where can i find primary research articles

Program Teachers

Finding primary sources.

The Library of Congress makes millions of unique primary sources available online to everyone, everywhere. There are a few different ways to discover the best primary sources for you.

Select from a curated set

Primary Source Sets – Each set collects primary sources on a specific frequently-taught topic, along with historical background information and teaching ideas.

Free to Use and Reuse Sets – Batches of primary sources on engaging topics.

U.S. History Primary Sources Timeline – Explore important topics and moments in U.S. history through historical primary sources from the Library’s collections.

Search the online collections

Successful searches of the online collections of the Library of Congress, as with any archival research institution, begin with an understanding of what is likely to be found. Many considerations, including copyright, collection strengths, and how materials were acquired, factor into what can be digitized and made available online. The Library’s online collections are extensive, but they do have limits, and are strongest in the nineteenth and early part of the twentieth century.

Use the search box at the top of the Library of Congress home page . A few tips:

• Before starting your search take a moment to make a list of possible search terms.
• Remember that different words or phrases may have been used to describe events or items in the past. For example: In the past the flu was sometimes known as the grippe.
• People or places may have been identified differently or may have used different names previously. For example: Eleanor Roosevelt may be known as Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt.
• There may be different spellings for names or places during the period you’re researching.
• Use the drop-down menu to the left of the search box to select a format, like Maps, before you search.
• To the left you will see a list of ways to narrow your search results. Scroll to the bottom to Access Condition and select “Available Online.”
• Scroll back to the top and narrow your search results using the facets to the left of your search results, like Date and Location.
• Select “Gallery” or “Grid” to change how you view the results. You can:
• increase the number of items you see at one time at the bottom of the page;
• change how the results are organized so they can be seen chronologically or in alphabetical order.
• Find an item that is of interest? On the item page look to the right and find the subject headings listed. You can click on those to see what other items are listed under that same subject heading.
• Explore related items at the bottom of the page.
• Additional search tips can be found on the Library’s Search Help page .

Explore online resources

Congress.gov – Explore current and historic information on bills, laws and the legislative branch of the government.

Chronicling America – Access historic newspapers from all fifty states and the District of Columbia for accounts of historic and everyday events as reported at the time they happened.

Check with the experts

Teaching with the Library blog – Short (500 words or less) posts featuring primary sources and teaching ideas.

Other Library blogs offer tips on finding Library resources, suggestions for other search terms or research ideas, and expert secondary information.

Today in History – Provides information and links to primary sources about a specific event in history.

Research Guides - In-depth guides to Library resources on a wide variety of topics.

Ask a Librarian – Send a question to a Library of Congress reference librarian. We're happy to help!

Primary Sources: What They Are and Where to Find Them

What is a primary source.

• Finding Primary Sources in the UWRF Library

A primary source is an original object or document created during the time under study.   Primary sources vary by discipline and can include historical and legal documents, diaries, letters, family records, speeches, interviews, autobiographies, film, government documents, eye witness accounts, results of an experiment, statistical data, pieces of creative writing, and art objects. In the natural and social sciences, the results of an experiment or study are typically found in scholarly articles or papers delivered at conferences, so those articles and papers that present the original results are considered primary sources.  

A secondary source is something written about a primary source. Secondary sources include comments on, interpretations of, or discussions about the original material. You can think of secondary sources as second-hand information. If I tell you something, I am the primary source. If you tell someone else what I told you, you are the secondard source. Secondary source materials can be articles in newspapers or popular magazines, book or movie reviews, or articles found in scholarly journals that evaluate or criticize someone else's original research.

Research versus Review

Scientific and other peer reviewed journals are excellent sources for primary research sources. However, not every article in those journals will be an article with original research. Some will include book reviews and other materials that are more obviously secondary sources . More difficult to differentiate from original research articles are review articles . Both types of articles will end with a list of References (or Works Cited). Review articles are often as lengthy or even longer that original research articles. What the authors of review articles are doing is analysing and evaluating current research or investigations related to a specific topic, field, or problem. They are not primary sources since they review previously published material. They can be helpful for identifying potentially good primary sources, but they aren't primary themselves. Primary research articles can be identified by a commonly used format. If an article contains the following elements, you can count on it being a primary research article. Look for sections entitled Methods (sometimes with variations, such as Materials and Methods), Results (usually followed with charts and statistical tables), and Discussion . You can also read the abstract to get a good sense of the kind of article that is being presented. If it is a review article instead of a research article, the abstract should make that clear. If there is no abstract at all, that in itself may be a sign that it is not a primary resource. Short research articles, such as those found in Science and similar scientific publications that mix news, editorials, and forums with research reports, may not include any of those elements. In those cases look at the words the authors use, phrases such as "we tested," "we used," and "in our study, we measured" will tell you that the article is reporting on original research.

Primary or Secondary: You Decide

The distinction between types of sources can get tricky, because a secondary source may also be a primary source. DoVeanna Fulton's book on slave narratives, for example, can be looked at as both a secondary and a primary source. The distinction may depend on how you are using the source and the nature of your research. If you are researching slave narratives, the book would be a secondary source because Fulton is commenting on the narratives. If your assignment is to write a book review of Speaking Power , the book becomes a primary source, because you are commenting, evaluating, and discussing DoVeanna Fulton's ideas.

You can't always determine if something is primary or secondary just because of the source it is found in. Articles in newspapers and magazines are usually considered secondary sources. However, if a story in a newspaper about the Iraq war is an eyewitness account, that would be a primary source. If the reporter, however, includes additional materials he or she has gathered through interviews or other investigations, the article would be a secondary source. An interview in the Rolling Stone with Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes would be a primary source, but a review of the latest Black Crowes album would be a secondary source. In contrast, scholarly journals include research articles with primary materials, but they also have review articles that are not, or in some disciplines include articles where scholars are looking at primary source materials and coming to new conclusions.

For your thinking and not just to confuse you even further, some experts include tertiary sources as an additional distinction to make. These are sources that compile or, especially, digest other sources. Some reference materials and textbooks are considered tertiary sources when their chief purpose is to list or briefly summarize or, from an even further removed distance, repackage ideas. This is the reason that you may be advised not to include an encyclopedia article in a final bibliography.

The above material was adapted from the excellent explanation written by John Henderson found on Ithaca College's library website http://www.ithacalibrary.com/sp/subjects/primary and is used with permission.

