This document discusses the difference between primary and secondary sources for research. Primary sources provide direct evidence about a topic, such as historical documents, interviews, or results of experiments. Secondary sources describe, discuss or analyze primary sources, such as newspaper or magazine articles that interpret original research. Books can also be primary or secondary sources depending on their content. Other types of primary sources include visual materials, archival materials, government documents, and tertiary sources that compile information from primary and secondary sources. Examples are provided to illustrate the difference between primary and secondary sources for specific topics.

1. Primary and Secondary Sources
Table of Contents
Primary vs. Secondary
Serials
Books
Visual and Audio Materials
Archival Material
Government Documents
Tertiary Sources
Examples
Research 101
When in Doubt…
Primary vs. Secondary
For some research projects you may be required to use primary
sources. How can you identify these?
Primary Sources
A primary source provides direct or firsthand evidence about an
event, object, person, or work of art. Primary sources include
historical and legal documents, eyewitness accounts, results of
experiments, statistical data, pieces of creative writing, audio
and video recordings, speeches, and art objects. Interviews,
surveys, fieldwork, and Internet communications via email,
blogs, listservs, and newsgroups are also primary sources. In
the natural and social sciences, primary sources are often
empirical studies—research where an experiment was
performed or a direct observation was made. The results of
empirical studies are typically found in scholarly articles or
papers delivered at conferences.
Secondary Sources
Secondary sources describe, discuss, interpret, comment upon,
analyze, evaluate, summarize, and process primary sources.
Secondary source materials can be articles in newspapers or
Research 101
1 Choosing a
Topic
2 Finding
Articles
3
Primary &
Secondary
Sources
» Test Your
Knowledge
4
Scholarly,
Trade, &
Popular
Journals
» Test Your
Knowledge
5
Evaluating
Resources
» Test Your
Knowledge
6
Plagiarism
» Test Your
Knowledge
7
Annotated
Bibliographies
» Test Your
Knowledge
8 Literature
Reviews
When in Doubt…
Primary and Secondary Sources - Ithaca College Library http://ithacalibrary.com/sp/subjects/primary
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2. popular magazines, book or movie reviews, or articles found in
scholarly journals that discuss or evaluate someone else's
original research.
Serials
Journals, magazines, and newspapers are serial publications
that are published on an ongoing basis.
Many scholarly journals in the sciences and social sciences
include primary source articles where the authors report on
research they have undertaken. Consequently, these papers
may use the first person ("We observed…"). These articles
usually follow a standard format with sections like "Methods,"
"Results," and "Conclusion."
In the humanities, age is an important factor in determining
whether an article is a primary or secondary source. A recently-
published journal or newspaper article on the Brown v. Board of
Education Supreme Court case would be read as a secondary
source, because the author is interpreting an historical event.
An article on the case that was published in 1955 could be read
as a primary source that reveals how writers were interpreting
the decision immediately after it was handed down.
Serials may also include book reviews, editorials, and review
articles. Review articles summarize research on a particular
topic, but they do not present any new findings; therefore, they
are considered secondary sources. Their bibliographies,
however, can be used to identify primary sources.
Books
Most books are secondary sources, where authors reference
primary source materials and add their own analysis. "Lincoln
at Gettysburg: the Words that Remade America" by Gary Wills
is about Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. If you are
researching Abraham Lincoln, this book would be a secondary
source because Wills is offering his views about Lincoln and the
Gettysburg Address.
Books can also function as primary sources. For
example,Abraham Lincoln's letters, speeches, or autobiography
would be primary sources. To locate primary sources in the
library catalog, do a keyword search and include "sources" in
your search. The search results for "Abraham Lincoln" and
"Sources" would include include "The Civil War: the First Year
Told By Those Who Lived It", a book that includes letters written
If you're not sure if a given
source is primary or
secondary for the purposes
of your research project,
ask your instructor. There
are many gray areas and
your instructor's
interpretation may not
entirely match the Library's.
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3. by Abraham Lincoln.
Visual and Audio Materials
Visual materials such as maps, photographs, prints, graphic
arts, and original art forms can provide insights into how people
viewed and/or were viewed the world in which they existed.
Films, videos, TV programs, and digital recordings can be
primary sources. Documentaries, feature films, and TV news
broadcasts can provide insights into the fantasies, biases,
political attitudes, and material culture of the times in which they
were created. Radio broadcast recordings, oral histories, and
the recorded music of a particular era can also serve as primary
source material.
Archival Material
Manuscripts and archives are primary sources, including
business and personal correspondence, diaries and journals,
legal and financial documents, photographs, maps, architectural
drawings, objects, oral histories, computer tapes, and video and
audio cassettes. Some archival materials are published and
available in print or online.
Government Documents
Government documents provide evidence of activities,
functions, and policies at all government levels. For research
that relates to the workings of government, government
documents are primary sources.
These documents include hearings and debates of legislative
bodies; the official text of laws, regulations and treaties; records
of government expenditures and finances; and statistical
compilations of economic, demographic, and scientific data.
Tertiary Sources
Tertiary sources contain information that has been compiled
from primary and secondary sources. Tertiary sources include
almanacs, chronologies, dictionaries and encyclopedias,
Primary and Secondary Sources - Ithaca College Library http://ithacalibrary.com/sp/subjects/primary
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4. directories, guidebooks, indexes, abstracts, manuals, and
textbooks.
Examples
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5. Primary Source Secondary Source
Lincoln's Gettysburg Address "Lincoln at
Gettysburg: the
Words That Remade
America" by Gary
Wills
The poem "Human Chain" by Seamus
Heaney
"His Nibs:
Self-Reflexivity and
the Significance of
Translation in
Seamus Heaney's
Human Chain." by
Michael Parker in
Irish University
Review (November
2012), pp. 327-350.
The table "Number of Offenses
Known to the Police, Universities and
Colleges" in the FBI's Uniform Crime
Reports, 2012
An article in the
Ithacan entitled
"Study Finds Eastern
Colleges Often
Conceal Campus
Crime"
Mackey, S., Carroll, I., Emir, B.,
Murphy, T., Whalen, E., & Dumenci,
L. (2012). Sensory pain qualities in
neuropathic pain. The Journal Of
Pain, 13(1), 58-63.
doi:10.1016/j.jpain.2011.10.002
[a study published in a peer reviewed
journal]
Vance, E. (2014).
Where Does It
Hurt?. Discover,
35(4), 28-30.
[an article in a
magazine that
includes quotes from
Sean Mackey,
author of the peer
reviewed article on
pain]
Cynthia Scheibe's doctoral
dissertation on the developmental
differences in children's reasoning
about Santa Claus
An article in Parents
Magazine discussing
experts' views on the
harm of lying to
children about Santa
Claus
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