Historical Researchers Use:
Historical Researchers
Primary Sources
Primary Sources
Primary sources are original documents created or experienced concurrently with the event. Primary sources give first-hand observations and contemporary accounts.
Primary sources can include:
- interviews
- news footage
- data sets
- original research
- speeches
- diaries
- letters
- creative works
- Oral records
- Artifacts
Primary sources can include both published and unpublished materials.
Secondary Sources
Secondary Sources
Secondary sources analyze, interpret, or otherwise discuss an event, era, person or topic in a manner that critiques or reviews the subject.
Secondary sources can include:
- Books
- Journal articles
- Textbooks
- Biographies
Types of Secondary Source Publications:
- Scholarly - intended for academic use with specialized vocabulary and extensive citations. They are often peer-reviewed.
- Popular - intended for the general public and typically written to entertain, inform, or persuade.
- Trade - intended to share general news, trends, and opinions within a certain industry. They are not considered scholarly because they do not focus on advanced research and are not peer-reviewed, even though they are usually written by experts.