Sources of information Flashcards
Primary Sources definition
Produced by a person who actually witnessed and experienced an event firsthand.
Primary sources are original materials on which research is based. They are firsthand testimony or direct evidence concerning a topic under consideration. They present information in its original form, neither interpreted nor condensed nor evaluated by other writers.
Primary sources examples
Newspaper articles (reporting events)
Photographs
Interviews (legal proceedings, personal, telephone, e-mail)
Correspondence
Trial transcripts
Fiction, poems, music
Experimental results
Diaries
maps
Advertisement
Secondary Sources definition
Reference the primary sources for information
“Secondary sources offer interpretation or analysis based on primary sources. They may explain primary sources and often uses them to support a specific thesis or argument or to persuade the reader to accept a certain point of view. Such works are one or more steps removed from the event—being written with the benefit of hindsight.”
Secondary Sources examples
Monographs
Journal articles
Biography
Encyclopedias
Dissertations
Research analysis
Works of criticism and interpretation
Newspaper articles (analyzing news)
Book reviews
Textbooks
Dictionaries
Secondary Sources examples
Monographs
Journal articles
Biography
Encyclopedias
Dissertations
Research analysis
Works of criticism and interpretation
Newspaper articles (analyzing news)
Differencing Primary & Secondary
“Primary and secondary sources are not fixed categories. The use of evidence as primary or secondary is determined by the type of research you are conducting.”
Art- primary and secondary
Primary: Original artwork
Secondary: Article critiquing the work
Engineering- primary and secondary
Primary: Experimental data
Secondary: Journal article analyzing data
History- primary and secondary
Primary: World War ll personal narrative
Secondary: Book analyzing military strategies of the war
Literature- primary and secondary
Primary: Shakespeare’s Hamlet
Secondary: Critique and analysis of characters in Hamlet
Science - primary and secondary
Primary: Data reporting oceans´temperature
Secondary: Analysis of oceans´changes over the past 20 years
Theatre- primary and secondary
Primary: DVD of a performance
Secondary: Review of the performance
Psychology- primary and secondary
Primary: Notes about a client with autism
Secondary: Monograph on autism
Sources according to authorship
Official Sources
Expert Sources
The Media
Testimonials
Sources according to authorship
Official Sources
Expert Sources
The Media
Testimonials
