KYVL: Information Skills Tutorial, Unit 4: Primary and Secondary Sources

KYVL: Information Skills Tutorial, Unit 4: Primary and Secondary Sources

Coverage	Information Skills Tutorial Unit 4: Evaluation of Sources
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Introduction

Unit 4 Contents

Topic: Primary and Secondary Sources

Quiz

Overview

For whatever you are researching, it is often useful to distinguish between primary and secondary sources. The definitions for ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ vary greatly from one field of study to the next.

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Lesson

For some research purposes, you will need to know whether your sources can be defined as primary or secondary. Types of sources falling into these categories vary by discipline, but as a general rule they can be identified as follows:

Primary Sources	Secondary sources
Contemporary accounts of an event and original documents such as letters manuscripts diaries recordings video clips newspaper articles	Sources that explain, analyze, interpret or discuss primary sources, such as books articles editorials reviews studies

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Examples

Scholars in various fields of study define "primary" in different ways. Here are a few examples:

History: diaries, letters, manuscripts, news footage, speeches, maps, photographs
Literature: original poems, novels, plays or stories
Art and Music: original paintings, sculpture, compositions or recordings
Science: original research reports and data, water pollution measures, fossils
Political Science: polling data, census data, hearings, treaties, laws

Here are some examples of secondary sources:

A book in which the author reinterprets a historical event based on newly discovered documents
A persuasive essay in which the author uses statistics to bolster her arguments
A magazine article discussing trends in voter attitudes, based on analysis of election returns
A journal article critiquing a piece of art, a film, or a literary work
A journal article reviewing recent research on a medical topic

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Quiz

Which of the following would NOT be considered a primary source?

A. photos
B. encyclopedia
C. letters
D. diary
E. speeches

Unit 4: 13 of 13

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Last Updated: 05/26/2000
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