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Primary and Secondary

Primary sources are original materials that were created at the time under study, such as eyewitness accounts, research results, legal documents, and surveys. Secondary sources analyze, interpret, or build upon primary sources and include textbooks, documentaries, literature reviews, and opinion pieces. Both primary and secondary sources are useful for research, though primary sources are considered more authoritative since they provide direct evidence without outside interpretation.

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Fchelle Ann Delgado Perea
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93 views

Primary and Secondary

Primary sources are original materials that were created at the time under study, such as eyewitness accounts, research results, legal documents, and surveys. Secondary sources analyze, interpret, or build upon primary sources and include textbooks, documentaries, literature reviews, and opinion pieces. Both primary and secondary sources are useful for research, though primary sources are considered more authoritative since they provide direct evidence without outside interpretation.

Uploaded by

Fchelle Ann Delgado Perea
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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What is a primary source?

Primary sources are the original evidence of certain events, objects, persons or work.
Examples include experiment results, statistical data, eyewitness accounts, surveys,
interviews and legal documents.

Primary sources enable students and researchers to get as close as possible to the
actual event. The information in primary sources has not yet been analyzed,
summarized or interpreted, which gives you the opportunity to do so yourself.

Example 1: Imagine a historical event that you are researching – say the moon landing. Of course, you
can’t go back in time and experience the event yourself, so you decide to start looking for eyewitness
reports, photographs, and videos taken that day. These are examples of primary sources, because they
are the closest, most original accounts of the actual historic event.

Example 2: A professor is researching the study habits of college students. He uses a survey to gather
data and conducts interviews with college students. The professor reports his findings and publishes
them in a journal. This research is considered a primary sourcebecause it includes the original raw data,
without any outside interpretation.

What is a secondary source?


A secondary source interprets, analyzes and/or explains primary sources. These
sources are one or more steps removed from the original event and therefore
sometimes lack the immediacy of the original content.

Some examples include (literature) reviews, opinion pieces, documentaries, television


broadcasts and books.

Example 1: A filmmaker decides to make a documentary about the moon landing. He analyzes,
interprets and explains the original primary source evidence, such as the photographs and eyewitness
reports we mentioned earlier. This documentary is considered a secondary source, because it’s one
step removed from the primary source.

Example 2: A student decides to write a paper on the study habits of students, just like the professor did
in the earlier example. While doing research, the student finds the article published by the professor and
decides to use it in his literature review, along with some other articles. The student interprets and
compares the professor’s article to other publications. The student’s paper is considered a secondary
source because it’s based upon and interprets the primary source (i.e. the article published by the
professor).

Questions to ask yourself


To help you determine whether a source is primary or secondary, there are some
simple questions you can ask yourself:

 Was the source created at the time and/or location of the event or time period? (e.g. a
photograph of the moon landing)
 Was the person who created the source somehow directly involved in the event or time
period
 Does the source provide an outlet for persons who were directly involved in the event or
time period to share their story?
 Is the source a piece of art, a work of literature, a film created by or starring your subject
of study, or a photograph?
 Is the source a legal document, an original collection of data or statistics, or a personal
communication?

If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then it’s most likely a primary source

Primary vs. secondary sources: which is better?


In general, primary sources are considered more credible and authoritative. They report
actual evidence, and evidence cannot be wrong.

However, there are secondary sources (e.g. literature reviews) that combine a great
deal of prior research and analyze the collection of research from a unique perspective.
Using and citing such a literature review could add great value to your own research.

Your research will involve the use of both primary and secondary sources. Even if you
are conducting a scientific experiment, you will draw upon previous methods used by
others, existing theories, and complete a review of the extant literature.

Remember to cite the primary and secondary sources you decide to use to avoid
plagiarism.

Primary and secondary sources


Primary sources provide a first-hand account of an event or time period and are considered to be authoritative. They
represent original thinking, reports on discoveries or events, or they can share new information. Often these sources
are created at the time the events occurred but they can also include sources that are created later. They are usually
the first formal appearance of original research.

Secondary sources involve analysis, synthesis, interpretation, or evaluation of primary sources. They often attempt
to describe or explain primary sources.

Scholarly journals, although generally considered to be secondary sources, often contain articles on very specific
subjects and may be the primary source of information on new developments.

Primary and secondary categories are often not fixed and depend on the study or research you are undertaking. For
example, newspaper editorial/opinion pieces can be both primary and secondary. If exploring how an event affected
people at a certain time, this type of source would be considered a primary source. If exploring the event, then the
opinion piece would be responding to the event and therefore is considered to be a secondary source.
Primary sources

Examples of primary resources include:

 diaries, correspondence, ships' logs


 original documents e.g. birth certificates, trial transcripts
 biographies, autobiographies, manuscripts
 interviews, speeches, oral histories
 case law, legislation, regulations, constitutions
 government documents, statistical data, research reports
 a journal article reporting NEW research or findings
 creative art works, literature
 newspaper advertisements and reportage and editorial/opinion pieces

Primary sources can be found using:

 Library collection
 Databases - choose type Primary Source from the All Database Types drop down list
 Primary sources for history subject guide

Secondary sources

Secondary sources offer an analysis, interpretation or a restatement of primary sources and are considered to be
persuasive. They often involve generalisation, synthesis, interpretation, commentary or evaluation in an attempt to
convince the reader of the creator's argument. They often attempt to describe or explain primary sources.

Examples of secondary sources include:

 journal articles that comment on or analyse research


 textbooks
 dictionaries and encyclopaedias
 books that interpret, analyse
 political commentary
 biographies
 dissertations
 newspaper editorial/opinion pieces
 criticism of literature, art works or music

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