• Next: Finding Primary Sources in the UWRF Library >>
• Last Updated: Nov 8, 2023 3:51 PM
• URL: https://libguides.uwrf.edu/primarysources

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Methodology

• Primary Research | Definition, Types, & Examples

Primary Research | Definition, Types, & Examples

Published on January 14, 2023 by Tegan George . Revised on January 12, 2024.

Primary research is a research method that relies on direct data collection , rather than relying on data that’s already been collected by someone else. In other words, primary research is any type of research that you undertake yourself, firsthand, while using data that has already been collected is called secondary research .

Primary research is often used in qualitative research , particularly in survey methodology, questionnaires, focus groups, and various types of interviews . While quantitative primary research does exist, it’s not as common.

Table of contents

When to use primary research, types of primary research, examples of primary research, advantages and disadvantages of primary research, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions.

Primary research is any research that you conduct yourself. It can be as simple as a 2-question survey, or as in-depth as a years-long longitudinal study . The only key is that data must be collected firsthand by you.

Primary research is often used to supplement or strengthen existing secondary research. It is usually exploratory in nature, concerned with examining a research question where no preexisting knowledge exists. It is also sometimes called original research for this reason.

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Primary research can take many forms, but the most common types are:

• Surveys and questionnaires
• Observational studies
• Interviews and focus groups

Surveys and questionnaires collect information about a group of people by asking them questions and analyzing the results. They are a solid choice if your research topic seeks to investigate something about the characteristics, preferences, opinions, or beliefs of a group of people.

Surveys and questionnaires can take place online, in person, or through the mail. It is best to have a combination of open-ended and closed-ended questions, and how the questions are phrased matters. Be sure to avoid leading questions, and ask any related questions in groups, starting with the most basic ones first.

Observational studies are an easy and popular way to answer a research question based purely on what you, the researcher, observes. If there are practical or ethical concerns that prevent you from conducting a traditional experiment , observational studies are often a good stopgap.

There are three types of observational studies: cross-sectional studies , cohort studies, and case-control studies. If you decide to conduct observational research, you can choose the one that’s best for you. All three are quite straightforward and easy to design—just beware of confounding variables and observer bias creeping into your analysis.

Similarly to surveys and questionnaires, interviews and focus groups also rely on asking questions to collect information about a group of people. However, how this is done is slightly different. Instead of sending your questions out into the world, interviews and focus groups involve two or more people—one of whom is you, the interviewer, who asks the questions.

There are 3 main types of interviews:

• Structured interviews ask predetermined questions in a predetermined order.
• Unstructured interviews are more flexible and free-flowing, proceeding based on the interviewee’s previous answers.
• Semi-structured interviews fall in between, asking a mix of predetermined questions and off-the-cuff questions.

While interviews are a rich source of information, they can also be deceptively challenging to do well. Be careful of interviewer bias creeping into your process. This is best mitigated by avoiding double-barreled questions and paying close attention to your tone and delivery while asking questions.

Alternatively, a focus group is a group interview, led by a moderator. Focus groups can provide more nuanced interactions than individual interviews, but their small sample size means that external validity is low.

Primary research can often be quite simple to pursue yourself. Here are a few examples of different research methods you can use to explore different topics.

Primary research is a great choice for many research projects, but it has distinct advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages of primary research

Advantages include:

• The ability to conduct really tailored, thorough research, down to the “nitty-gritty” of your topic . You decide what you want to study or observe and how to go about doing that.
• You maintain control over the quality of the data collected, and can ensure firsthand that it is objective, reliable , and valid .
• The ensuing results are yours, for you to disseminate as you see fit. You maintain proprietary control over what you find out, allowing you to share your findings with like-minded individuals or those conducting related research that interests you for replication or discussion purposes.

Disadvantages of primary research

Disadvantages include:

• In order to be done well, primary research can be very expensive and time consuming. If you are constrained in terms of time or funding, it can be very difficult to conduct your own high-quality primary research.
• Primary research is often insufficient as a standalone research method, requiring secondary research to bolster it.
• Primary research can be prone to various types of research bias . Bias can manifest on the part of the researcher as observer bias , Pygmalion effect , or demand characteristics . It can occur on the part of participants as a Hawthorne effect or social desirability bias .

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If you want to know more about statistics , methodology , or research bias , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• Chi square goodness of fit test
• Degrees of freedom
• Null hypothesis
• Discourse analysis
• Control groups
• Mixed methods research
• Non-probability sampling
• Quantitative research
• Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Research bias

• Rosenthal effect
• Implicit bias
• Cognitive bias
• Selection bias
• Negativity bias
• Status quo bias

The 3 main types of primary research are:

Exploratory research aims to explore the main aspects of an under-researched problem, while explanatory research aims to explain the causes and consequences of a well-defined problem.

There are several methods you can use to decrease the impact of confounding variables on your research: restriction, matching, statistical control and randomization.

In restriction , you restrict your sample by only including certain subjects that have the same values of potential confounding variables.

In matching , you match each of the subjects in your treatment group with a counterpart in the comparison group. The matched subjects have the same values on any potential confounding variables, and only differ in the independent variable .

In statistical control , you include potential confounders as variables in your regression .

In randomization , you randomly assign the treatment (or independent variable) in your study to a sufficiently large number of subjects, which allows you to control for all potential confounding variables.

A questionnaire is a data collection tool or instrument, while a survey is an overarching research method that involves collecting and analyzing data from people using questionnaires.

When conducting research, collecting original data has significant advantages:

• You can tailor data collection to your specific research aims (e.g. understanding the needs of your consumers or user testing your website)
• You can control and standardize the process for high reliability and validity (e.g. choosing appropriate measurements and sampling methods )

However, there are also some drawbacks: data collection can be time-consuming, labor-intensive and expensive. In some cases, it’s more efficient to use secondary data that has already been collected by someone else, but the data might be less reliable.

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Finding Primary Research Articles in the Sciences: Home

• Advanced Search-Databases
• Primary vs. Secondary
• Analyzing a Primary Research Article
• MLA, APA, and Chicago Style

This guide goes over how to find and analyze primary research articles in the sciences (e.g. nutrition, health sciences and nursing, biology, chemistry, physics, sociology, psychology). In addition, the guide explains how to tell the difference between a primary source and a secondary source in scientific subject areas.

