For some research

projects you may be

required to use primary
or secondary sources.
How can you identify
these?
Primary Sources
A primary source provides direct or first
hand evidence about an event, object,
person, or work of art. Primary sources
include historical and legal documents,
eyewitness accounts, results of experiments,
statistical data, pieces of creative writing,
audio and video recordings, speeches, and
art objects.
Interviews, surveys, fieldwork, and Internet
communications via email, blogs, listservs, and
newsgroups are also primary sources. In the
natural and social sciences, primary sources are
often empirical studies—research where an
experiment was performed or a direct
observation was made. The results of empirical
studies are typically found in scholarly articles
or papers delivered at conferences.
Secondary Sources
Secondary sources describe, discuss, interpret,
comment upon, analyze, evaluate, summarize,
and process primary sources. Secondary
source materials can be articles in newspapers
or popular magazines, book or movie reviews,
or articles found in scholarly journals that
discuss or evaluate someone else's original
research.
 Primary sources are
materials that are eyewitness
accounts or as close to the
original source as possible.
 Qualitative data:
• What people say.
They are usually Speeches, Interviews and Conversations, and
they may be captured in Videos, Audio Recordings, or
transcribed into text.
• What people write.
These include Autobiographies, Memoirs, Personal Journals
and Diaries, Letters, Emails, Blogs, Twitter Feeds, etc.
• Images and Videos.
• Maps.
• Government Documents--U.S. rest of world.
• Laws, Court Cases and Decisions, Treaties.
• Newspapers.
 Quantitative data:

• Statistics and Data.

• Polls and Public Opinions.
Secondary sources are
interpretations and analyses based
on primary sources.

For example, an autobiography is a

primary source while a biography is
a secondary source.
Typical secondary sources include:
Scholarly Journal Articles. Use these and books
exclusively for writing Literature Reviews.
Magazines.
Reports.
Encyclopedias.
Handbooks.
Dictionaries.
Documentaries.
Newspapers.
Often secondary and primary sources are relative
concepts. Typical secondary sources may be primary
sources depending on the research topic.

Newspapers may be either primary or secondary.

Most articles in newspapers are secondary, but reporters
may be considered as witnesses to an event. Any topic on
the media coverage of an event or phenomenon would treat
newspapers as a primary source. There are so many articles
and types of articles in newspapers that they can often be
considered both primary and secondary.
• A Primary Source is information that was created at
the same time as an event or by a person directly
involved in the event. Diaries, speeches, letters,
official records, autobiographies.

• A Secondary Source is information from

somewhere else or by a person not directly involved
in the event. Encyclopedias, textbooks, book
reports.
Determine if the source would be a Primary Source(P) or a
secondary Source(S).

1)A play showing how Benjamin Franklin flew a kite during

a lightning storm.
2) 2) A short story describing Thomas Edison and Nikola
Tesla's 'electrical' battle.
3) Anne Frank's diary describing her life during World War
4) A cartoon showing how Pocahontas met John Smith.
5) A text book describing the civil rights movement
6) A news report about the opening of a power plant.
7) A scientist explaining what it was like for Buzz
Aldrin to walk on the moon.
8) A YouTube video describing how the pyramids
were built.
9) An interview with Alexander Graham Bell about
how he invented the telephone.
10) A radio broadcast from the day the Soviet Union
launched Sputnik.
11) An autobiography about the 40th president,
Ronald Reagan.
12) A book describing Christopher Columbus
sailing to America.
13) A famous artist's painting of what cowboy life
was probably like.
14) A journal by a cowboy about the cattle drives
from Texas to Kansas.
15) The United States Constitution.
Determine if the source would be a Primary Source(P) or a
secondary Source(S).
1)A play showing how Benjamin Franklin flew a kite during
a lightning storm. (Secondary Source)
2) A short story describing Thomas Edison and Nikola
Tesla's 'electrical' battle. (Secondary Source)
3) Anne Frank's diary describing her life during World
War. (Primary Source)
4) A cartoon showing how Pocahontas met John Smith.
(Secondary Source)
5) A text book describing the civil rights movement
(Secondary Source)
6) A news report about the opening of a power plant.
(Primary Source)
7) A scientist explaining what it was like for Buzz
Aldrin to walk on the moon. (Secondary Source)
8) A YouTube video describing how the pyramids
were built. (Secondary Source)
9) An interview with Alexander Graham Bell about
how he invented the telephone. (Primary Source)
10) A radio broadcast from the day the Soviet Union
launched Sputnik. (Primary Source)
11) An autobiography about the 40th president,
Ronald Reagan. (Primary Source)
12) A book describing Christopher Columbus
sailing to America. (Secondary Source)
13) A famous artist's painting of what cowboy life
was probably like. (Secondary Source)
14) A journal by a cowboy about the cattle drives
from Texas to Kansas. (Primary Source)
15) The United States Constitution. (Primary Source)