When your professor uses the term, primary source, it can mean something different depending on the discipline, but it usually refers to a source created in a direct manner. Below, I'll define a primary sources in a few ways so that you get a well rounded idea of how the term is used.
- In arts and literature, we often use the term primary source to refer to a work created by an author or an artist. It's something that they created that carries a story or message - like a novel, play or a poem, a painting or sculpture or a film.
- In historical research, we use the term primary source to indicate a source 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. Examples include newspapers, diaries, interviews, speeches, etc.
- In the natural sciences, we use this term (synonymous with primary research) to refer to the reporting of findings by a scientist who conducted an experiment or field research. If you tested a drug on a group of patients and wrote up your findings, that would be primary research.
Why would I use these sources in my research?
Primary sources offer a first-hand or eyewitness account of a situation that is unfiltered by interpretation.
How should I use them in my research?
To analyze primary sources, ask yourself these questions:
- Who is the creator and what was their relationship to the event or issue?
- Why did the creator produce this source?
- Was the source for personal use? For a large audience?
- Was the source intended to be public (newspaper) or private (correspondence)?
- How neutral was the creator? What biases or interests might have influenced how the source was created?
- Can the source be substantiated by other primary sources? Can you confirm what the creator is saying?
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?
- Biographies
- Reviews and criticism
- Histories, such as in books or documentaries
- Academic journal articles
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.