If you are looking for how to find primary sources in the humanities and social sciences, such as direct experience accounts in newspapers, diaries, artwork and so forth, please see   Finding Primary Sources in the Humanities and Social Sciences . 

Recommended Databases

To get started, choose one of the databases below.  Once you log in, enter your search terms to start looking for primary articles. 

• Link to all Polk State College Library databases

Login Required

You must log in to use library databases and eBooks. When prompted to log in, enter your Passport credentials. 

If you have trouble, try  resetting your Passport pin , sending an email to  [email protected] ,  or calling the Help Desk at 863.292.3652 . 

You can also get help from Ask a Librarian . 

Search Tips

Keep your search terms simple.

• No need to type full sentences into the database search box.  Limit your search to 2-3 words.
• There is no need to type "research article" into the search box.

Use the "Advanced Search" feature of the database.

• This will allow you to limit your search to only peer reviewed articles or a certain time frame (for example: 2013 or later).
• Click the red tab above for tips on advanced search strategies .

Re-read the assignment guidelines often

• Does this article satisfy the scope of the assignment (e.g. a study focused on nutrition)?
• Does it meet the criteria for the assignment (e.g. an original research article)?

Not finding what you are looking for?

• Ask a Librarian!

Search and Find a Primary Research Article

Are you looking for a primary research journal article if so, that is an article that reports on the results of an original research study conducted by the authors themselves. .

You can use the library's databases to search for primary research articles.  A research article will almost always be published in a peer-reviewed journal. Therefore, it is a good idea to limit your results to peer-reviewed articles. Click on the  Advanced Search-Databases tab at the top of this guide for instructions. 

The following is _not_ primary research:

Review articles are studies that arrive at conclusions after looking over other studies. Therefore, review articles are not  primary (think "first") research.  There are a variety of review articles, including:

• Literature Reviews
• Systematic Reviews
• Meta-Analyses 
• Scoping Reviews
• Topical Reviews
• A review/assessment of the evidence

Having trouble?  Look for a  method section within the article. If the method section includes the process used to conduct the research, how the data was gathered and analyzed and any limitations or ethical concerns to the study, then it is most likely a primary research article. For example: a research article will describe the number of people (e.g. 175 adults with celiac disease) who participated in the study and who were used to collect data.

If the method section describes how the authors found articles on a topic using search terms or databases , then it is mostly likely a secondary review article and not primary research. If there is no method section, it is not a primary research article.

Other sections in a journal: 

Your search may yield these items, too. You can skip these because they are not full write-ups of research:

• Conference Proceedings 
• Symposium Publications

Example of a primary research article found in the Library's Academic Search Complete database : (these authors conducted an original research study)

• Lumia et al. (2015) Lumia, M., Takkinen, H., Luukkainen, P., Kaila, M., Lehtinen, J. S., Nwaru, B. I., Tuokkola, J., Niemelä, O., Haapala, A., Ilonen, J., Simell, O., Knip, M., Veijola, R., & Virtanen, S. M. (2015). Food consumption and risk of childhood asthma. Pediatric Allergy & Immunology, 26(8), 789–796. https://doi.org/10.1111/pai.12352

Example of a secondary article found in the Library's Academic Search Complete database : (these authors are reviewing the work of other authors)

• Rachmah et al. (2022) Rachmah, Q., Martiana, T., Mulyono, Paskarini, I., Dwiyanti, E., Widajati, N., Ernawati, M., Ardyanto, Y. D., Tualeka, A. R., Haqi, D. N., Arini, S. Y., & Alayyannur, P. A. (2022). The effectiveness of nutrition and health intervention in workplace setting: A systematic review. Journal of Public Health Research, 11(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.4081/jphr.2021.2312

How do I know if this article is primary?

You've found an article in the library databases but how do you know if it's primary .

Look for these sections: (terminology may vary)

• abstract  - summarizes paper in one paragraph, states the purpose of the study
• methods  - explaining how the experiment was conducted (note: if the method section discusses how a search was conducted that is _not_ primary research) 
• results  - detailing what happened and providing raw data sets (often as tables or graphs)
• conclusions  - connecting the results with theories and other research
• references  - to previous research or theories that influenced the research

Scan the article you found to see if it includes the sections above. You don't have to read the full article (yet). Look for the clues highlighted in the images below. 

Questions? Use Ask a Librarian

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• Last Updated: Aug 8, 2024 4:22 PM
• URL: https://libguides.polk.edu/primaryresearch

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What is Primary Research and How do I get Started?

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Primary research is any type of research that you collect yourself. Examples include surveys, interviews, observations, and ethnographic research. A good researcher knows how to use both primary and secondary sources in their writing and to integrate them in a cohesive fashion.

Conducting primary research is a useful skill to acquire as it can greatly supplement your research in secondary sources, such as journals, magazines, or books. You can also use it as the focus of your writing project. Primary research is an excellent skill to learn as it can be useful in a variety of settings including business, personal, and academic.

But I’m not an expert!

With some careful planning, primary research can be done by anyone, even students new to writing at the university level. The information provided on this page will help you get started.

What types of projects or activities benefit from primary research?

When you are working on a local problem that may not have been addressed before and little research is there to back it up.

When you are working on writing about a specific group of people or a specific person.

When you are working on a topic that is relatively new or original and few publications exist on the subject.

You can also use primary research to confirm or dispute national results with local trends.

What types of primary research can be done?

Many types of primary research exist. This guide is designed to provide you with an overview of primary research that is often done in writing classes.

Interviews: Interviews are one-on-one or small group question and answer sessions. Interviews will provide a lot of information from a small number of people and are useful when you want to get an expert or knowledgeable opinion on a subject.

Surveys: Surveys are a form of questioning that is more rigid than interviews and that involve larger groups of people. Surveys will provide a limited amount of information from a large group of people and are useful when you want to learn what a larger population thinks.

Observations: Observations involve taking organized notes about occurrences in the world. Observations provide you insight about specific people, events, or locales and are useful when you want to learn more about an event without the biased viewpoint of an interview.

Analysis: Analysis involves collecting data and organizing it in some fashion based on criteria you develop. They are useful when you want to find some trend or pattern. A type of analysis would be to record commercials on three major television networks and analyze gender roles.

Where do I start?

Consider the following questions when beginning to think about conducting primary research:

• What do I want to discover?
• How do I plan on discovering it? (This is called your research methods or methodology)
• Who am I going to talk to/observe/survey? (These people are called your subjects or participants)
• How am I going to be able to gain access to these groups or individuals?
• What are my biases about this topic?
• How can I make sure my biases are not reflected in my research methods?
• What do I expect to discover?

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Peer Review and Primary Literature: An Introduction: Is it Primary Research? How Do I Know?

• Scholarly Journal vs. Magazine
• Peer Review: What is it?
• Finding Peer-Reviewed Articles
• Primary Journal Literature
• Is it Primary Research? How Do I Know?

Components of a Primary Research Study

As indicated on a previous page, Peer-Reviewed Journals also include non -primary content. Simply limiting your search results in a database to "peer-reviewed" will not retrieve a list of only primary research studies.

Learn to recognize the parts of a primary research study. Terminology will vary slightly from discipline to discipline and from journal to journal.  However, there are common components to most research studies.

When you run a search, find a promising article in your results list and then look at the record for that item (usually by clicking on the title). The full database record for an item usually includes an abstract or summary--sometimes prepared by the journal or database, but often written by the author(s) themselves. This will usually give a clear indication of whether the article is a primary study.  For example, here is a full database record from a search for family violence and support in SocINDEX with Full Text :

Although the abstract often tells the story, you will need to read the article to know for sure. Besides scanning the Abstract or Summary, look for the following components: (I am only capturing small article segments for illustration.)

Look for the words METHOD or METHODOLOGY . The authors should explain how they conducted their research.

NOTE: Different Journals and Disciplines will use different terms to mean similar things. If instead of " Method " or " Methodology " you see a heading that says " Research Design " or " Data Collection ," you have a similar indicator that the scholar-authors have done original research.

Look for the section called RESULTS . This details what the author(s) found out after conducting their research.

Charts , Tables , Graphs , Maps and other displays help to summarize and present the findings of the research.

A Discussion indicates the significance of findings, acknowledges limitations of the research study, and suggests further research.

References , a Bibliography or List of Works Cited indicates a literature review and shows other studies and works that were consulted. USE THIS PART OF THE STUDY! If you find one or two good recent studies, you can identify some important earlier studies simply by going through the bibliographies of those articles.

A FINAL NOTE:  If you are ever unclear about whether a particular article is appropriate to use in your paper, it is best to show that article to your professor and discuss it with them.  The professor is the final judge since they will be assigning your grade.

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Peer-review and primary research.

• Getting Started With Peer-Reviewed Literature

Primary Research

Identifying a primary research article.

• Finding Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
• Finding Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs)
• Evaluating Scholarly Articles
• Google Scholar
• Tips for Reading Journal Articles

STEM Librarian

Primary research or a primary study refers to a research article that is an author’s original research that is almost always published in a peer-reviewed journal. A primary study reports on the details, methods and results of a research study. These articles often have a standard structure of a format called IMRAD, referring to sections of an article: Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion. Primary research studies will start with a review of the previous literature, however, the rest of the article will focus on the authors’ original research. Literature reviews can be published in peer-reviewed journals, however, they are not primary research.

Primary studies are part of primary sources but should not be mistaken for primary documents. Primary documents are usually original sources such as a letter, a diary, a speech or an autobiography. They are a first person view of an event or a period. Typically, if you are a Humanities major, you will be asked to find primary documents for your paper however, if you are in Social Sciences or the Sciences you are most likely going to be asked to find primary research studies. If you are unsure, ask your professor or a librarian for help.

A primary research or study is an empirical research that is published in peer-reviewed journals. Some ways of recognizing whether an article is a primary research article when searching a database:

1. The abstract includes a research question or a hypothesis,  methods and results.

2. Studies can have tables and charts representing data findings.

3. The article includes a section for "methods” or “methodology” and "results".

4. Discussion section indicates findings and discusses limitations of the research study, and suggests further research.

5. Check the reference section because it will refer you to the studies and works that were consulted. You can use this section to find other studies on that particular topic.

The following are not to be confused with primary research articles:

- Literature reviews

- Meta-analyses or systematic reviews (these studies make conclusions based on research on many other studies)

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Life, Society & Drugs: Appropriate Sources

• What sources are appropriate?
• Scholarly sources and peer review
• Tips for reading scientific papers
• How do I identify a primary research article?
• How do I find an internationally focused article?
• Recommended resources
• How can I cite my sources properly?
• How do I choose or develop a research topic?
• Wrapping up

Understanding Primary Research in the Sciences

• How do I identify a primary research article? This link will take you to the YouTube page where the video is stored. Captions and transcripts are included.

Primary sources in the sciences are typically academic journals. In them, the authors present their "primary" or original research. You may have heard of primary sources before in a history class, and the same idea applies here. A primary source is all about proximity. The authors should have firsthand experience with the content. In the sciences, that means that they conducted the research themselves.

Identifying Primary Research Articles

Here are five common components of primary research articles in the sciences. Check your source for these to help determine if you are looking at a primary source.

1. Written by experts who did the research

In a primary source, the authors report on research they conducted themselves. The best way to determine this is to read the introduction of the paper where the authors will explain what they are presenting. If the authors report only about someone else’s research or a different study, it is not primary. 

2. Reports on original research

This is closely tied to the first component. Did the authors of the article study something "new?" Did they delve into an issue to explore it further? Look for keywords in the abstract and introduction that tell you that the authors studied something. Keywords to look for include: "measured," "analyzed," and "investigated."

3. Describes how the authors did their study

A primary research article will describe the methods used to conduct the study. It ought to be detailed enough that the study could be replicated. Many primary research articles follow a common format with particular section headings. One of these is "methodology" or "methods." The methodology section is where the authors will explain how they did their study. Looking for this section heading is a good way to check for this factor. Even if this specific heading is missing, your article should still explain this to be primary.

4. Describes the study's results

The article should also clearly explain the results or outcomes of the research. Often you will see statistics, graphs, and/or tables in the article. These depictions of data in primary research articles will differ from the "decorative" images you may see in popular sources. Headings to look at for this factor include "results," "findings," and "discussion."

