Judging Primary and Secondary Source with Examples
To judge between a primary and secondary source is a bit tricky. However, with this article, we hope to equip you with the skills necessary to differentiate between the primary and secondary source. The article, ‘ER Nurse Shares His Experiences with Vaccine Reactions’ by Sarah Jo Poff (2015) is a primary source.
It is a primary source because the author of the article is stating the first-hand evidence and raw data in the form of a transcript and an interview. The data hasn’t been published and doesn’t include other research, and it’s based on the personal experience of the ER Nurse. Primary and secondary source have a distinguishing line between them. Keep your eyes open for little details, that’ll tell you the difference therein.
Whereas, the article, ‘Here’s how sugar might fuel the growth of cancer’ by Maggie Fox (2016) is a secondary source. It is a secondary source because the author states the research of Dr. Lorenzo Cohen, that has already been published, and she take excerpts of the Cohen’s research and uses those excerpts to further her conclusive argument on sugar fueling the cancer based on Cohen’s research. In this particular way, the article will be considered the secondary source, as it’s based on the primary research source to build up the narrative. Did you notice, how we differentiated primary and secondary source from the given articles?
In both articles, the information is stated differently, but effectively. In Sarah Jo Poff (2015) article, the information/data is presented in the form of a transcript and an interview, where the ER Nurse shares his experiences of Vaccine Reactions on children. He shares many instances, where vaccines’ side-effects are omitted in the reports, or how it is discouraged to share the adverse effects of vaccines. Though, it may be a primary source, the credibility of the information is lacking. The reason being that an interview and ER Nurse tends to have a biased approach towards the topic. Furthermore, no major research or credible authors have been quoted in the article, nor scientific reasoning has been discussed, which tends to present one side of the coin. Hence, it may not be believable for scientific literate people, who value facts above opinions. This is to show the content that is present in the primary and secondary source.
However, in Maggie Fox (2016) article, the information is based on the credible research of Dr. Lorenzo Cohen and his team’s experiment on the impacts of sugar on the growth of cancer. In the article, the author uses the key details from the experiment, and she is quoting Dr. Cohen, when she is basing an argument or stating a fact, which blesses her with the credibility and authenticity of her whole premise. She made use of the primary data beautifully that merges with her main premise flawlessly. Did you notice the difference between primary and secondary source yet? If not, then continue reading the next paragraph.
The primary source that Maggie fox (2016) used to compose her article is as following:
Jiang, Yan, et al. “A sucrose-enriched diet promotes tumorigenesis in mammary gland in part through the 12-lipoxygenase pathway.” Cancer research 76.1 (2016): 24-29.
Finding the primary source isn’t easy, however, the bits of information was present in Maggie Fox’s article i.e., Lorenzo Cohen, LOX-12 pathway, mice experiment etc. All these bits of information proved useful when they were used to conduct the search on ‘Google Scholar’.
The first result turned out to be the same article, that Maggie Fox (2016) was talking about in her article. Although, the primary source article of Dr. Lorenzo Cohen (2016) and his team has complex information, but Maggie Fox did her absolute best to summarize and quote the correct understanding of the article to explain the primary source with greater ease.
Hence, Maggie fox (2016) did a fantastic job in explaining the primary source’s main idea. For instance, Maggie fox (2016) states in her article that LOX-12 pathway is not clear as per the scientists, however, consumption of Fructose make LOX-12 pathway more active.
Furthermore, the majority of mice being fed extra sugar diet had developed breast cancer, and as they are being fed more sugar, the size of the tumor grew. These last two sentences, and many more alike, proves that Maggie Fox’s article has the credibility to explain the primary source’s main idea, and the information can be cross-checked also. If only, the source was mentioned at the end of the article or hyperlinked to any of the statement would’ve made the article more trustworthy. We think that at this point, you’ll be able to judge between a primary and secondary source fully.
Lastly, primary sources are not always accurate. As it’s stated before, primary source consists of raw data. it can have certain bias, logical fallacy, or simple observations and opinions, not backed up by scientific reasoning. For example, the primary source of Sarah Jo Poff (2015) article consists of an interview/transcript of ER nurse and his experiences with vaccines’ side-effects on children, and how those side-effects are covered up.
At this point, ER Nurse is stating his observations and opinion about adverse effects of vaccine on children, though he hasn’t quoted any scientific research, any doctorial testimony, and he doesn’t have the right credentials to make such claims. Even if he had the right credentials, he should have supported his claim with scientific reasoning and evidence. Any scientific person reading the article would just discard the reasoning presented in this article. That is why, not every primary source provide accurate and credible information. Just so you know, finding accurate information in primary and secondary source is quite important.
The scientific community has a proper system for dissemination of right information around the globe, with peer-review committees, conferences, online databases and journals, where authentic and credible information is published every day. There is a specific format, where previous studies are expanded upon to further a new direction of study to explain every aspect of phenomenon or phenomena.
Hence, the duty falls on the reader, that he/she should be able to differentiate between the credible and non-credible resources to make informed decisions. Just for a recap, finding accurate information in primary and secondary source is very important. Not all primary and secondary source contain the accurate information, you just have to research the authority of the author, website or source. Lastly, keep experimenting with finding primary and secondary source with your instructor, that’ll make you an informed reader.
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