Introduction
When conducting research for your term papers, reports, and other projects, you will oftentimes be asked to consult two different kinds of research materials: primary sources and secondary sources. This page will assist you in identifying and making distinctions between primary and secondary sources.
What is a Primary Source?
Identifying a primary source is not a difficult task. If the document or physical object you are using as a resource was written or created during the historical time period you are examining, then you have found a primary source. The creator of a primary source has recorded or commented on events at the time they were happening; the source is therefore a contemporaneous rendering of a particular historical period or incident.
Numerous kinds of documents can fall under the heading of a primary source. These documents can include speeches, memoirs, diaries, journals, letters, interviews, historical treaties, and manuscripts. Newspaper and magazine articles may also be considered primary sources, as long as they were written during the period of time under study.
Examples of Primary Sources
| A Confederate Girl’s Diary |
Personal experiences of a Southern girl, written during mid—1800s
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“Give Me Liberty ”Speech
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Address delivered by Patrick Henry to Second Virginia Convention
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Letters of James Joyce
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Correspondence of the famous Irish writer
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Treaty of Trianon
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Text of an agreement signed after World War I
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What is a Secondary Source?
Secondary sources offer analysis, interpretation, and conjecture based on primary sources. They are created after the period being studied by individuals with no personal experience with the historical era or events. They offer explanations and descriptions of primary sources, often quoting them within the text of the work. Oftentimes, a secondary source will use primary sources as evidence to present a particular opinion or point of view.
Examples of secondary sources include encyclopedias, dictionaries, textbooks, and scholarly journal articles.
Examples of Secondary Sources
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American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson
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Psychological examination of Thomas Jefferson by Joseph J. Ellis
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Medieval Ireland : An Encyclopedia
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Specialized encyclopedia
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The Alabama Clergy and the New Deal
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Article published in a scholarly journal
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Black’s Law Dictionary
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Specialized dictionary
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Prepared Spring 2006
by Edward O'Donnell
Reference Librarian
Added to web 16 May 2006