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finding NURSING INFORMATION: types of nursing information
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There are many different types of information published in nursing/medicine. Knowing what types of information exists and what for what intent is a critical step in the research process. If you are able to decide ahead of time what type(s) of publication contains information suited to your purpose, it will make the search process easier and faster for you.
| Part I | Life Cycle of Nursing, Medical and Scientific Information |
| Part II | Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources |
| Part III | Research Articles |
| Part IV | Scholarly vs Popular Sources |
| Part V | Peer Review |
Life Cycle of Nursing, Medical and
Scientific Information
IDEA
First a scholar develops an idea.
RESEARCH
Based on the idea, the scholar develops a research hypothesis.
Before testing the hypothesis, they will need to learn what prior
research has been done on the topic. This means that they have to
find all information (i.e. journal articles, books, conference
proceedings, dissertations) previously published on the topic.
They search for the information by using library resources!
After discovering what previous research has already been done, the scholar conducts an experiment to test their hypothesis. There are many types of research and the scholar has to choose the method most appropriate for their needs.
DISCUSSION
After the research experiment, scholars often share their
findings with colleagues and other experts in the field. This
type of communication, which does not appear in formal print, is
called the Invisible College.
PUBLICATION
Once their finding have been studied and discussed, the
researcher makes them publicly available in writing. In the
medical field, the primary outlet for publication of research
results is scholarly journals.
REUSE
After initial publication, the information presented in the
original publication may be reused in part or whole. It is
possible that the publication may be edited, synopsized,
abridged, excerpted, or even reprinted in its entirety. It may
reemerge as a newspaper or journal article, a book, a chapter of
a book, a speech, or in various other forms. It is important to
remember that there is no definite end to the life cycle of
scientific information; rather a publication may metamorphose ad
infinitum.
Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary
Sources
PRIMARY LITERATURE
The initial release of information in a formal setting is
considered primary literature. Primary sources present
information which has not been previously published in any form
in any other source. In scientific literature, journals,
conference proceedings, and technical reports are usually
considered primary literature. Also, data upon which these
publications are based can be considered a primary source.
SECONDARY LITERATURE
Secondary sources describe, comment on, interpret, analyze,
summarize, or evaluate primary sources. They rely on evidence
previously published in primary sources and are written after the
time period when the experiment was conducted or the event noted
in the primary source occured. For instance, in order for you to
write a term paper, you generally synopsize evidence that has
been published in articles or books. You do not conduct the field
or laboratory research upon which your term paper is based.
Publication types that are usually secondary sources in the
sciences include books, review articles, newspaper articles, and
indexing/abstracting services (i.e. CINAHL, MEDLINE).
TERTIARY LITERATURE
Tertiary sources are those which provide either a) a list of
primary and secondary sources (i.e. bibliography) or b) an
aggregation of primary and secondary sources (i.e. anthology of
previously published articles). Tertiary sources gather a
collection of previously published works, edit, and reprint their
content in one body. Other common tertiary sources, in addition
to those already mentioned, include encyclopedias, handbooks,
manuals, directories, and chronologies.
The classification of sources as primary, secondary, or tertiary varies by discipline and must be done on a case-by-case basis. Use the clues below to help determine the nature of a document:
Your document is most likely primary if:
- It is the first formal publication of firsthand observation or investigation.
- It presents the results of new research.
- The information was published at the time of the event.
- The information is raw data.
- The information presented is on a topic that has already been written about.
- The information a recasting of an earlier released document.
- The information is about an event that took place in an earlier time.
- The information does not describe an experiment, its methodology, the data, or results.
Test your assessment ability by trying to identify some sources on your own.
If you would like to read more information on this topic, please refer to "Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources in the Health Sciences" by the University of Minnesota Bio-Medical Library. If you are having trouble identifying the classification of a document, ask a librarian or your professor for help.
Research Articles
Many factors determine what type of study a researcher chooses to use. These often include: reliability of results, study participant availability, bias, cost, ethics, risk factors, and time. This quick guide will help you to identify and distinguish between the common types of studies. Despite their differences, identification of research articles is fairly easy because they are often written in a standard format.
Format of Scientific Research Articles:
- Title
- Authors
- Abstract: summary of article
- Introduction: background and nature of the problem being investigated
- Materials and Methods: how the research was conducted
- Results: summary data collected with contextual information
- Tables and Graphs
- Discussion: sometimes this section is combined with Results, includes a comprehensive narrative of the research from start to finish.
- Acknowledgements
- References: sources used
See an example of a research article.
For more information, see "Writing a Scientific Research Article" by Columbia University's Biology Department.
Scholarly vs Popular
Sources
| Scholarly | Popular | |
| Audience | scholars, researchers, and students | general public |
| Authors | experts in the field (faculty members, researchers) identified by name, academic degrees, and institutional affiliation | journalists or freelance writers who may not identify themselves or their credentials |
| Readability | complicated language about a very specific topic | easily understood language about a general topic |
| Images | tables, graphs and photographs used when necessary to support the text; seldom use of advertising for academic products | frequent use of color photographs that do not illustrate research results; advertisements for consumer products |
| References | extensive use of notes and works cited | rare use of notes or works cited |
| Editors | independent group of scholars (peer review) | employee(s) of the publisher |
| Might be | boring, hard to read | easy, fun and interesting to read |
| Examples | 
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To look up whether a specific journal(s) is scholarly search
Ulrich's
Periodicals Directory The Document Type will specify
either:
"Academic/Scholarly" for Scholarly Journals
"Magazine; Trade" for Popular Journals
Use Ulrich's to find
out whether these two journals are scholarly or popular.
1. American Journal of Nursing
2. Journal of Nursing Research
Peer Review
In order for an author's submission to be appropriately evalutated, the predominant opinion in publishing is that it is necessary to vet the manuscript with a group of subject experts. These subject experts are a unpaid, anonymous, and submit confidential comments to journal or book editors. They do not have direct contact with authors. Peer reviewers are also known as referees, and thus peer reviewed publications are sometimes referred to as refereed publications.
Types of recommendations referees make to editors may include:
- accept author's work as is
- accept author's work, but only after specified improvements are made
- reject author's work
- reject author's work, but with the possibility left open that the author may extensively revise and resubmitted their manuscript
Some class assignments require references to be peer reviewed. In CINAHL, one of the available limits will allow you to limit your results to peer review publications. Also, Ulrich's Periodicals Directory will tell you if a journal is peer reviewed (refereed).
Use Ulrich's to find
out whether these three journals are peer reviewed.
1. Archives of Internal Medicine
2. Nursing Times
3. Science
for help finding nursing information, contact: Valori.Banfi@uconn.edu
to comment on this tutorial, contact: Jill.Livingston@uconn.edu