History 300S Leonard

Primary Sources

Primary sources are the ground-level evidence. They

• Provide direct or firsthand evidence about an event, object, or person
• Are usually written or created during or close to the event or time period being studied
• Have not been filtered through interpretation or evaluation 
• Can be written or non-written (e.g. sound recordings, photographs, artifacts)

Seconday Sources

Seconday sources are created from primary sources. They

• Are second-hand accounts written after an event happened
• Include comments on, interpretation of, or discussions about the original material

Sources are not inherently primary or seconday. How they are used in research determines what type of source they are. 

A primary source in the Humanities is often an original document or artifact providing firsthand information or direct evidence without seocnday analysis or interpretation. Seconday sources contain commentary or discussion about a primary sources; they offer an interpretation based on that document or artifact.

Examples in humanities fields:

• Art: A painting (primary) → A critical review of the painting (secondary)
• History: Civil War diary (primary) → A book about a Civil War battle (secondary)
• Literature: A novel or poem (primary) → An essay about themes in the work (secondary)

But remember that a secondary source can become a primary source depending on your research question! If the main focus of your research is on the person, the topic, or technique that produced a source, it becomes a primary source. For example:

• When you are writing about a novel, a book review in a magazine would be a seconday source.
• When you are writing about the critical reception of the novel, a book review in a magazine would be a primary source.