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NURS 385 Nursing Research

Primary Sources

In Nursing Science, a primary resource documents original findings. For a journal article, this means that the authors of the article carried out the original research and are reporting their original findings.

  • Report of scientific discoveries
  • Results of experiments
  • Results of clinical trials
  • Proceedings of conferences
  • Newspaper articles (factual accounts)
  • Government records (Census, marriage, military)
  • Recorded or transcribed speeches
  • Interviews with participants or witnesses

Secondary Sources

In Nursing Science, a secondary resource is writing about the findings of another researcher. For a journal article, this means that the authors of the article did not carry out the original research but are discussing the research of others. This is typically a review or combination of multiple studies in one paper--a literature review, scoping review, or an analysis are common examples of secondary research in Nursing.

  • Publications synthesizing the significance of research or experiments
  • Systematic Review
  • Meta-Analysis
  • Scoping Review
  • Review of the results of several experiments or trials
  • Analysis of a clinical trial (Cochrane Review)