5. Always includes references

Finally, your primary research article will always include references. These could look like footnotes, a references section, or a works cited at the end of the article. Many articles that are not primary research articles - and even some that are not scholarly - include references. Do not make your decision of whether your article is primary or not based on this factor alone.

Primary Source Examples

• Burgo, Jose Luis, et al. “Cost of Provision of Opioid Substitution Therapy Provision in Tijuana, Mexico.”   Harm Reduction Journal , vol. 15, no. 1, May 2018, pp. 1–8.  ProQuest Central , https://doi.org/10.1186/s12954-018-0234-x.
• Sharma, Shridhar, et al. “Substance Use and Criminality among Juveniles-under-Enquiry in New Delhi.”   Indian Journal of Psychiatry , vol. 58, no. 2, Apr. 2016, pp. 178–182.  CINAHL Complete , https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-5545.183791.

Secondary Source Examples

• Palinkas, Lawrence A. “Opioid Use Epidemic in Mexico: Global Solutions to a Global Problem.”   American Journal of Public Health,  vol. 109, no. 1, Jan. 2019. pp. 26–27.  CINAHL Complete, https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2018.304833
• Szalavitz, Maia, and Khary K. Rigg. “ The Curious (Dis)Connection between the Opioid Epidemic and Crime.”   Substance Use & Misuse , vol. 52, no. 14, Dec. 2017, pp. 1927–1931.  APA PsycInfo , https://doi.org/10.1080/10826084.2017.1376685.

How can I learn more about identifying primary sources?

To learn more about primary research articles in the sciences, watch the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries' short video (1 min, 37 sec) on the topic.

• Primary Research Articles in the Sciences This link will take you to the YouTube page where the video is stored. There are closed captions and transcripts included.
• << Previous: Tips for reading scientific papers
• Next: How do I find an internationally focused article? >>
• Last Updated: Aug 12, 2024 3:41 PM
• URL: https://libguides.slcc.edu/HLTH1050

Primary Sources and Original Research

• Reference Sources
• Definitions
• Primary vs. Secondary
• Primary Sources by Subject
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Primary Research vs. Review Articles

Scholarly journals can be great places to locate primary research, however they also contain articles which review books, editorials, and review articles. 

Review articles may be long and contain citations, so at first glance they may look like a primary research article.  The authors of a review article usually evaluate , discuss , and analyze other's research on the topic, but offer no original research themselves and cannot be considered primary sources.  They can be helpful to gain an overview of the research that has been done in that area, and can help identify primary research articles by other authors. 

Primary research articles will generally follow a standard format; including sections with titles like "Methods" , "Results" , and "Discussion" .  Most will also have an abstract at the beginning of the article and a works cited list at the end.  Like with other types of articles, reading the abstract can often give you clues as to what the article will be about.   Look for phrases like " we measured ", " we tested " , or " in our study we found " as these are often used in the presentation of original research.  Many primary research articles in the social and natural sciences will also contain graphs, charts, data tables or illustrations.

Try These Article Sources First

Subject Guides

• Use the "Find Articles" tab in other Guides relevant to your research topic.
• Try adding "results" or "methods" to your keyword search and read the article abstract to determine if the article contains original research being published for the first time in non-history social science fields like sociology, psychology, and education. 
• Google Scholar This link opens in a new window When you use this link and update your settings/library links to include View It @MiddleGeorgia, Google Scholar results are linked to Middle Georgia State University's resources. In addition to articles in your original results list, take a look at "Related Articles" and "Cited By" to find other articles on your topic.

Find Primary Sources

Tip: Try searching for digital copies of primary source material by using the phrase " digital collections " as part of your search along with keywords that describe your topic.

American Memory -- American Memory provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience. (from the collections of the Library of Congress and other institutions)

Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers -- This site allows you to search and view newspaper pages from 1860-1922 and find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress as part of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).

Digitized (i.e., scanned) books and articles Born-digital texts Audio files (e.g., wav, mp3) Images (e.g., tiff, gif) Movies (e.g., mp4, quicktime) Datasets (e.g., downloadable statistics files) 

Note:  When full text is not available, try the  InterLibrary Loan  form.

Tip: Try searching for digital copies of primary source material by using the phrase " digital collections " as part of your search along with keywords that describe your topic.

• Library of Congress - Digital Collections A gateway to the Library of Congress's vast resources of digitized American historical materials. Comprising more than 9 million items that document U.S. history and culture, American Memory is organized into more than 100 thematic collections based on their original format, their subject matter, or who first created, assembled, or donated them to the Library.
• Chronicling America This link opens in a new window ever-growing online archive of America's historic newspapers, sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.
• Library of Congress - Primary Source Sets Arranged around a particular topic.
• Library of Congress - Digital Collections Tip: The Library of Congress has a number of collections of primary sources. If you have difficulty searching the LOC, try using Advanced Google and limit the site to loc.gov or a particular collection like memory.loc.gov.

• Digital Public Library of America The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) offers a single point of access to millions of items - photographs, manuscripts, books, sounds, moving images, and more - from libraries, archives, and museums around the United States. Users can browse and search the DPLA's collections by timeline, map, format, and topic; save items to customized lists; and share their lists with others. Users can also explore digital exhibitions curated by the DPLA's content partners and staff.
• EuroDocs Run by Brigham Young University's Harold B. Lee Library and includes links to primary documents from European history.
• Europeana Paintings, music, films and books from Europe's galleries, libraries, archives and museums.
• First Person Narratives of the American South Everyday people speak through their diaries, autobiographies, and memoirs.
• Women in World History A project of the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University.
• Smithsonian Collections The Smithsonian's collections represent our nation's rich heritage, art from across the globe, and the immense diversity of the natural and cultural world. The scope of objects in Smithsonian collections is staggering—from ancient Chinese bronzes to the Star-Spangled Banner; from a 3.5 billion-year-old fossil to the Apollo lunar landing module; from the ruby slippers featured in The Wizard of Oz to presidential memorabilia. Scholars and scientific researchers at the Smithsonian, and around the world, use these vast collections in their research to expand human knowledge.

Is It a Magazine or Scholarly Journal?

What if i can't find the full article, what if i can't find the full article.

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• GALILEO This link opens in a new window GALILEO is Georgia's virtual library, with electronic books, periodicals, journals, magazines, newspapers, such reference materials as encyclopedias, and special collections, and access to Georgia's library catalog
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Identify Primary Sources in the Sciences

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Primary Sources in the Sciences

What is a primary source in the sciences.

