Primary Sources vs Secondary Sources Primary Sources Contemporary

Primary Sources vs. Secondary Sources

Primary Sources �Contemporary accounts of an event written by the person who witnessed or experienced it first hand. �Original documents; not about another document or account. �Published works, as long as they are written during or soon after the fact and not as historical accounts.

Primary Sources include �Diaries �Letters �Memoirs �Journal. S �Speeches �Manuscripts �Statistical data �Interviews �Photographs �Audio/video recordings �Research reports �Art �Government documents �Original literary or theatrical works �Autobiographies �Artifacts �Maps

Examples of Primary Sources

Secondary Sources �Interpret primary sources; at least one step removed from the event or phenomenon under review. �Examination of studies that researchers made of a subject. �Secondhand accounts; conveys the experiences and opinions of others.

Secondary Sources include �Usually in the form of published works �Journal and magazine articles �Books �Biographies �Radio and TV documents

Examples of Secondary Sources

How do you know? Ask yourself. . . �How does the author know these details? �Was the author present at the event or soon on the scene? �Where does the information come from? Personal experience, eyewitness accounts or reports written by others? �Are the author’s conclusions based on a single piece of evidence, or have many sources been taken into account?

Primary or Secondary Sources? �Newspaper, magazine and journal articles can be a primary or secondary sources. �If the article was written at the time something happened, then it is a primary source. �Example: Articles written on Obama’s inauguration in 2009 are primary sources. However, if a reporter in 2012 wrote about Washington’s inauguration using information written by someone else in 1789, that would be a secondary source.