PRIMARY VS SECONDARY SOURCES Which is which PRIMARY

PRIMARY VS. SECONDARY SOURCES Which is which?

PRIMARY SOURCE v Primary sources are original materials. v They are from the time period involved and have not been filtered through interpretation or evaluation. v Primary sources are original materials on which other research is based. v They present original thinking, report a discovery, or share new information.

EXAMPLES OF PRIMARY SOURCES v Artifacts (e. g. coins, plant specimens, fossils, furniture, tools, clothing, all from the time under study); v Audio recordings (e. g. radio programs) v Diaries; Letters; Interviews (e. g. , oral histories, telephone, e-mail); Speeches; v Newspaper articles written at the time; v Original Documents (i. e. birth certificate, will, marriage license, trial transcript); v Photographs v Works of art, architecture, literature, and music (e. g. , paintings, sculptures, musical scores, buildings, novels, poems).

SECONDARY SOURCES v Secondary sources are less easily defined than primary sources. v Generally, they are accounts written after the fact with the benefit of hindsight. v Secondary sources are interpretations and evaluations of primary sources. v Secondary sources are not evidence, but rather commentary on and discussion of evidence.

EXAMPLES OF SECONDARY SOURCES v Biographical works; v Commentaries, criticisms; v Dictionaries, Encyclopedias (also considered tertiary); v Histories; v Magazine and newspaper articles v Textbooks

PRIMARY OR SECONDARY? I R P ! Y R A M

PRIMARY OR SECONDARY? O C SE ! Y R A ND

PRIMARY OR SECONDARY? PR ! Y R A IM

PRIMARY OR SECONDARY? SE D N CO ! Y AR

PRIMARY OR SECONDARY? PR ! Y R A IM