You have to find a few different source types, primary and secondary. The following information will help you understand what they are, when to use them.
Primary sources are produced by participants or direct observers of an event or time period. These sources may be recorded during the event or later on, by a participant reflecting upon the event.
Why would I use them?
Primary sources offer a first-hand or eyewitness account of a situation that is unfiltered by interpretation.
What are some examples?
Newspapers
Reviews released at the time of a work's publication (films, books, etc.)
Speeches
Government documents
Legal documents
Public opinion polls
Personal materials, including letters, diaries, interviews, memoirs, autobiographies and oral histories
Artifacts and artistic output, including photos, paintings, drawings, poems, novels and other writings
How should I use them in my research?
To analyze primary sources, ask yourself these questions:
Databases with Primary Resources
Secondary sources are interpretations and evaluations of primary sources. They are analyses of primary sources written by scholars and experts in a field after the time period or event has occurred.
Why would I use them?
Secondary sources have the benefit of hindsight. The author is able to contextualize the primary source in a way that takes into account other viewpoints and events that happened at the same time or afterwards.
Where are some examples?
How should I use them in my research?
Secondary sources are useful when you need an expert’s or scholar’s interpretation of a topic. This individual has spent her career researching primary documents and interpreting, analyzing and contextualizing them.
Databases with Secondary Resources
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