On this page you can find the answers to these questions:
What Are Primary Sources? - a definition and a video tutorial
How Do I Distinguish Between a Primary, a Secondary Source, and a Tertiary Source?
How Should I Compare Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources Across Disciplines?
What Keywords Should I Use? - the keywords to use when searching for primary sources
What Questions Should I Ask? -these can help you decide whether a source is primary or secondary
Primary sources are “first hand”accounts of an event, an occurrence, or a time period produced by a participant or observer at the time, or shortly thereafter. They can be published or unpublished. |
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Typically, primary sources include: Unique documents or manuscripts - letters, diaries, journals, writings, speeches, photographs, scrapbooks, etc. Historic records of an organization - correspondence, memoranda, minutes, annual reports, etc. Government documents - records, maps, and statistical data Artwork and artifacts Music and audiovisual materials - film, audio and video tape Speeches and oral histories - printed transcripts or audio recordings Photographs and advertisements Electronic computer files - including emails This tutorial from University of Guelph Library explains what primary sources are, and how they differ from secondary sources. |
Primary sources are the surviving original records of a period, eyewitness accounts and first-published documentation of new information. |
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Examples of primary sources include:
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Gardner, Ella. Public Dance Halls, Their Regulation and
Place in the Recreation of Adolescents. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1929. Accessed November 20, 2015. doi:musdi205http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/musdi.205. |
Secondary sources interpret the past and analyze primary sources. Examples of secondary sources include:
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Martin, Carol. "Legislation Relevant to Dance Marathons." Appendix to Dance Marathons: Performing American Culture of the 1920s and 1930s, 147-60. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 1994. Accessed November 20, 2015. Questia School.
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Tertiary sources are distillations and indexes of primary and secondary sources. Examples of tertiary sources include:
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"'Fads and Crazes.'" Topic Overview to 1920-1929., edited by Judith S. Baughman, Victor Bondi, Richard Layman, Tandy McConnell, and Vincent Tompkins. Vol. 3 American Decades. Detroit, MI: Gale, 2001. Accessed November 20, 2015.
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NoodleTools Inc. "[All Styles] How Do I Distinguish between a Primary Source, a Secondary Source and a Tertiary Source?" In KnowledgeBase, by |
SUBJECT |
PRIMARY |
SECONDARY |
TERTIARY |
Art and |
Painting by Manet |
Article critiquing art piece |
ArtStor database |
Chemistry/Life |
Einstein's diary |
Monograph on Einstein's life |
Dictionary on Theory of Relativity |
Engineering/ |
Patent |
NTIS database |
User's Manual |
Humanities |
Letters by Dr. Martin Luther |
Web site on King's writings |
Encyclopedia on Civil Rights Movement |
Social Sciences |
Notes taken by clinical psychologist |
Magazine article about the psychological condition |
Textbook on clinical psychology |
Performing Arts |
Movie filmed in 1942 |
Biography of the director |
Guide to the movie |
Teaching and Learning Services. "Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Sources." University of Maryland Libraries. Last modified February 3, 2014. Accessed
November 20, 2015. http://www.lib.umd.edu/tl/guides/primary-sources.
Using the General Keyword search box - type in your topic plus one of the following words or phrases:
Archive Source*
Correspondence
Diar* (this retrieves both
Diary and Diaries)
History Archive*
History Document*
History Source*
Interview*
Letter*
Personal Narrative*
Primary source*
Speech*
Note: Use of the * at the end of a word will search for both singular and plural forms.
In the Arts:
1. Was the source created during the time period you're studying? If the answer is yes, you are looking at a primary source.
2. Is it an object from a particular time in history? (Archie Bunker's chair? An Emily Dickinson poem?) This also counts as a primary source.
3. Was the source written after an event took place? If so, it is a secondary source.
In the Sciences:
1. Is the source reporting original research?
2. Did the author(s) carry out this original research?
If the answer to the two above questions is yes, it is a primary source.
Based on the How Do I...: Find Primary Sources guide created by the librarians at Cline Library, Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona.