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Primary sources are original documents, the first-hand accounts of a time period or an event.
Types of primary sources include texts (letters, diaries, government reports, newspaper articles, novels, autobiographies), images (photographs, paintings, advertisements), artifacts (buildings, clothing, sculpture) and audio/visual (songs, oral history interviews, photos, films).
Primary sources may be available in their original form, or they may be reproduced, digitized, or reprinted in other sources.
Secondary sources are written about primary sources. Secondary sources include comments, interpretations, or discussions about the original material. Secondary source materials can be articles in newspapers or popular magazines, book or movie reviews, or articles found in scholarly journals that evaluate or discuss others’ original research.
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Examples: Primary Sources |
Examples: Secondary Sources |
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Art |
original artworks, artifacts |
article critiquing a piece of art |
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History |
diaries, artifacts, speeches, maps, eyewitness accounts, laws, court cases, records of government agencies |
book about a time period or event, an article about a supreme court case |
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Literature |
poems, memoirs, autobiographies, original creative writing |
biography of an author, an article that interprets a poem |
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Science or Social Sciences |
empirical studies, research data, scientific experiments, public opinion polls, patents, census data, results of clinical trials |
an article evaluating someone else’s original research, a literature review |
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Theater |
plays, videotape of performances |
biography of a playwright, review of a performance |
Consult with a member of Research Services on your research assignment or project.
Or drop in to the Research Help Area (top-right corner of the first floor on the map).
Drop-in hours:
Chat with a member of the library staff to get answers to your questions!