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HIS 131/132: American History: Primary v. Secondary Sources

This guide supports the research needs of students enrolled in HIS 131 and HIS 132 at Brunswick Community College.

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.