Primary Literature and Other Appropriate Technical References

University of Wisconsin La Crosse

http://www.uwlax.edu/biology/communication/ExampleofPrimaryLiterature.html

When writing a scientific paper, you must formally acknowledge (or cite) ideas from scientific literature that you have used in shaping your study. References appropriate to use when writing a scientific manuscript include primary literature and several other categories of technical literature The best examples of primary literature are articles from peer-reviewed scientific journals that summarize the results of original research. o Before being published in these journals, manuscripts must be critically evaluated by experienced scientists. Manuscripts judged as unacceptable are rejected and not published. o The rejection rate of some journals exceeds 50%. o Even manuscripts that are evaluated favorably must be revised and resubmitted for final inspection. Examples of peer-reviewed journals: Ecology, Molecular and Cellular Biology, New England Journal of Medicine, Science Are Internet sources appropriate to use in research manuscripts? o Because most sources of information on the Internet are not peer-reviewed and may be extremely transient, research papers do not usually cite sources of information from the Internet. o Two common exceptions include online peer-reviewed science journals large, well-recognized scientific databases Your reference list should appear at the end of your paper. It provides the information necessary for a reader to locate and retrieve any source you cite in the body of the paper.

Citing Your Sources

Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

APA (American Psychological Association) format: author-date method of in-text citation. o According to Jones (1998), APA style is a difficult citation format for first-time learners. o APA style is a difficult citation format for first-time learners (Jones, 1998). Books: Author, A.A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Location: Publisher. Periodicals: Author, A.A., Author, B.B., & Author, C.C. (Year of publication). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number (issue number), pages. Non-periodical web document, web page, or report: Author, A.A., & Author, B.B. (Date of publication). Title of document. Retrieved month day, year (only if the text may potentially change over time), from http://Web address