Teaching Primary and Secondary Sources to Elementary School Students

Primary sources are documents that give first-hand accounts or testimonies from direct witnesses. Your child
will need to locate primary sources if she's doing a report on an historical event. She may even have an
assignment that focuses on a relative or family friend who lived through an incident in history or another
significant occurrence.

How do you help your child understand why primary sources are important?

You might start by playing "Telephone." That's the game where information gets whispered from one
person to the next. By the time the message gets back to the original person, the information has
usually changed — sometimes drastically. The game is a helpful example because it demonstrates
how information shifts and alters as it passes from source to source.

Explain to your child how information changes from its original form as it gets passed around. Ask her
why she thinks it would be important to use the first source of the information. What could happen if
she uses information from someone further down the line?

With some discussion, she'll get a good idea of why a primary source has value.

What are examples of primary sources?

Let your child know that she will be looking for firsthand accounts from witnesses. She’ll be looking at
sources like diaries, photographs, letters, or newspaper accounts. She could also look at records like
report cards, ledgers, receipts, and other historical documents.

Where can you find primary sources?

Finding primary sources usually takes a few extra steps. It requires in-depth research, so you may
want to plan a trip to the library with your child. While you're there, don't be afraid to ask for the
librarian's guidance. You might even end up looking at microfiche! Your library probably has access to
search newspaper databases, which can provide a great view into history for your child.

In addition to newspapers, published diaries, and books that contain transcripts of letters are also
great resources.

How can you make research fun and interesting?

Ask your child what kinds of things students in the future could look at to learn trustworthy information
about her life. Talk about documents like receipts, a journal, school papers, letters she's written, and
newspaper clippings in which she is featured.

Research can seem tedious, so make it fun! Treat the library like a detective's lair and history like a
fascinating mystery. Research can be like a treasure hunt. This process will also teach your child how
to slow down and take her time with school projects.

She'll learn that research is not the kind of thing you slap together the night before, but something that
takes time.
What are secondary sources, and how can students evaluate them?

If your child is ready for advanced steps, show her how her textbook or other history books have a
bibliography or list of "Recommended Readings" in the back. She'll get a sense of how sources
interact and build on each other to paint a broader picture.

The bibliography of a textbook or history book can also lead her to primary sources. Your child will
usually rely on secondary sources to give her an overview of the event or period that she is
researching. Specialized chapters in history books or textbooks are great secondary sources.

Explain to your child that a secondary source is written by someone who has looked at and evaluated
(developed an informed opinion about) a primary source. Secondary sources describe facts and
information, but they can also present an argument based on those facts. Tell your child that she
should look for secondary sources written by trustworthy experts. Her textbooks are good secondary
sources, as are trusted websites.

Let your child know that though it takes extra steps to locate primary sources, the results are worth it.
Teaching your children the value of primary sources early will build critical-thinking skills that will
serve them for a lifetime.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SOURCE

A primary source is an artifact, document, or other source of information that was created at the time under study.
Primary sources represent real pieces of history such as inventions, letters, diaries, or photographs.
Questions for Primary Source Examples:
 Is this a real photograph from history?
 What is being shown in the photograph?

A secondary source is an opinion, account, or interpretation of a past event by someone who wasn’t actually there.
Examples of secondary sources include encyclopedia entries, movies about historical events, and textbooks.
Questions for Secondary Source Examples:
 What person is this postcard referencing?
 Is it a photograph or a piece of art?
 Lincoln died more than 140 years ago. Do you think the artist ever met Abraham Lincoln?
 Does the image look like it’s from Lincoln’s time?

• Primary Source - original works in various media formats such as photographs, drawings, letters,
diaries, documents, books, films, posters, play scripts, speeches, songs, sheet music, and first-
person accounts that are recorded at the time of an event.
• Secondary Source - source created by someone either not present when the event took place or
removed by time from the event. Examples of secondary sources include textbooks, journal articles,
histories, and encyclopedias.