LESSON 1: PRIMARY AND SECONDARY

SOURCES

Learning Objectives:

At the end of the lesson, the students are

expected to;

1. Understand the meaning of Primary

and Secondary sources
2. Analyze the significance of its usage
and implications.
3. Recognize the value of proper citation
and giving due credit to the owner.

INTRODUCTION

To assert the credibility of the writer or speaker, it is important to cite the source or sources of
information. Moreover, this means that the learner used reliable information in his/her research.
Besides, it allows those who are reading your work to locate your sources, in order to learn
more about the ideas that you include in your paper or in your talk.

WHAT ARE PRIMARY SOURCES?

Primary sources provide a first-hand account of an event or time period and are
considered to be authoritative. They represent original thinking, reports on discoveries
or events, or they can share new information. Often these sources are created at the
time the events occurred but they can also include sources that are created later. They
are usually the first formal appearance of original research.

Primary sources are original documents created or experienced contemporaneously

with the event being researched. Primary sources enable researchers to get as close as
possible to what actually happened during an historical event or time period.

Primary sources can also be an images or artefacts that provide first-hand testimony or
direct evidence concerning an historical topic under research investigation.

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EXAMPLES OF PRIMARY RESOURCES INCLUDE:

 diaries, correspondence, ships' logs

 original documents e.g. birth certificates, trial transcripts
 biographies, autobiographies, manuscripts
 interviews, speeches, oral histories
 case law, legislation, regulations, constitutions
 government documents, statistical data, research reports
 a journal article reporting NEW research or findings
 creative art works, literature
 newspaper advertisements and reportage and editorial/opinion pieces

Examples of Primary Sources

Some examples of primary source formats include:

 archives and manuscript material

 photographs, audio recordings, video recordings, films
 journals, letters and diaries
 speeches
 scrapbooks
 published books, newspapers and magazine clippings published at the time
 government publications
 oral histories
 records of organizations
 autobiographies and memoirs
 printed ephemera
 artifacts, e.g. clothing, costumes, furniture
 research data, e.g. public opinion polls

Primary sources can be found using:

 Library collection
 Primary sources for history subject guide

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WHAT ARE SECONDARY SOURCES?

Secondary sources involve analysis, synthesis, interpretation, or evaluation of primary

sources. They often attempt to describe or explain primary sources.

Secondary sources are works that analyze, assess or interpret an historical event, era,
or phenomenon, generally utilizing primary sources to do so. It is open for a review or a
critique.

A secondary source is a work that interprets or analyzes an historical event or period

after the event has occurred and, generally speaking, with the use of primary sources.
The same document, or other piece of evidence, may be a primary source in one
investigation and secondary in another. The search for primary sources does not,
therefore, automatically include or exclude any format of research materials or type of
records, documents, or publications.

Secondary sources involve analysis, synthesis, interpretation, or evaluation of primary

sources. They often attempt to describe or explain primary sources.

Secondary sources can include books, journal articles, speeches, reviews, research
reports, and more. Generally speaking, secondary sources are written well after the
events that are being researched.

Scholarly journals, although generally considered to be secondary sources, often

contain articles on very specific subjects and may be the primary source of information
on new developments

Examples of Secondary Sources

 journal articles that comment on or analyse research

 textbooks
 dictionaries and encyclopaedias
 books that interpret, analyse
 political commentary
 biographies
 dissertations
 newspaper editorial/opinion pieces
 criticism of literature, art works or music

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Differences Between Primary and Secondary Sources

When it comes to research and inquiry, there are two types of sources: primary sources and
secondary sources. Primary sources are first-hand accounts of a topic while secondary sources are
any account of something that is not a primary source. Published research, newspaper articles, and
other media are typical secondary sources. Secondary sources can, however, cite both primary
sources and secondary sources.

Not all evidence is of equal value and weight. Data from a primary source is the ideal type of data to
collect; the closer we can get to an original account of the target information or event the more
accurate the information will be. Primary source data is particularly important when doing research
or trying to gain a deep understanding of a situation as it contains the original or raw evidence. In
comparison, secondary sources typically include information where people begin developing initial
understandings of a topic and literature reviews. While both primary and secondary source data are
used in research, new knowledge emerges from analysis of primary source data.

Let’s look at a fun example: the recent Super Bowl 50 game. As a researcher, I might be interested in
learning what it was like to watch the game live. If I were to interview all the fans who were at the
game or watched the game live on TV, we would have a primary source of people. However, if what
we wanted to learn more about is the experience of playing in the game, clearly the players on the
Broncos and Panthers would be our best primary source. If I wanted more data, I might also read
interviews of players or blogs of people who attended the game for information about what the game
was like. An auto-biography by a player in the super bowl would be a primary source while a
biography on a player would be a secondary source. Within this same example, articles that have
come out on the Super Bowl, whether they are based on primary or secondary sources, are likely
secondary sources themselves.

