Scientific Information Sources Quiz

Which of the following is not a source of scientific information?

• Novels

• Journal articles

• Websites

• Newspaper articles

What is a characteristic of scholarly sources?

• Exaggerated and sensationalized writing

• Informal writing style

• Neutral and factual writing style

• No citations of other sources

What is the purpose of primary sources in science?

• To simplify and summarize information from secondary sources

• To provide commentary on primary sources

• To analyze information originally reported in primary sources

• To provide a full description of new scientific findings

What is a characteristic of secondary sources?

• Contain commentary on or a discussion about a primary source

• Tend to come first in the publication cycle

• Original materials not including interpretation or evaluation by a second party

• Formats include journal articles, conference papers, and dissertations

What is the purpose of review articles?

• To provide a systematic overview and analysis of the primary literature in a particular field

• To report new scientific findings made by researchers

• To impart information to general readers

• To provide a full description of new scientific findings

Which of the following is an example of a primary source?

• Review article in a magazine

• Article in a scholarly journal reporting research and methodology

• Book summarizing information originally reported in primary sources

• Article analyzing and commenting on the results of original research

What is the purpose of Google Scholar?

• To provide a systematic overview and analysis of the primary literature in a particular field

• To locate authors and their publications

• To give an overview on recent publications on a certain topic

• To integrate information from different databases and platforms

What is the main difference between scholarly and popular sources?

• Scholarly sources are informal and use easily understood vocabulary

• Popular sources are peer-reviewed before being accepted for publication

• Scholarly sources are usually published by reputable and respected publishers

• Popular sources are usually written by academics and their academic affiliation appears on these publications

What is the timing of publication cycle for primary sources?

• Tend to come first in the publication cycle

• Tend to come third in the publication cycle

• Tend to come second in the publication cycle

• Tend to come last in the publication cycle

What is the format of secondary sources?

• Journal articles, conference papers, dissertations, interviews, patents, laboratory notebooks, and technical reports

• Review articles, magazine articles, monographs, government policy, and books

• Articles analyzing and commenting on the results of original research; books doing the same

• Article in scholarly journal reporting research and methodology