encyclopedias
  • Dictionaries
  • Directories
  • Handbooks
  • Monographs
  • Journal article that summarizes and/or synthesizes the results of other researchers' experiments, studies, and/or data

 

 

Source: University of Wisconsin-GW.

How to Read a Scientific Paper