A primary source is information or literature about original research provided or written by the original researcher. Examples of primary sources include...  

• Experimental data
• Laboratory notes
• Conference Proceedings
• Technical Reports
• Some peer-reviewed scientific journal articles of original research

How can I identify a primary article?

In the primary article, the authors will write about research that they did and the conclusions they made. Some key areas in the article to look for are similar to those found in a lab report including... 

• A research problem statement , or description of what the researchers are trying to discover or determine with their research,
• Background information about previously published research on the topic,
• Methods where the author tells the reader what they did, how they did it, and why,
• Results where the author explains the outcomes of their research   

Sometimes scholarly journals will include review articles, which summarize published research on a topic but do not contain new results from original research. Even though these sources are scholary, they are NOT primary articles.

How do I know if my source is scholarly?

Along with being a primary source, it is frequently important that you know if your source is scholarly and appropriate for academic research. Some traits of scholarly articles are...

• Citations to work done by others
• Language is often serious and technical
• Images are usually charts, graphs, or otherwise informative, rather than glossy photographs or advertisments
• Authors' names are given, along with their affilitions with university, research institutions, etc.
• Date of publication is given, frequently along with the date on which the articles was submitted for peer review
• "About" or "instructions for authors" link on the journal's Web site indicates that the journal is peer reviewed or describes its peer review process

Finding Primary Articles

The best place to look for primary, scientific articles are journal databases provided by the library. These database contain millions of articles, most of them primary articles from scholarly journals. 

 Many of these databases allow you to refine you search to only articles or peer-reviewed journals, however, you still need to look at the article to determine if it is scholarly and contains original research.

• VCU Libraries' Databases List
• Research Guides to Locate Databases by Subject
• Ask Us! Chat, phone, email, or text VCU Libraries for advice on the best databases for your topic.

Secondary Sources in the Sciences

Secondary sources in the sciences are about the research and discoveries of other people, usually with the goal of providing an overview of the topic that allows readers to quickly become familar with topic.

Some examples of secondary sources are...

• Review articles
• Scientific encyclopedias
• Last Updated: Jan 30, 2023 10:09 AM
• URL: https://guides.library.vcu.edu/science-primary-sources

Identifying Primary and Secondary Research Articles

• Primary and Secondary

Primary Research Articles

Primary research articles report on a single study. In the health sciences, primary research articles generally describe the following aspects of the study:

• The study's hypothesis or research question
• Some articles will include information on how participants were recruited or identified, as well as additional information about participants' sex, age, or race/ethnicity
• A "methods" or "methodology" section that describes how the study was performed and what the researchers did
• Results and conclusion section

Secondary Research Articles

Review articles are the most common type of secondary research article in the health sciences. A review article is a summary of previously published research on a topic. Authors who are writing a review article will search databases for previously completed research and summarize or synthesize those articles,  as opposed to recruiting participants and performing a new research study.

Specific types of review articles include:

• Systematic Reviews
• Meta-Analysis
• Narrative Reviews
• Integrative Reviews
• Literature Reviews

Review articles often report on the following:

• The hypothesis, research question, or review topic
• Databases searched-- authors should clearly describe where and how they searched for the research included in their reviews
• Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis should provide detailed information on the databases searched and the search strategy the authors used.Selection criteria-- the researchers should describe how they decided which articles to include
• A critical appraisal or evaluation of the quality of the articles included (most frequently included in systematic reviews and meta-analysis)
• Discussion, results, and conclusions

Determining Primary versus Secondary Using the Database Abstract

Information found in PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, and other databases can help you determine whether the article you're looking at is primary or secondary.

Primary research article abstract

• Note that in the "Objectives" field, the authors describe their single, individual study.
• In the materials and methods section, they describe the number of patients included in the study and how those patients were divided into groups.
• These are all clues that help us determine this abstract is describing is a single, primary research article, as opposed to a literature review.
• Primary Article Abstract

Secondary research/review article abstract

• Note that the words "systematic review" and "meta-analysis" appear in the title of the article
• The objectives field also includes the term "meta-analysis" (a common type of literature review in the health sciences)
• The "Data Source" section includes a list of databases searched
• The "Study Selection" section describes the selection criteria
• These are all clues that help us determine that this abstract is describing a review article, as opposed to a single, primary research article.
• Secondary Research Article

• Primary vs. Secondary Worksheet

Full Text Challenge

Can you determine if the following articles are primary or secondary?

• Last Updated: Feb 17, 2024 5:25 PM
• URL: https://library.usfca.edu/primary-secondary

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Tutorial: Evaluating Information: Primary vs. Secondary Articles

• Evaluating Information
• Scholarly Literature Types
• Primary vs. Secondary Articles
• Peer Review
• Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analysis
• Gray Literature
• Evaluating Like a Boss
• Evaluating AV

Primary vs. Secondary Research Articles

In the sciences,  primary (or empirical) research articles :

• are original scientific reports of new research findings (Please note that an original scientific article does not include review articles, which summarize the research literature on a particular subject, or articles using meta-analyses, which analyze pre-published data.)
• usually include the following sections: Introduction , Methods , Results , Discussion, References
• are usually  peer-reviewed (examined by expert(s) in the field before publication). Please note that a peer-reviewed article is not the same as a review article, which summarizes the research literature on a particular subject

You may also choose to use some secondary sources (summaries or interpretations of original research) such as books (find these through the library catalog) or review articles (articles which organize and critically analyze the research of others on a topic). These secondary sources, particularly review articles, are often useful and easier-to-read summaries of research in an area. Additionally, you can use the listed references to find useful primary research articles.

Anatomy of a Scholarly Article

from NCSU Libraries' Anatomy of a Scholarly Article

Types of health studies

In the sciences, particularly the health sciences, there are a number of types of primary articles (the gold standard being randomized controlled trials ) and secondary articles (the gold standard being systematic reviews and meta-analysis ). The chart below summarizes their differences and the linked article gives more information.

Searching for Primary vs. Secondary Articles

Some scholarly databases will allow you to specific what kind of scholarly literature you're looking for.  However, be careful! Sometimes, depending on the database, the Review article type may mean book review instead of or as well as review article. You may also have to look under more or custom options to find these choices.

