The phrase "a preliminary source" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when referring to an initial or early source of information that may be subject to further verification or analysis.
Example: "In our research, we consulted a preliminary source to gather initial data before seeking more comprehensive studies."
Alternatives: "an initial source" or "a primary source".
However, in vivo experiments carried out in mouse models represent a good preliminary source of information on the expression of traits associated with pathogenicity of Salmonella in mammalian species.
By demonstrating how to undertake procedures at home, participants thought that videos may provide a safety net (preliminary source of information for families anticipating learning how to do procedures, or a review for parents to refer to after receiving initial in-person instruction from a professional).
A systematic difference between our aftershock distribution and the fault model assumed by Yokota et al. (2009) is due to an inadequate assumption of the fault location based on preliminary source inversion of geodetic and strong motion data.
The stICA is used to extract the preliminary source images containing moving objects in video sequences.
The test is made feasible by the extraordinary quality and accessibility of the Japanese seismic and geodetic monitoring networks, and by scientists openly sharing their preliminary source models, for which we are grateful.
Since preliminary source analysis on the grand average ERPs to each of the four different facial expressions did not show qualitative differences in source location between emotions, the source model for each age group was constructed based on the combined-conditions (all facial expressions) grand average ERP [ 45, 46].
A preliminary three-source analysis was performed by fitting eight log-linear models to the data arranged in a 2 contingency table, according to the presence or absence of each case in each source.
The consensus of these experimental results and the three preliminary sources was taken to determine the most likely physiological assembly.
As a preliminary study, the source and concentration of carbon and nitrogen were varied to determine which combination provided the highest xylanase yield.
