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AP World History - Ms. MacEnulty: Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Sources

Understanding Primary & Secondary Sources

Primary vs Secondary Sources

Primary Sources are: 

  • Materials that contain direct evidence, first-hand account from a person who witnessed or participated in an event.
  • Primary sources provide the raw data for your research

Secondary Sources are: 

  • Interpretations and analysis based on primary sources.

Tertiary Sources:

  • Summarize from other sources
Primary
Sources 		 Secondary
Sources

Tertiary Sources

Autobiographies and memoirs

Bibliographies

 Dictionaries
Diaries, personal letters, and correspondence

Biographical works

 Encyclopedias 

Interviews, surveys, and fieldwork

Articles from magazines, journals, and newspapers written after the event took place

 Almanacs

Internet communications on email, blogs, listservs, and newsgroups

Literature reviews and review articles (e.g., movie reviews, book reviews)

 Fact books
Photographs, drawings, and posters

History books and other popular or scholarly books

 Textbooks

Works of art and literature

Works of criticism and interpretation

 Indexes

Magazine and newspaper articles published as first hand, eyewitness accounts

 Commentaries and treatises Abstracts

Public opinion polls

   Bibliographies

Speeches and oral histories

 

  

Original documents (birth certificates, property deeds, trial transcripts)

 

  

Research data, such as census statistics

  

Official and unofficial records of organizations and government agencies

  

Artifacts of all kinds, such as tools, coins, clothing, furniture, etc.

  

Audio recordings, DVDs, and video recordings

  
Government documents (reports, bills, proclamations, hearings, etc.)  

Patents

  
Technical reports  
Scientific journal articles reporting experimental research results  

Primary Sources