Researching and judging sources

Primary and secondary sources

The words "primary" and "secondary" are used in two slightly different ways, so be careful:

• Primary data is data you collect in your own investigation. Secondary data was collected by someone else, such as Bureau of Meteorology temperature records.
• A primary source in the scientific literature is the original report of research, written by the people who did it, usually a paper in a journal. A secondary source summarises or explains other people's research: textbooks, encyclopedias, news articles and most websites.

Background research for your project will mostly use secondary sources to understand the science, plus a few primary sources (actual studies) close to your question.

How science checks itself: peer review

When scientists send a paper to a journal, the editor asks two or three independent experts in the field to review it. They check whether the method actually tests the question, whether the conclusions follow from the data and whether anything is missing. Most papers are sent back for changes; many are rejected. Peer review isn't perfect, as the 1998 paper shows, which is why the real test comes afterwards, when other scientists try to repeat the work. A result becomes trusted when independent teams get the same answer.

Judging a source

A website ending in .gov.au or .edu.au is often reliable, but not always, and many excellent sources end in .com or .org. Instead of judging by looks, ask four questions:

Fact-checkers use a trick called lateral reading: rather than reading a page from top to bottom, open new tabs and search for what other sources say about the author or organisation. A site can look very professional and still be run by a lobby group.

AI chatbots

Chatbots can be handy for explaining an idea or suggesting search terms, but they generate text that sounds right, and they sometimes invent facts and even references that look completely real, with plausible authors, journals and page numbers. Never cite a chatbot as a source, and never cite a paper you haven't found and read yourself. Your school will have rules about whether and how you may use AI, and you must say if you have.

Writing a short literature review

The background section of your report is a mini literature review. It should do more than list facts: it should show what is already known, what isn't, and how your question fills a small gap. Group sources by idea rather than writing a paragraph about each one, and say where sources agree or disagree.

First Nations knowledge as a source

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples hold detailed knowledge built up over tens of thousands of years, for example about seasons, fire, plants and animal behaviour. Much of it is now shared in published, community-approved forms, such as the Indigenous seasonal calendars developed by communities with CSIRO, or books and websites written by Aboriginal authors and organisations. Use and cite these like any other source, naming the people and community the knowledge comes from. Some knowledge is not public, and some is only for certain people. If you want to include knowledge that hasn't been published, you need permission first (see 8E).

Referencing

Referencing gives credit to other people's work, lets your reader check your sources, and protects you from plagiarism. Most Australian schools use APA style (7th edition) or Harvard, which are very similar. Each source appears once in an alphabetical reference list, and you cite it in the text with the author and year.

Write each reference into your logbook as soon as you use the source, including the date you accessed web pages. Hunting for a half-remembered website the night before the deadline wastes hours.