Answered By: Anthony Anderson Last Updated: Jul 29, 2020 Views: 22142
I. Primary Sources - original documents or artifacts created during the time period being studied. They often include first-hand or eyewitness accounts or have an inside view of a particular event.
Original Documents include: advertisements, artwork, autobiographies, diaries, government documents (bills, laws, congressional hearings, etc.), interviews, letters, newspaper articles, official records, oral histories, photographs, posters, raw research data, speeches, etc.
Examples:
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Film footage of the assassination of President J. F. Kennedy
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Newspaper articles written during the period being studied - ProQuest Historical Newspapers
(Image from: www.archives.gov)
For more in depth information on primary sources and where to find them see our Primary Source Research Guide
II. Secondary Sources - interpret or analyze primary sources.
Examples:
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scholarly journal articles - JSTOR
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Biographies - American National Biography (database)
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Literary criticism analyzing a play, poem, novel, or short story - Literature Resource Center
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Political commentary analyzing an election or politician
III. Tertiary Sources - provide overviews of a topic and synthesize information from other primary and secondary sources. Examples include: textbooks, encyclopedia articles, and Wikipedia.
Examples:
Distinguishing between these three types of sources will vary according to context and situation. For example, if you are analyzing how African American history was depicted in middle school textbooks in the 1980s, then the textbooks would be considered a primary source rather than a tertiary source.
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