What is a Primary Source?
Primary sources in nursing are documents or records that report on a study, experiment, trial, or research project. They are usually written by the person who did the research, conducted the study, or ran the experiment. These sources include the hypothesis, methodology, and the results. Primary sources include:
- Pilot/prospective studies
- Cohort studies
- Survey research
- Case studies
- Lab notebooks
- Clinical trials and randomized trials
- Theses and dissertations
How to Find Primary Sources
Be sure to search using CINAHL Complete's Advanced Search screen. Scroll down to Publication Type and select one or more of the following:
- Case Study
- Clinical Trial
- Doctoral Dissertation
- Masters Thesis
- Randomized Controlled Trial
You can hold down the CTRL key to select more than one type of primary source.
- PubMed This link opens in a new window
Start by searching terms in the search box. From your search results screen, go to the top left column "Article types." Click on "Customize ..." and then check the boxes next to one or more of the following:
- Clinical Trial
- Controlled Clinical Trial
- Randomized Control Trial
Then click on "Show" at the bottom of the Article types pop-up box.
- MEDLINE (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Be sure to search using MEDLINE's Advanced Search screen. Scroll down to Document Type and select one or more of the following:
- Case Study
- Clinical Study
- Clinical Trial
- Controlled Clinical Trial
- Randomized Controlled Trial
You can hold down the CTRL key to select more than one.