STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics) research is communicated through a variety of source types & associated publication methods: conference proceedings, reports, white papers, preprints, as well as books, peer-reviewed journal articles, and more. Attend this session to learn how to navigate the world of STEM research and successfully locate the information you need.
By the end of this session, you will be able to:
Last updated on September 14, 2018
Article type |
Explanation |
|
Review articles |
Substantial overview of original research, usually with a comprehensive reference list. Note: Not a book review. |
|
Research articles |
Complete report on original research. |
|
Encyclopedia |
Elsevier major reference works. |
|
Book chapters |
Individual chapter of a book. |
|
Conference abstracts |
Abstract of a paper or oral presentation or poster typically presented in conference proceedings. |
|
Book reviews |
A collection of book reviews. |
|
Case reports |
A detailed report of the symptoms, signs, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of an individual patient. |
|
Conference info |
Information about a conference. |
|
Correspondence |
Letter to the editor or a reply to the letter. |
|
Data articles |
Publication item describing data. |
|
Discussion |
Argumentative communication, like papers in a discussion, but also perspectives, commentaries, etc. |
|
Editorials |
From the editor of the publication. |
|
Errata |
Article in which errors are reported that were made in an earlier publication in the same journal. |
|
Examinations |
Examination or quiz, with questions and answers. |
|
Mini reviews |
A short review much like a short full-length article. |
|
News |
News item. |
|
Patent reports |
A report on newly developed patents. |
|
Practice guidelines |
A report that describes guidelines for effective diagnosis or treatment of a medical condition. |
|
Product reviews |
A review of a product (e.g., a review of software, hardware, medical products, etc.). |
|
Replication studies |
A replication of a scientific study. |
|
Short communications |
A short report or announcement of research, usually claiming certain results. Appear under many names, such as letter papers, preliminary notes, notes, etc. |
|
Software publications |
A publication item containing software or a description of software. |
|
Video articles |
A publication item whose primary content is a video accompanied by a description of that video. |
|
Other |
All other types not mentioned above. |
Research articles are extensive and detailed descriptions of scientific experiments, observations, and analysis carried out by the authors. These articles are published in peer-reviewed journals, or occasionally as chapters in edited scholarly books. They are the primary way that scientists learn about advances in their fields. If an article is very influential in its field, or at least very interesting, it is likely to be cited in the publications of other scientists working in the same areas, and perhaps analyzed, critiqued, or commented on in a secondary work of literature.
Conference proceedings are often “works in progress” originally meant to accompany the author’s lecture or poster at a conference. They may not have been peer reviewed in any meaningful capacity. The author may have later written a full article based on the conference proceeding.
Preprints are early versions of articles which have not been through a peer review process yet, but which the authors want their colleagues in the field to have access to anyways. These can be great sources of cutting edge information, but it’s important to remember that they still haven’t been reviewed fully in the peer review process.
Dissertations are written by doctoral students as the culminating evidence of their studies in graduate school. They are meant to be an original contribution of research to the author’s field. Dissertations are reviewed carefully by a committee of university faculty before a degree is awarded. While a full dissertation is often book-length, many authors will opt to publish parts of it as research articles.
A patent is a legal document providing evidence of intellectual copyright over an invention (usually a product, process, method, or composition), allowing the patent holder to exclude others from making, using, or selling the invention for a period of time. Patents include original evidence describing the invention, and are thus often considered primary. Once published by the US Patent and Trademark Office, they are freely available, although often difficult to locate.
Individual organizations produce a great quantity of original material documenting their operations that is never formally published. This is commonly referred to as “grey literature.” Grey literature that could be considered primary might include internal reports, technical documents, memos, and personal communications.
This section includes original data collected in the course of research projects. “Raw” implies the data hasn’t yet been cleaned up or manipulated. This includes numerical data, tables and charts, code, maps, transcripts, photos and drawings, lab and field notebooks, sound recordings, and even material samples. Raw data is sometimes shared by researchers who value open science, but this isn’t yet a norm so tracking it down can be challenging.
From: Gustavsen, Nicole. Gonzaga University. LibGuides: Engineering & Applied Science Research Guide: Types of Sources.
A search engine providing access to both freely available and subscription based resources including articles, theses, books, preprints, abstracts, conference proceedings and technical .
(coverage varies according to journal title) Includes abstracts, tables of contents, and full text of articles from journals as well as a few book selections. Content includes the sciences, technology, medicine and social sciences.
Locate books, articles, and more from all UC campuses and beyond in this unified discovery and borrowing system. Use filters and alternative search scopes to narrow your results. Connect via the VPN to view all content available to you. Log in to your account to request material.
Provides access to multiple science and social science databases: Arts & Humanities Citation Index (1975 - present), Social Sciences Citation Index (1956 - present), Science Citation Index (1900 - present), Conference Proceedings Citation Index-Science (1990 - present), and Conference Proceedings Citation Index-Social Science & Humanities (1990 - present). Also includes Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI).
Allows searching of articles from publications of the Association for Computing Machinery by author and/or keywords taken from the titles, abstracts and/or full-text. Over 22,000 articles have displayable full-text available.
Access to an archive for preprints for physics, mathematics, nonlinear sciences, and computer science. Formerly the Los Alamos National Laboratory Eprint Archive, and also known as xxx.lanl.gov, the main site hardware operations were transferred from Los Alamos to the Cornell University Library site in December 2001.
Provides access to a large collection of industry-leading standards and technical engineering information. Covers a broad range of engineering disciplines, including aerospace, biomedical, chemical, civil, environmental, geological, health and safety, industrial, materials science, mechanical, nuclear, petroleum, soil science, and solar engineering.
GreenFILE indexes scholarly and general interest titles, government documents and related to the environment. Full text is available for selected titles and references are available for an additional 200 titles.
1913 - present. Full-text access to publications from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and from the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE). These publications include transactions, journals, magazines, conference proceedings
1898 - present. INSPEC, via Engineering Village 2, offers over 9 million records from over 5,000 journals, conference proceedings, reports, dissertations, and books (from 1969-2008). Produced by The Institution of Engineering and Technology. Covers a range of subjects from computers and ocean engineering to astronomy and acoustics.
A collection from BioOne of 200+ high quality, subscribed and open-access titles focusing on the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences.
1951 - present. Includes more than 22 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. PubMed facilitates searching across several NLM literature resources including MEDLINE, PubMed Central, and Bookshelf. Citations may include links to full-text content from PubMed Central and Bookshelf. MEDLINE articles are indexed with MeSH (Medical Subject Headings). Use Get it at UC to locate the full text when not otherwise available.
From Chemical Abstract Services. A collection of chemical literature and information databases. Includes CAplus (the online version of Chemical Abstracts), the CAS Registry, and CASREACT. Register here.
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