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• Next: Peer Review >>
• Last Updated: Oct 20, 2021 11:11 AM
• URL: https://guides.library.cornell.edu/evaluate

A Guide to Primary Scientific Articles

What is a primary scientific article.

• How do I find primary scientific articles?
• How do I read primary scientific articles?

A primary scientific article is a report on the results of an experiment by the person or group who performed it. Primary scientific articles usually contain high-level vocabulary and original data, often presented in tables and charts.

Typically, a primary scientific article has the following sections:.

Articles with those components indicate that the author is presenting original research or data. Sometimes scholarly journals or databases also include review articles, which summarize published research on a topic but do not contain new results from original research. Even though these sources are scholarly, they are NOT primary articles.

• Next: How do I find primary scientific articles? >>
• Last Updated: Aug 29, 2024 3:57 PM
• URL: https://micds.libguides.com/scientificarticles

Educator Resources

Finding Primary Sources for Teachers and Students

Finding primary sources.

Primary Sources from DocsTeach Thousands of online primary source documents from the National Archives to bring the past to life as classroom teaching tools.

National Archives Catalog Find online primary source materials for classroom & student projects from the National Archive's online catalog (OPA).

Beginning Research Activities Student activities designed to help you navigate the National Archives resources and web site.

Online Exhibits Exhibits featuring online documents, photos and primary sources from the National Archives

Our Documents 100 Milestone Documents of American History

Getting Started with Research How to start researching records at the National Archives. Finding your topic, identifying records, planning a visit, and more.

Online Research Tools & Aids Introduction to catalogs, databases, and other online resources.

Citing Primary Sources Citing Records in the National Archives of the United States

• Harvard Library
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Primary Research Article

Review article.

Identifying and creating an APA style citation for your bibliography: 

• Author initials are separated by a period
• Multiple authors are separated by commas and an ampersand (&)  
• Title format rules change depending on what is referenced
• Double check them for accuracy 

Identifying and creating an APA style in-text citation: 

• eg. (Smith, 2022) or (Smith & Stevens, 2022) 

The structure of this changes depending on whether a direct quote or parenthetical used:

Direct Quote: the citation must follow the quote directly and contain a page number after the date

eg. (Smith, 2022, p.21)

Parenthetical: the page number is not needed

For more information, take a look at Harvard Library's Citation Styles guide !

A primary research article typically contains the following section headings:

"Methods"/"Materials and Methods"/"Experimental Methods"(different journals title this section in different ways)

"Results"

"Discussion"

If you skim the article, you should find additional evidence that an experiment was conducted by the authors themselves.

Primary research articles provide a background on their subject by summarizing previously conducted research, this typically occurs only in the Introduction section of the article.

Review articles do not report new experiments. Rather, they attempt to provide a thorough review of a specific subject by assessing either all or the best available scholarly literature on that topic.

Ways to identify a review article: 

• Author(s) summarize and analyze previously published research 
• May focus on a specific research question, comparing and contrasting previously published research 
• Overview all of the research on a particular topic 
• Does not contain "methods" or "results" type sections
• << Previous: Scenarios in PubMed
• Last Updated: Oct 3, 2023 4:16 PM
• URL: https://guides.library.harvard.edu/PubMed

Harvard University Digital Accessibility Policy

NUR 3165 - Nursing Research

• Nursing Databases
• Research Article Basics
• - Practice 1

Finding Primary Research Articles - Overview

• - Practice 2
• Quantitative/Qualitative/Mixed Methods
• - Practice 3
• How to Find Full Text Articles
• Terminology

There are several ways to locate primary research articles as you will see in the following practice exercises (see next page). Here are some tips to consider while looking for original research studies:

Tip #1 - Incorporate subject headings into your search

Subject headings are terms that are part of a controlled vocabulary used to describe the contents tagged inside the article record. These terms can be found in each of the CINAHL Detailed Records under Major Subjects and Minor Subjects. So, if you see the ultimate article, look to see what terms it is tagged with and add them to the search in the appropriate line if relevant. For example,(MH "Emergency Service") is the medical subject heading used for Emergency Department!

To search for possible subject headings, try putting a keyword in a new search and check the Suggest Subject Terms  box. The asterisk covers any number of characters (i.e., nurs* yields nurse, nurses, and nurses at the same time). Quotation marks around two or more terms searches them as a phrase.

Try it out! Place the term  Hospital Acquired Infection  in CINAHL, check the Suggest Subject Terms box and click search to see the subject heading for this term!

Tip #2 - Check the research article box

Databases like CINAHL allow you to select Research Article to retrieve research articles in your search.

Tip #3 - Sections of the Research Article to look for

When reading an article, make sure to look inside the abstract (and the full text) and scan for sections contained in many primary research studies such as  Introduction, Participants, Methods, Results and Discussion! Look at those sections to see if the researchers are working directly with the participants and conducting original research.

See the next section for additional tips!

• << Previous: - Practice 1
• Next: - Practice 2 >>
• Last Updated: Aug 27, 2024 2:25 PM
• URL: https://guides.ucf.edu/NUR3165a

Science Research: Primary Sources and Original Research vs. Review Articles

• Additional Web Resources
• Health & Science Databases
• Primary Sources and Original Research vs. Review Articles
• Citation Guides, Generators, and Tools

Original Research vs. Review Articles. How can I tell the Difference?

Research vs review articles.

It's often difficult to tell the difference between original research articles and review articles. Here are some explanations and tips that may help: "Review articles are often as lengthy or even longer that original research articles. What the authors of review articles are doing in analysing and evaluating current research and investigations related to a specific topic, field, or problem. They are not primary sources since they review previously published material. They can be of great value for identifying potentially good primary sources, but they aren't primary themselves. Primary research articles can be identified by a commonly used format. If an article contains the following elements, you can count on it being a primary research article. Look for sections titled:

Methods (sometimes with variations, such as Materials and Methods) Results (usually followed with charts and statistical tables) Discussion

You can also read the abstract to get a good sense of the kind of article that is being presented.

If it is a review article instead of a research article, the abstract should make that pretty clear. If there is no abstract at all, that in itself may be a sign that it is not a primary resource. Short research articles, such as those found in Science and similar scientific publications that mix news, editorials, and forums with research reports, however, may not include any of those elements. In those cases look at the words the authors use, phrases such as "we tested"  and "in our study, we measured" will tell you that the article is reporting on original research."*

*Taken from Ithca College Libraries

Primary and Secondary Sources for Science

In the Sciences, primary sources are documents that provide full description of the original research. For example, a primary source would be a journal article where scientists describe their research on the human immune system. A secondary source would be an article commenting or analyzing the scientists' research on the human immune system.

