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LLHS Library: Primary Sources

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Primary, Secondary, Tertiary Sources

Primary Sources vs. Secondary Sources

Primary Sources:

Raw data, diaries, letters, manuscripts, official documents, artifacts and firsthand reports of events—actual evidence of what may have happened.

Secondary Sources:

Information that has been summarized, analyzed, interpreted, or reported.

Primary vs. Secondary:

The president gives a speech

Primary source: The complete speech on video, audio, or text.

Secondary source: A book or magazine or newspaper or television or Internet source that quotes portions of the speech, or a political analyst who comments on the speech using quotations from it.

The 911 Commission issues a report:

Primary source: The full report as produced by the 911 Commission.

Secondary source: Articles or features about the report in books, newspapers, magazines, the Internet, television, etc.

A scientific study is conducted:

Primary source: Journal article written by those conducting the study on the nature and results of the study.

Secondary source: Reports about the study in the newspapers, magazines, and other sources.

Slave narratives in the United States:

Primary source: Original diaries, recorded interviews of the former slaves.

Secondary source: Excerpts, analysis, interpretation of the original source by others in books, magazines, on the Internet, etc.

Tertiary Sources

Tertiary sources consist of information which is a distillation and collection of primary and secondary sources. The information is displayed as entirely factual, and does not include analysis or critique.

Examples of tertiary sources include:

Almanacs

Bibliographies (also considered secondary)

Chronologies

Dictionaries and Encyclopedias (also considered secondary)

Directories

Fact books

Guidebooks

Indexes, abstracts, bibliographies used to locate primary and secondary sources

Manuals

Textbooks (can also be secondary)

Primary Sources - General (Hoover over item title for more information)

Las Lomas Library subscribes to several databases where you can find primary sources when using sophisticated searching skills. You may contact your librarian for assistance and passwords.

ABC-Clio

Historical Newspapers

ProQuest