Overview:  In this section you will learn search strategies specific to perform searches on secondary sources of information.

Secondary literature includes books, annual reviews, textbooks, and some periodicals. These sources differ from reference materials in at least one important way: secondary sources, like reference materials, may answer factual questions; however, they also present background information and summarize results of scientific work so that you can read the full range of thinking on a particular topic. Secondary literature does not present the most current scientific information, which is found in primary literature.

Articles in science periodicals such as Discover and Science News are considered secondary literature because they don't present the results of original research, instead such articles synthesize and summarize descriptions of previous scientific work--which makes secondary literature very useful for you.

Why Use Secondary Literature?

Use annual reviews, textbooks, review articles in science periodicals, and books on scientific topics to gain detailed knowledge of a field, to learn about the historical development of a concept, and to become familiar with major researchers in an area of science. The secondary literature sources list gives just a few of the titles of this sort available in the library. You can find more secondary sources by using the Tufts Online Catalog, finding a relevant source, and then browsing the book stacks in the call number area where you located the first relevant source. Bibliographies in reference materials may also point you to secondary sources.

GUIDELINES
STEP 1: Retrieve the list of refined concepts you compiled in previous steps

STEP 2: Retrieve the list of refined queries you wrote in previous steps

STEP 3: Select the queries you are going to search on secondary sources.
From the two lists in previous steps select those that are going to be searched on secondary sources of information

Example 1:

STEP 4: Locate the search engine that will give you access to your secondary source of information.
Locate the source of information, for example, if you named the biology library as your secondary source of information; get information from them as to ways in which you can access their search engine to formulate your queries. 

Click to see a video demo that demonstrates of one such way of accessing the biology library; namely, through the google scholar web interface. In order to watch the video, you should have flashplayer plugin installed. You can download the plugin from  

STEP 5: Formulate your query
Once you have access to the search engine; formulate the query by typing the query expression you wrote in the table as shown above.

STEP 6: Examine the results
The set of results -or hits- is given to you once the search is finished.
Examine the set.

STEP 7: Done yet?
if satisfied with the results; then move on to the next query and the next until done with the list.
If the results are not quite what you expected, refine your search by using the tricks you learned in previous sections of this tutorial or by specific ones applicable to the search engine you are using. Then try the search again.

STEP 8: Collect results
Put together a list with the results you obtained here.