Primary and Secondary Resources

What is a Primary Source?

Primary Source

• “First hand accounts” from someone who personally witnessed or experienced an event.

• They include artifacts (relics), documents (diaries, newspaper articles), pictures, paintings, poetry, and art from a given time period.

Letters/Diary Entries

Artifacts

Paintings, Music, Poetry, Art

What is a Secondary Source?

Secondary Sources

• “Second hand accounts” (or 3rd or 4th) from someone who did not personally witness or experience an event.

• They include textbooks, research books, encyclopedias, articles in books or on a website.

• They usually describe, explain or analyze and event.

Textbooks

Research Books

Questions to Consider

• Where did this information come from?• Who is the author?• How does the author know these details?• Was the author present at the time of the

event or at the event itself?• What is the author’s perspective? • How might the author’s perspective be

different from someone else’s who was present at the same event?

Example

• Imagine that you are looking at a diary entry from the revolutionary war.

• How might a diary entry from a soldier in the Continental Army differ from a diary entry from a Redcoat soldier?

So What?

• Both primary and secondary sources are valuable in our search for historical understanding.

• Both types of sources may be subjective based on the author’s point of view.

• It is essential to evaluate each source before determining its value.