  EXAMPLES OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SOURCES

Source: The Evolution of Scientific Information (from  Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science , vol. 26).

Primary Vs. Secondary Vs. Tertiary Sources

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• Last Updated: Nov 16, 2023 1:58 PM
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Reading Science: Navigating Scientific Articles

The organization of a scientific article.

Primary research articles are typically organized into sections: introduction, materials and methods, results, and discussion (called IMRD).

Identify key elements

You may need to read an article several times in order to gain an understanding of it, but you can start by identifying key elements in a quick survey before you read.

Can you find?

• What was the purpose of the study? (in the introduction)
• Was the hypothesis supported? (in the discussion)
• What can you learn from the figures? Do you see trends? (in the results)
• How might the results be used in the future? What comes next? (in the discussion/conclusion)
• What were the limitations of the study? (in the discussion/conclusion)
• How was the experiment conducted? (in the materials and methods)
• How does this study build on previous research? (in the introduction)

Examples of key elements in a scientific paper

Files and links

• Scientific articles with Learning Lens annotations
• NPR: Her incredible sense of smell is helping scientists find new ways to diagnose disease
• Discovery of volatile biomarkers of Parkinson’s disease from sebum
• Worksheet Activity

Contact me.

• Last Updated: Sep 3, 2024 2:22 PM
• URL: https://guides.lib.uiowa.edu/ReadingScience

Biotechnology

• Library vs. Google
• Background Reading
• Keyword Searching
• Evaluating Sources

Primary Research Articles

• Citing Sources
• Need more help?

How Can I Find Primary Research Articles?

Many of the recommended databases in this subject guide contain primary research articles (also known as empirical articles or research studies). Search in databases like ScienceDirect , MEDLINE , and Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition .

Primary Research Articles: How Will I Know One When I See One?

Primary Research Articles  To conduct and publish an experiment or research study, an author or team of authors designs an experiment, gathers data, then analyzes the data and discusses the results of the experiment. A published experiment or research study will therefore  look  very different from other types of articles (newspaper stories, magazine articles, essays, etc.) found in our library databases. The following guidelines will help you recognize a primary research article, written by the researchers themselves and published in a scholarly journal.

Structure of a Primary Research Article Typically, a primary research article has the following sections:

• The author summarizes her article
• The author discusses the general background of her research topic; often, she will present a literature review, that is, summarize what other experts have written on this particular research topic
• The author describes the study she designed and conducted
• The author presents the data she gathered during her experiment
• The author offers ideas about the importance and implications of her research findings, and speculates on future directions that similar research might take
• The author gives a References list of sources she used in her paper

The structure of the article will often be clearly shown with headings: Introduction, Method, Results, Discussion.

A primary research article will almost always contains statistics, numerical data presented in tables. Also, primary research articles are written in very formal, very technical language.

• << Previous: Evaluating Sources
• Next: Citing Sources >>
• Last Updated: Jul 17, 2024 11:29 AM
• URL: https://libguides.umgc.edu/biotechnology

How To Find...

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Nabb research center.

Looking for primary sources related to Salisbury University, local history, family genealogy, or the Eastern Shore? Visit the Nabb Research Center, located on the fourth floor of the Academic Commons!

• Nabb Center Collections
• Nabb Center Finding Aid Portal The Finding Aid Portal provides descriptions of the Nabb Research Center’s archival collections, as well as their affiliated artifacts, to help facilitate access to the materials.

Library Databases

• JSTOR (including ARTSTOR) This link opens in a new window After searching, use the "Primary source content" limiters on the left side of the screen to see primary documents, images, audio files, books, and more.
• Archives Unbound This link opens in a new window Archives Unbound presents topically-focused digital collections of historical documents that support the research and study needs of college & university scholars & students.
• American Historical Periodicals (American Antiquarian Society). This link opens in a new window A highly comprehensive primary source history of the American experience that spans four centuries with multiple perspectives on the thought, culture, and society of North America.
• Black Freedom Struggle in the United States: Challenges and Triumphs in the Pursuit of Equality This link opens in a new window Contains over 3,000 documents focused on different phases of Black Freedom from the 1700s to present.
• Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture & Law This link opens in a new window Includes hundreds of pamphlets and books written about slavery— defending it, attacking it or simply analyzing it, including an expansive slavery collection of mostly pre-Civil War materials.
• Japanese-American Relocation Camp Newspapers: Perspectives on Day-to-Day Life This link opens in a new window This collection documents life in the internment camps.
• Archives of Sexuality and Gender: LGBTQ History and Culture since 1940, Parts I and II This link opens in a new window This primary source database includes content on the social, political, health, and legal issues impacting LGBTQ communities around the world, such as the gay rights movement, activism, the HIV/AIDS crisis, and marginalization within the LGBTQ community.
• Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000: Scholar's Edition This link opens in a new window Organized around the history of women in social movements in the U.S. between 1600 and 2000, this vast collection of documents also includes book, film, and website reviews, notes from the archives, and teaching tools.
• Victoria Research Web This link opens in a new window Dedicated to the scholarly study of nineteenth-century Britain, and to aiding researchers, teachers, and students in their investigations of any and all aspects of this fascinating period.

Online Primary Sources

Most states and countries keep primary documents related to their history, culture, and people. If you're working on a project related to a specific place, Google "country national archives". 

• Maryland State Archives This link opens in a new window The central depository for Maryland government records from 1634 onward. Colonial, executive, legislative, and judicial records; county probate, land, and court records; church records; business records; state publications and reports; and special collections of private papers, maps, photos, and newspapers.
• National Archives NextGen Catalog The National Archives holds historical U.S. government documents (federal, congressional, and presidential records), many of which are digitized and available to the public.
• Library of Congress Search box located in the top right. The Library of Congress maintains a massive online repository that includes articles, maps, musical scores, legislation, film, photographs, and thousands of other historical US documents.
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• Last Updated: Aug 26, 2024 12:54 PM
• URL: https://libraryguides.salisbury.edu/howtofind