HUN 3800 Nutrition Science Research and Ethics

Use the suggested databases to find research articles

Original Research

What is Original Research?

 

Original research is considered a primary source.

An article is considered original research if...

  • it is the report of a study written by the researchers who actually did the study.
  • the researchers describe their hypothesis or research question and the purpose of the study.
  • the researchers detail their research methods.
  • the results of the research are reported.
  • the researchers interpret their results and discuss possible implications.

How can I tell if the article is original research?

The only way to be sure is to read the article to verify that it is written by the researchers and that they have explained all of their findings, in addition to listing their methodologies, results, and any conclusions based on the evidence collected. 

All that being said, there are a few key indicators that will help you to quickly decide whether or not your article is based on original research. 

  • View the PDF version of the article so you can plainly see the major subdivisions that should be present in a research article:
    • Literature Review or Background
    • Methods
    • Results
    • Conclusions
    • Discussion
  • Read through the abstract (summary) before you attempt to find the full-text PDF. The abstract of the article usually contains those subdivision headings where each of the key sections are summarized individually. 
  • Use the checkbox with CINAHL's advanced search to only see articles that have been tagged as research articles.   

 

Helpful Tutorials

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How to Find Reliable Sources

Learn how to find reliable sources to use in your academic papers, including how to search for sources, evaluate sources, and organize sources with a reference management system.

Academic Writer

© 2021 American Psychological Association.


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The Rules of Evidence in Science

Learn how to understand whether claims of truth are valid, including ways of understanding truth, using the scientific method, and critically evaluating research methods and conclusions. This is the first lesson in the Introduction to Research series.

Academic Writer

© 2021 American Psychological Association.

 

 

 

Constructing a Boolean Search

Nutrition Databases

Other Useful Sources

Video Tutorial for Advanced Searching Using OneSearch

UNF tutorial for Advanced Searching with OneSearch

UNF Library