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Teacher Preparation: Primary v. Secondary Sources

What is the difference between primary and secondary sources?

You ask: 

My instructor says I have to use at least one (1) primary source in my paper and at least two (2) secondary sources.  What is the difference between primary and secondary sources?

We answer: 

  • A primary source is a document or physical object written or created during a time period of study and provides an insider or first-hand view of an era, event, person, object, and/or idea, including original scientific research and/or data.
  • Secondary sources are documents that comment on or analyze and synthesize primary sources and/or original scientific research and/or data.

 

Tutorial: What are Primary and Secondary Sources? | Univ of Houston Libraries

Primary Sources
Secondary Sources
  • Diaries
  • Letters
  • Maps from the era
  • Memos/E-mails
  • Speeches (both the text of the speech & the giving of the speech)
  • Manuscripts
  • Autobiographies
  • Interviews
  • Patents
  • Laws, legislation, court rulings
  • Newspaper & magazine articles from the era
  • News film footage
  • Raw data and statistics
  • Artifacts: buildings, clothes, jewelry, toys, fossils
  • Journal articles reporting original research or an experiment
  • Official records of governments, agencies, organizations: meeting minutes, reports, vital records (e.g., Census records)
  • Creative works: poetry, novels, drama, music, art, photography, movies, scripts, performances
  • Technical reports (i.e., accounts of work done on research projects)
  • Other documents describing original scientific research, such as notes and personal papers
  • Books or articles that explain or review research works
  • Histories and critical commentaries
  • Biographies
  • Textbooks
  • Encyclopedias
  • Dictionaries
  • Directories
  • Handbooks
  • Monographs
  • Journal article that summarizes and/or synthesizes the results of other researchers' experiments, studies, and/or data

 

 

Source: University of Wisconsin-GW.