If you're unsure whether or not you're working with a primary source, feel free to ask a librarian!
Whether a source is primary or secondary depends on how the source relates to the people, events, or phenomena being researched.
Primary sources are sources which provide first-hand, contemporary accounts or other original information about the events, phenomena, or persons being researched.
The account is from the time period in which the event was occurring, or was written about the time the event occurred shortly after the fact.
The account was witnessed or experienced by the author personally.
In cases where the primary source is data or a work of art, rather than an account of an event or subject, the data or work of art presented must be original. The data or other work must be both contemporary and unique.
Secondary sources are interpretive. They may analyze, draw conclusions, assign value to, conjecture upon, explain, put in context or otherwise interpret the events, phenomena, or people being researched, but they rely on other sources (usually primary sources) to understand the research subject.
Primary Sources |
Secondary Sources |
Accounts of events:
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Accounts of events:
*Documentaries and podcasts may contain primary sources such as contemporary video and audio clips |
Examples of original data/works of art*:
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Examples of studies or works of art*:
*Works of art which are created after-the-fact, by those who were not directly involved in events are secondary sources. If the work of art is created at the time of the events by someone with first-hand knowledge, then it is a primary source. |