Primary VS Secondary Sources
Primary VS Secondary Sources
Secondary
Sources
When you do research, you have to gather
information and evidence from a variety of
sources.
If you are researching the past, you cannot directly access it yourself, so you
need primary sources that were produced at the time by participants or
witnesses (e.g. letters, photographs, newspapers).
If you are researching something current, your primary sources can either be
qualitative or quantitative data that you collect yourself (e.g. through
interviews, surveys, experiments) or sources produced by people directly
involved in the topic (e.g. official documents or media texts).
Research field Primary source
History •Letters and diaries
•Photographs and video footage
•Official documents and records
•Physical objects
Art and literature •Novels and poems
•Paintings and art installations
•Films and performances
Communication and social studies •Interview transcripts
•Recordings of speeches
•Newspapers and magazines
•Social media posts
Law and politics •Court records
•Legal texts
•Government documents
Sciences •Empirical studies
•Statistical data
What is a secondary source?
A secondary source is anything that describes, interprets, evaluates, or
analyzes information from primary sources. Common examples include:
Letters and diaries written by a historical figure Biography of the historical figure
Government documents about a new policy Newspaper article about the new policy
Results of an opinion poll Blog post interpreting the results of the poll