What are Primary and Secondary Sources — A Select Sample

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SOURCES   Source: http://selu.libguides.com
Primary Source	Secondary Sources
Novel, poem	Literary criticism
Diary, autobiography	Biography
Letters, historical documents, oral testimony	Historical Commentary
Newspaper report	Editorial
Raw data from questionnaires	Social Science Article
Observation/experiment	Scientific article
Television show/film	Review
Interview	Case study

“A primary source is any work that offers ORIGINAL intellectual content: artistic works, diaries, newpaper reports witnessed by a participant from the time of the event, memoirs, speeches, government reports & statistics, artifacts.

Primary sources generally serve as foundation material for a particular subject area. They are the result of someone doing primary research, which involves collecting raw data. Primary sources allow researchers to analyze the data or object for themselves in order to come up with alternate theories and opinions.

Secondary sources interpret and analyze primary sources. In other words, when a writer looks at a primary document, and produces a work that tries to make sense of what he or she finds, the result is a secondary study or secondary source.” Adapted from:

Kirszner, Laurie G. The Holt Handbook. Fort Worth: Harcourt College Publishers, 2002.

 Source: http://selu.libguides.com

Samples from Library Guides:

• Primary vs Secondary Sources – Library and Information Science — uiuc.libguides.com
• Format of Primary Sources – LibGuides at CSU Los Angeles
• Primary Sources – Saint Leo University LibGuides
• Introduction to Archival Research – LibGuides @CSU 
• Primary vs. Secondary Sources – Primary Sources
• Primary Sources vs. Secondary Sources – Archives at Institute of … American Indian Arts
• Examples of Sources by Academic Discipline – Primary Sources vs Secondary Sources…
• Primary Sources on the Web – Primary and Secondary Sources …
• Finding Primary Sources in Online Databases – Primary Sources vs . Secondary Sources.
• Finding Primary Sources on the Web – Primary Sources vs … Secondary
• Secondary sources – Primary Sources Quick Guide – LibGuides “

Stephen