Skip to Main Content
Phillips Library Banner

OLD HIS 4990 Senior Seminar in History

This guide will assist you with HIS 4990 Research Paper. Updated Fall 2020

Primary Sources vs. Secondary Sources

Primary Sources

Primary sources are sources which provide first-hand, contemporary accounts or other original information about the events, phenomena, or persons being researched. 

  • Contemporary
    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.
  • First-hand
    The account was witnessed or experienced by the author personally.
  • Original
    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

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. 

 

Examples

Primary Sources Secondary Sources

Accounts of events:

  • Contemporary news articles

  • Contemporary essays and opinion pieces

  • Autobiographies by historical or famous people

  • Letters

  • Journals and diaries

  • Contemporary video, audio, or images

  • Interviews with persons who have first-hand experience with the event

Accounts of events:

  • Modern or non-contemporary news articles

  • Modern or non-contemporary essays and opinion pieces

  • Biographies

  • History textbooks and historical non-fiction books

  • Documentaries *

  • Podcasts*

*Documentaries and podcasts may contain primary sources such as contemporary video and audio clips

Examples of original data/works of art*:

  • Government documents

    • laws

    • censuses

    • court records

  • Contemporary empirical studies

  • Statistical data

  • Contemporary films, songs, novels, and short stories

  • Photographs

  • Speeches and performances

  • Contemporary paintings, sculpture, and other physical artwork

Examples of studies or works of art*:

  • Speeches and performances about an research subject

  • Films, songs, novels, and short stories about a research subject

  • Studies using data from other sources

  • Paintings, sculptures, and other physical artwork about the research subject

*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.

 

Ask a Librarian

If you have any questions about the difference between primary and secondary sources or you want to ask about a specific source, use the chat box or email form below and ask a librarian.