Quite frequently, students come into the Library to find sources of information for a particular research topic. The research assignment usually entails searching the Library's databases for journal articles from peer-reviewed scholarly publications. However, depending on the complexity of the assignment and how much information or research findings are needed, students may need to rely on more that just the peer-review published literature. Sometimes research findings or "evidence" will be available in other document types, such as conference proceedings or preliminary reports. It is possible to use this early evidence in a student's research project or assignment as a way to supplement the published literature, or to use it in absence of any formally published work, as long as it is properly cited. This LibGuide aims to introduce students to the various types of scientific literature available, in addition to traditionally published literature, and to illustrate the accessibility of the literature disseminated at various stages of development in scientific research.