Through my undergraduate preparation in history, I learned about primary and secondary sources.
Primary sources are direct from an event or original source, such as the Declaration of Independence,
and secondary sources are anything written about something that isn't the primary account of
whatever the source is referencing, such as textbooks discussing the Declaration. Secondary sources
often offer interpretations or analysis. When we are dealing with empirical data derived from
research we have direct primary source information, but the paper written about it is a secondary
source. Academic literature is primarily composed of secondary sources. Hence, taking time to
examine the references within the literature to find the most primary or original work on the topics is
a vital act to help aid our understanding of the actual topic and not interpretations thereof.

Primary and secondary source data can be used in conjunction with each other. For example, you
might be interested in workloads of professors. To collect primary data, during the semester you
could survey professors on their work hours, and to collect secondary data, you could request course
enrollment reports from the university. Using both would be an example of dual methods, or
triangulation, in a study design.

For whichever source or combination of sources you use in your research, the quality of that source
should also be evaluated and weighed. Ask yourself: How close to the center of your focus is that
source? Is it a participant and first-hand account or secondary perceptions? While there is value

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found in both primary and secondary sources, as a researcher identifying those primary sources
should be the main goal. The closer to the source, the more accurate and meaningful the information
provided.

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Posted on February 25, 2016 1:37 pm MST, by Aaron Coe

MORE CLARIFICATION ON PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SOURCES

Primary sources provide raw information and first-hand evidence. Examples include
interview transcripts, statistical data, and works of art. A primary source gives you
direct access to the subject of your research. Secondary sources provide second-hand
information and commentary from other researchers.

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SOURCES IN HISTORY

The concept of ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ sources is key to studying and writing history.
A ‘source’ is anything that provides information, from a manuscript where words tell you
things to clothes that have survived centuries and provide details on fashion and
chemistry. As you can imagine, you can't write history without sources as you would be
making this up (which is good in historical fiction, but rather problematic when it comes
to serious history.) Sources are usually divided into two categories, primary and
secondary. These definitions would be different for the sciences and the below apply to
the humanities. It's worth learning them, they are vital if you're taking exams.

Primary Sources
A ‘Primary Source’ is a document that was written or an object which was created, in
the time period in which you are working. A ‘first hand’ item. A diary can be a primary
source if the author experienced the events they recall, while a charter can be a primary
source of the act it was created for. Photographs, while beset with problems, can be
primary sources. The key thing is they offer a direct insight into what happened because
they were created at the time and are fresh and closely related.

Primary sources can include paintings, manuscripts, chancellery rolls, coins, letters and
more.

Secondary Sources
A ‘Secondary Source’ can be defined in two ways: it is anything about a historical event
which was created using primary sources, and/or which was one or more stages
removed from the time period and the event. A ‘second hand’ item. For instance, school
textbooks tell you about a time period, but they are all secondary sources as they were
written later, usually by people who weren’t there, and discuss the primary sources they
used when being created. Secondary sources frequently quote or reproduce primary
sources, such as a book using a photograph. The key point is that the people who made
these sources are relying on other testimony rather than their own.

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Secondary sources can include history books, articles, websites like this one (other
websites might be a primary source to ‘contemporary history’.) Not everything ‘old’ is a
primary historical source: plenty of medieval or ancient works are secondary sources
based on now lost primary sources, despite being of great age.

Tertiary Sources
Sometimes you will see a third class: the tertiary source. These are items like
dictionaries and encyclopedias: history is written using both primary and secondary
sources and shrunk down to the basic points. We've written for encyclopedias, and
tertiary is not a criticism.
Reliability: One of the primary tools of the historian is the ability to study a range of
sources and assess which is reliable, which suffers from bias, or most commonly which
suffers from the least bias and can be best used to reconstruct the past. Most history
written for school qualifications uses secondary sources because they are effective
teaching tools, with primary sources introduced and, at a higher level, as the dominant
source. However, you can’t generalize primary and secondary sources as reliable and
unreliable.

There is every chance a primary source can suffer from bias, even photographs, which
are not safe and must be studied just as much. Equally, a secondary source can be
produced by a skilled author and provide the best of our knowledge. It’s important to
know what you need to use. As a general rule the more advanced your level of study
the more you'll be reading primary sources and making conclusions and deductions
based on your insight and empathy, rather than using secondary works. But if you want
to learn about a period quickly and efficiently, selecting a good secondary source is
actually best.

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Source: Wilde, Robert. (2020, August 28). Primary and Secondary Sources in History. Retrieved from
https://www.thoughtco.com/primary-and-secondary-sources-their-meaning-in-history-1221744

Asynchronous Learning

A. Evaluative Activity:

1. Why do we need to cite our source of information?

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2. How do we give credit to the source of information that we use in our research
paper?
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B. FURTHER READINGS:

1. Read Tydings-McDuffie Act: Why it was promulgated? Identify what kind of source.

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2. Open door Policy of President Manuel L. Quezon: What makes it very touching and
very much unforgettable for the Jews? Cite your source.

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