Research Guides: EFOCUS: Writing for College Success (Yarnoff): Primary vs. Secondary Sources

Primary Source Examples

What is a Primary Source?

Primary sources provide the raw data you use to support your arguments. Some common types of primary resources include manuscripts, diaries, court cases, maps, data sets, experiment results, news stories, polls, or original research. In many cases what makes a primary resource is contextual. For example, a biography about Abraham Lincoln is a secondary resource about Lincoln. However, if examined as a piece of evidence about the nature of biographical writing, or as an example of the biographer's writing method it becomes a primary resource.

Disciplines	Primary source examples
Anthropology, Archaeology	Articles describing research, ethnographies, surveys, cultural and historical artifacts
Communications, Journalism	News as reported events (printed, radio, TV, online), photographs, blogs, social media sites
Education, Political Science, Public Policy	Government publications, laws, court cases, speeches, test results, interviews, polls, surveys
Fine Arts	Original art work, photographs, recordings of performances and music, scripts (film, theatre, television), music scores, interviews, memoirs, diaries, letters
History	Government publications, newspapers, photographs, diaries, letters, manuscripts, business records, court cases, videos, polls, census data, speeches
Language and Literature	Novels, plays, short stories, poems, dictionaries, language manuals
Psychology, Sociology, Economics	Articles describing research, experiment results, ethnographies, interviews, surveys, data sets
Sciences	Articles describing research and methodologies, documentation of lab research, research studies

Secondary Source Examples

What is a Secondary Source?

Secondary sources analyze primary sources, using primary source materials to answer research questions. Secondary sources may analyze, criticize, interpret or summarize data from primary sources. The most common secondary sources are books, journal articles, or reviews of the literature. Secondary sources in one context may be primary sources in another. For example if someone studies the nature of literary criticism in the 19th century then a literary critque from the 19th century becomes a primary resource.

Disciplines	Secondary source examples
Anthropology, Archaeology	Reviews of the literature, critical interpretations of scholarly studies
Communications, Journalism	Interpretive journal articles, books and blogs about the communications industry, news as reviews or opinion
Education, Political Science, Public Policy	Reviews of the literature, critical interpretations of scholarly studies
Fine Arts	Critical interpretations of art and artists—biographies, reviews, recordings of live performances
History	Interpretive journal articles and books
Language and Literature	Literary criticism, biographies, reviews, text books
Psychology, Sociology, Economics	Reviews of the literature, critical interpretations of scholarly studies
Sciences	Publications about the significance of research or experiments