A primary source is information in such as a speech, a diary, a novel, a legislative bill, a laboratory study, photograph, a field research report, or an eyewitness account. While not necessarily more reliable than a secondary source, a primary source has the advantage of being closely related to the information it conveys and as such is often considered essential for research. In the natural and social sciences, the results of an experiment or study are typically found in scholarly articles or papers delivered at conferences, so those articles and papers that present the original results are considered primary sources.
Examples of Primary Sources
Diaries, journals, speeches, interviews, letters, memos, manuscripts and other papers in which individuals describe events in which they were participants or observers;
Memoirs and autobiographies;
Records of organizations and agencies of government;
Published materials written at the time of the event;
Photographs, audio recordings, moving pictures, video recordings documenting what happened;
Artifacts of all kinds; and
Research reports in the sciences and social sciences
Secondary Sources: are works that interpret or analyze an historical event or phenomenon. Examples of secondary sources include textbooks and encyclopedias. The website provides tips for locating primary source material and offers an excellent bibliography. (UCLA Institute on Primary Sources)
Secondary Sources include materials that are written or collected on a particular topic. An example of a secondary source would be a journal article written about the Middle east events of 2011. In general secondary sources have the value of time and perspective in assessing an event. Secondary sources usually have citations to other works used in the writing of the resource.
One type of secondary source is a periodical. This is where the issue of peer review and popular publications come into play. Following is information that should help you think about the resources you are using and if they are appropriate for your research project.
Useful Chart on Secondary Sources
Tertiary sources ( may also be called Reference Sources) consist of information which is a distillation and collection of primary and secondary sources.
