Primary sources of information are raw data without interpretation. Examples of primary data might be a fingerprint left at the scene of a crime, a completed survey form returned to a poll taker, or a verbatim transcript of a trial. Primary data can vary in its form from one discipline to another. The data to be synthesized can be other sources of primary or secondary data or a combination of both. Secondary data syntheses often are published as books or journal articles but one can find primary data in books and articles as well.
Tertiary literature involves the building of research tools to organize the literature of a field.
The indexes which are used to locate journal articles are an example of tertiary literature. Another example of tertiary literature might be an annotated bibliography of journal articles on a particular subject. Information Flow Formal vs. Informal Communication Information is available to researchers through both formal and informal communications. Publication of research results in book or journal format is a form of formal communication and is available to the public. This type of information generally constitutes the literature of a field of study.