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BIOL 400 - Vertebrate Biology

This guide will help you find resources for your Vertebrate Biology review paper.

Peer-Reviewed Articles: Primary or Review?

For your assignment, you are required to find and use a minimum of ten (10) peer-reviewed, primary literature articles related to the topic you've chosen within the field of vertebrate biology. Within your paper, most of your citations will occur in the Introduction, Background and Body sections. Because you're writing a review paper, you will not have a methods section.

What is the difference between primary and review articles? The main difference is the degree of separation the authors have from an actual experiment and/or study taking place. In a primary article, the authors are the same people who conducted the research and are writing about what they learned firsthand. In a review article, the authors are asking a question and answering it by reading primary articles written on this topic - they report on the results of experiments/studies secondhand, which is why review articles are sometimes called secondary sources. 

  Primary (sometimes also called "Empirical") Review (sometimes also called "Secondary")
Audience other scholars/researchers other scholars/researchers
Purpose the authors are reporting on an experiment/study that they themselves have conducted the authors are asking a question and answering it by consulting other published research on the topic
Structure very structured, typically with an IMRAD format (introduction, methods, results, analysis & discussion) very structured, but sections may be labeled by theme and not necessarily with a methods/results/discussion section
Methods the methods section will describe how the experiment was conducted Not all review papers have methods sections, if they do it describes the types of articles and where the authors found them
Review blind reviewed by other scholars  blind reviewed by other scholars
Examples

Boast, L.K., Houser, A.M., Good, K., Gusset, M. 2013. Regional variation in body size of the cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus). Journal of Mammalogy, 94(6), 1293-1297. doi:10.1644/13-MAMM-A-076.1

 Gaston, K.J., Davies, T.W., Nedelec, S.L., Holt, L.A. 2017. Impacts of artificial light at night on biological timings. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, 48, 49-68. doi:10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-110316-022745