PRIMARY AND

SECONDARY
SOURCES
What are they?
 PRIMARY SOURCES
 is an original object or document; first hand information.
 are materials written or produced in the time period that you
may be investigating.
 it enables the researcher to get as close as possible to what
actually happened during an historical period or event.
EXAMPLE OF PRIMARY
SOURCES
 Diaries and journals
 “The Diary of Anne Frank”
 “A Confederate Girl’s Diary”
EXAMPLE OF PRIMARY
SOURCES

 Autobiographies
 “Long Walk to Freedom:
The Autobiography of
Nelson Mandela
EXAMPLE OF PRIMARY
SOURCES
 Speeches
 Abraham Lincoln – “The
Gettysburg Address”
 Martin Luther King – “I have a
Dream”
EXAMPLE OF PRIMARY
SOURCES

 Birth certificates, Government records,

Deeds, Court documents, Military records,
Tax records, Census records and
Arts/Paintings.
EXAMPLE OF PRIMARY
SOURCES

 Sound recordings
and interviews
EXAMPLE OF PRIMARY
SOURCES

 Photographs and
videos.
EXAMPLE OF PRIMARY
SOURCES

 Letters
SECONDARY SOURCES

 is something written about a primary source.

 written at a later date.
 studied first the primary source.
 second-hand information.
SECONDARY SOURCES

 Almanacs, encyclopedias, history

books and magazines– are example of
secondary sources.
Think it this way…

“If I tell you something, I am the primary

source. If you tell it to others you are the
secondary source.”