- Primary sources: A primary source is a source that displays original work and thinking or is the source of new evidence without any further interpretation or commentary. In the sciences, some examples of primary sources might be research journal articles, theses, lab reports, field or lab notebooks, datasets, interviews, or pictures. A typical example of a primary source in applied plant ecology is the basic research paper which is published in publications like Nature, Science, or Plant Ecology (Springer). The article only provides the basic new research conducted by the scientists and is not a comment or interpretation of other research.
- Secondary sources: A secondary source is a source that summarizes, reorganizes, comments, or restates the information that is found in primary sources. The purpose of doing this is to help organize the information, make it easier to understand, and provide an analysis on the information. In applied plant ecology, this might consist of things such as a textbook or meta-analysis studies. For example, to an undergraduate student in first year biology, it would be much too difficult and time consuming to find, read, and understand multiple research papers (primary source) for the vast amount of information in their biology course. Therefore, a textbook (secondary source) which compiles all the research, puts it into context, and makes it easier to understand is used for efficient learning.
- Tertiary sources: A tertiary source compiles, organizes, and indexes primary and secondary sources about a subject matter and helps the reader to find other research. Examples include encyclopedias, manuals, guidebooks, dictionaries, and bibliographies. An example of a tertiary source is applied plant ecology would be a field guide that helps the book user identify plant species or a manual which helps researchers by outlining basic research methods to follow in their experimental design.
Applied Plant Ecology Winter 2020 