All sources fit into at least one of two distinct categories -- primary and secondary sources - depending on how the information is being used. Primary sources include any original material from the time period or individual being studied. They are the original works being examined or analyzed. Secondary sources are works that critically examine and analyze primary sources.
Whether a source is considered primary or secondary often depends on how it is being used in the research. For example, when doing historical research on World War II, primary sources might include newspapers from the time period and secondary sources might include journal articles that discuss a specific event or theme from World War II. However, a researcher might consider newspapers from later years, after the war, as a secondary source, or might study journal articles about events in World War II as a primary source, for example if analyzing how our understanding of WWII evolved over time.
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Primary Sources |
Secondary Sources |
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Definition |
Any original material from the time period or individual being studied. |
Works that critically analyze primary sources. |
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Common Types |
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Examples |
Publication Date: 2004
Online from EBSCO eBook Collection
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Publication Date: 2015
Available from EBSCO eBook Collection
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Intimate Strangers: The Letters of Margaret Laurence & Gabrielle Roy
Kensington Market : Collective Memory, Public History, and Toronto's Urban Landscape