Skip to Main Content

BIO 347: Immunology

Class guide for the Spring 2023 section of BIO 347: Immunology

Reference Materials

Reference resources are a great place to start your research! Entries in reference resources - including encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases, and handbooks - tend to be short and can help you gather background information and define unfamiliar terms from your readings.

For this course the recommended reference resource is the Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine, available as an eBook through Snowden Library. 

Primary vs. Secondary Sources

Primary Sources: also known as empirical research, primary sources are based on observation or experimentation. This means that data and/or knowledge are derived from experience rather than theory or belief. Look for language in the article that indicates the authors are the ones that conducted the original research. You can also check for:

  • The research question(s) or hypotheses to be tested
  • Description of the group or phenomena being studied
  • A statement about the methodology; how was the experiment or observation conducted?
  • Data table or figures

Secondary Sources: these are sources that analyze, interpret, or evaluate a phenomenon using previously published primary sources. In the sciences, one common example of a secondary source is a review article. This is a publication where the author(s) survey many primary research articles to reach a consensus or recommendation. Examples of secondary review articles include:

  • Literature Reviews
  • Systematic Reviews
  • Scoping Reviews
  • Meta-Analyses

Locating Scholarly Journal Articles