{"id":295,"date":"2025-04-17T16:35:41","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T16:35:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/englishcomp1\/chapter\/text-intermediate-research-strategies\/"},"modified":"2025-07-25T21:40:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T21:40:16","slug":"text-intermediate-research-strategies","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/englishcomp1\/chapter\/text-intermediate-research-strategies\/","title":{"raw":"Finding Sources: Learn It 2","rendered":"Finding Sources: Learn It 2"},"content":{"raw":"
<\/div>\r\nThe first step in finding good resources is to know what to look for. Sites like Google, Yahoo, and Wikipedia may be good for general searches, but if you want something you can cite in a scholarly paper, you\u00a0need to find academic\u00a0sources.\r\n

Scholarly and Peer-Reviewed Articles<\/h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_674\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"320\"]\"Screenshot Figure 2<\/strong>. Major search databases like ProQuest, have checkboxes to narrow search results to only peer-reviewed articles.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nA scholarly source is an article or book that was written by an expert in the academic field. Most are written by professors or doctoral students for publication in peer-reviewed academic journals.\r\n\r\nThe terms \"scholarly article\" and \"peer-reviewed\" articles are often used interchangeably, but there is a distinction.\r\n\r\nScholarly articles are written by subject-matter experts, often appear in journals, and include bibliographies, but may be passed off by a review board instead of undergoing the same amount of scrutiny as peer-reviewed articles. Databases typically have a checkbox you can click to search only for peer-reviewed content.\r\n
<\/div>\r\n

The Peer Review Process<\/h3>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_672\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"400\"]\"Appropriate Figure 3<\/strong>. Steps involved in the peer-review process.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nUnderstanding the peer-review process gives insight as to why your instructors want you to focus on these resources.\r\n\r\nFirst, hopeful authors send their article manuscripts to the journal editor, a role filled by some prominent scholars in the field. The editor reads over the manuscript and decides whether it seems worthy of peer review. If it\u2019s not rejected and looks appropriate and of sufficiently high quality, the editor will recruit a few other experts in the field to act as anonymous peer reviewers. The editor will send the manuscript (scrubbed of identifying information) to the reviewers, who will read it closely and provide a thorough critique. Reviewers send their comments to the editor, who then decides whether to (1) reject the manuscript, (2) ask the author(s) to revise and resubmit the manuscript, or (3) accept it for publication.\r\n\r\nEditors send the reviewers\u2019 comments to authors along with their decisions. A manuscript that has been revised and resubmitted usually goes out for peer review again; editors often try to get reviews from one or two first-round reviewers as well as a new reviewer. The whole process, from start to finish, can easily take a year, and it is often another year before the paper appears in print.\r\n\r\n
[ohm2_question]34465[\/ohm2_question]<\/section>\r\n

Primary and Secondary Sources<\/h2>\r\nWhile most scholarly sources are secondary sources, you will sometimes be asked to find primary sources in your research. For this reason, you should\u00a0understand the differences\u00a0between primary, secondary, and tertiary sources.\r\n
    \r\n \t
  • Primary sources<\/b> allow researchers to get as close as possible to original ideas, events, and empirical research. Such sources may include creative works, first-hand or contemporary accounts of events, and the publication of the results of empirical observations or research. These include diaries, interviews, speeches, photographs, etc.<\/li>\r\n \t
  • Secondary sources<\/b> analyze, review, or summarize information in primary resources or other secondary resources. Even sources presenting facts or descriptions about events are secondary unless they are based on direct participation or observation. These include biographies, journal articles, books, and dissertations.<\/li>\r\n \t
  • Tertiary sources<\/b> provide overviews of topics by synthesizing information gathered from other resources. Tertiary resources often provide data in a convenient form or provide information with context by which to interpret it. These are often\u00a0grouped together with secondary sources. They include encyclopedias and dictionaries.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n
    \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
    Types of Sources in Various Disciplines<\/caption>\r\n
    Subject<\/strong><\/td>\r\nPrimary<\/strong><\/td>\r\nSecondary<\/strong><\/td>\r\nTertiary<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
    Art<\/td>\r\nPainting<\/td>\r\nCritical review of the painting<\/td>\r\nEncyclopedia article on the artist<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
    History<\/td>\r\nCivil War diary<\/td>\r\nBook on a Civil War battle<\/td>\r\nList of battle sites<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
    Literature<\/td>\r\nNovel or poem<\/td>\r\nEssay about themes in the work<\/td>\r\nBiography of the author<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
    Political science<\/td>\r\nGeneva Convention<\/td>\r\nArticle about prisoners of war<\/td>\r\nChronology of treaties<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
    Agriculture<\/td>\r\nConference paper on tobacco genetics<\/td>\r\nReview article on the current state of tobacco research<\/td>\r\nEncyclopedia article on tobacco<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
    Chemistry<\/td>\r\nChemical patent<\/td>\r\nBook on chemical reactions<\/td>\r\nTable of related reactions<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
    Physics<\/td>\r\nEinstein\u2019s diary<\/td>\r\nBiography of Einstein<\/td>\r\nDictionary of Relativity<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
    [ohm2_question]34466[\/ohm2_question]<\/section>","rendered":"
    <\/div>\n

    The first step in finding good resources is to know what to look for. Sites like Google, Yahoo, and Wikipedia may be good for general searches, but if you want something you can cite in a scholarly paper, you\u00a0need to find academic\u00a0sources.<\/p>\n

    Scholarly and Peer-Reviewed Articles<\/h2>\n
    \"Screenshot
    Figure 2<\/strong>. Major search databases like ProQuest, have checkboxes to narrow search results to only peer-reviewed articles.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    A scholarly source is an article or book that was written by an expert in the academic field. Most are written by professors or doctoral students for publication in peer-reviewed academic journals.<\/p>\n

    The terms “scholarly article” and “peer-reviewed” articles are often used interchangeably, but there is a distinction.<\/p>\n

    Scholarly articles are written by subject-matter experts, often appear in journals, and include bibliographies, but may be passed off by a review board instead of undergoing the same amount of scrutiny as peer-reviewed articles. Databases typically have a checkbox you can click to search only for peer-reviewed content.<\/p>\n

    <\/div>\n

    The Peer Review Process<\/h3>\n
    \"Appropriate
    Figure 3<\/strong>. Steps involved in the peer-review process.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Understanding the peer-review process gives insight as to why your instructors want you to focus on these resources.<\/p>\n

    First, hopeful authors send their article manuscripts to the journal editor, a role filled by some prominent scholars in the field. The editor reads over the manuscript and decides whether it seems worthy of peer review. If it\u2019s not rejected and looks appropriate and of sufficiently high quality, the editor will recruit a few other experts in the field to act as anonymous peer reviewers. The editor will send the manuscript (scrubbed of identifying information) to the reviewers, who will read it closely and provide a thorough critique. Reviewers send their comments to the editor, who then decides whether to (1) reject the manuscript, (2) ask the author(s) to revise and resubmit the manuscript, or (3) accept it for publication.<\/p>\n

    Editors send the reviewers\u2019 comments to authors along with their decisions. A manuscript that has been revised and resubmitted usually goes out for peer review again; editors often try to get reviews from one or two first-round reviewers as well as a new reviewer. The whole process, from start to finish, can easily take a year, and it is often another year before the paper appears in print.<\/p>\n