Stage 3. Secondary Literature: Books and Review Articles
... 2-4 years later, after the primary publications.......
In 1972, Dr. Singer published a review article in which he summarized the recent experiments in this field and provided an overview of the fluid mosaic model of cell membrane structure. He did not present the results of a specific experiment or study. Instead, he summarized the results of several past studies and provided an overview.
Secondary Literature
This next stage of the information cycle is known as secondary literature. These resources essentially summarize and point at the primary literature very soon after it has appeared.
3 types of secondary literature:
Two of the most common secondary sources in the health discipline are the review article and the journal index. However, books can also represent secondary literature sources.
1. Review Articles:
A review article summarizes the current state of research on a particular topic by identifying, synthesizing, and critically evaluating the literature from numerous studies. Review articles are written by researchers who are working in the specific field that is being reviewed and include an exhaustive bibliography or reference list. Reading a recent literature review is an excellent way to get a broad picture of a specialised area up to a certain point in time but they do not present original findings or research.
How can you find review articles? Use a journal index such as PubMed/MEDLINE to find review articles. Often, you can limit a set of search results to review articles only.
2. Journal Index:
A journal index is a database which contains the abstracts and citations for the articles published in a wide range of journals. It can be searched by keyword to locate articles on a particular topic. Examples of health related journal indexes include PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, SportsDiscus and more.
How can you find a journal index? Relevant journal indexes are listed in the UW Library Kinesiology Subject Guide, as well as through the Research Database listings on the Library Website.
3. Books:
Books provide a broad summary or overview of the information or research available about a given topic at the time of publication. A book may only present one particular view point in a subject area and, similar to review articles, it does not present original research findings.
How can you find a book? Search Primo (formerly TRELLIS), the UW Library catalogue, for books available in the UW Library.