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Military & Strategic Studies

Guide to military, security and strategic resources

Primary Sources

Primary sources provide firsthand accounts or direct evidence to the event, person, object or place.  These sources were created by participants or witnesses of an event as it occurred or experiences recorded later in the form of an autobiography, memoir or oral history.  Many primary sources are available from government entities.

Congressional and Legal Publications

Conflict and Security

Human Rights and Migration

Types of Primary Sources

Books
autobiographies, correspondence, diaries, letters, memoirs, manuscripts, pamphlets, papers, personal narratives, sources, speeches, statistics
 
Creative Works
art works, architecture, films, maps, music recordings, paintings, photographs, poems, sculptures, etc.
 
Government Documents
law and legislation, treaties
 
Journal/Newspaper Articles
witnessed reported events, reports that quote witnesses
 
News Sources
broadcast transcripts
 
Oral Histories and Culture
audio/video recordings, folklore, storytelling, interviews
 
Research Data
datasets, original research, statistics, surveys

Searching for Primary Sources

LC Subject Headings
Search Terms to help identify Primary Sources 
- autobiographies
- correspondence
- diaries
- interviews
- law and legislation
- letters
- manuscripts
- memoirs
- papers
- personal narratives
- pamphlets
- sources
- speeches
- statistics
- treaties

Types of Secondary Sources

Secondary sources, however, provide a more critical analysis of an event, person or object that often interpret primary sources and refer to secondary sources created by other authors to help formulate a less personal account.

Books
based on primary works, academic research on a subject, analytical, interpretive, biographies, dissertations

Journal/Newspaper Articles
non-witnessed reported events, scholarly research on topics, critiques or essays

Research Data
analysis of data, interpretation of data

Other Primary Sources