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Primary Sources, Defined
Discipline-Specific Primary Sources
Examples of Primary Sources
Secondary and Tertiary Sources
Primary Sources in BANC
| What
are primary sources and documents? |
Primary
sources are documents, artifacts, or data created during
the specific time period being studied.
Oftentimes, documents from the first publication cycle – newspaper
articles, letters, or research notes – are considered
primary sources. Different academic disciplines have different
definitions of what constitutes a primary source, which can
make locating and identifying these sources a bit challenging.
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| Primary sources in
the humanities, arts, social sciences, and natural sciences |
| Primary sources in
the Humanities (history, literature, religion) focus on original
documents or accounts contemporary
to a specific event or an individual’s life. Terms such
as “eyewitness” or “firsthand” are
also commonly used to describe these sources. Autobiographical
accounts written at a later date are also considered primary
sources. Letters, diaries, journal entries, public records
as well as contemporaneous newspapers articles offer solid
examples of this type of primary source. Fictional works such
as short stories or novels written during that specific time
period constitute primary documents, too.
In
the Arts (art,
dance, music, theatre) primary sources are as diverse as
the various disciplines in the category.
They may include paintings, sculpture, prints, performances,
video or audio recordings, scripts, or musical scores.
Social Sciences (psychology, sociology, education) place
a heavy emphasis on unanalyzed data sets as primary sources.
Numerical data sets such as census figures, opinion polls,
surveys or interview transcripts constitute this type of
raw, uninterpreted data. A researcher’s field notes
are also primary sources in the social sciences.
Primary source documents in the Sciences (biology, ecology,
chemistry) focus on original research, ideas, or findings
published in academic journals. These articles mark the
first publication of such research; and they detail the
researcher’s methodology and results. Plant or mineral
samples and other artifacts are primary sources as well.
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| Some Examples of Primary
Sources |
- Diaries or journals (published
or unpublished)
- Letters, correspondence or other
personal communications
- Public documents such as deeds,
marriages license or certificates
- Newspapers and weekly
newsmagazines (offering contemporaneous reporting of
events)
- Radio and television transcripts
and wire reports
- Speeches in print or audio formats
- Court cases
- Legislative reports,
bills and laws
- Census data
- Government Documents
- Maps
- Art works such as paintings,
prints or photographs
- Artifacts or specimens
- Interviews
or oral histories
- Works of literature such as fiction,
poetry or drama
- Statistics including opinion
polls
- Sacred Scriptures
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| What are secondary
sources? Tertiary sources? |
While primary sources
offer a firsthand account, secondary sources are written
after the fact. Secondary sources
analyze, interpret, explain, or analyze a primary source,
event or individual. These resources represent a second
publication
cycle, tasked with presenting an argument or to persuade
the reader. In a sense, they’re telling you what to think.
Typically, journal articles are a good example. Criticism and
interpretation are key functions of Arts and Humanities secondary
sources. Social Sciences secondary sources interpret raw statistical
data or provide commentary on social policies. Secondary sources
in the Sciences are publications that review research or abstract
it.
Tertiary sources organize information
with the objective of making the information more accessible.
This publication
cycle
attempts to be factual. Reference works such as dictionaries,
encyclopedias and chronologies fall into this category.
Indexes and abstracts are tertiary sources designed to
help locate
material on a specific subject or by a certain person.
Readers’ Guide
to Periodical Literature is a popular index often found in
school and public libraries. All in all, the dividing line
between secondary and tertiary sources is not always clear,
the primary task usually being to single out primary source
from other various source types.
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| Locating primary sources
and documents in BANC |
Primary
source materials are part of the Hutchins Library collection
of books, journals,
magazines and databases.
However, primary sources are seldom labeled as primary sources – this
type of material must be combed out of the collection at large.
This task is not always easy and can be time-consuming.
BANC
can facilitate the discovery of certain kinds of primary
source material. Simply incorporate
terms like as “papers,” “documents,” “sources,” “letters” or “personal
narratives” into BANC keyword and subject searches.
An author search can sometimes produce primary sources as
well (i.e. books written by the historical figure in question.)
However, using BANC to effectively locate primary source
materials may require a librarian’s assistance and
expertise.
Possible KEYWORD searches
- Slavery personal
narratives
- Vietnam interviews
- Jefferson letters
Possible SUBJECT HEADING searches
- Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975--Personal narratives
- Coal miners--Virginia, Southwest--Interviews.
- Speeches, addresses, etc., American
Possible AUTHOR searches
- King, Martin Luther
- Fee, John G.
- Carter, Jimmy
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For
further information about library resources
in the area of General Education Studies,
please contact the Library Liaison for
the General Education
Studies Department, Julia
Dickinson, 985-3372. |
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