This presentation describes and gives examples of the types of sources used in historical research. There are three types of sources used in historical research: Primary, secondary, and tertiary. All three can have a place within student research projects, but it is important to distinguish among them and to be aware of what each type has to contribute to your research.
Primary Sources:
The Primary sources are materials on which the other researches based. It's important to keep in mind that these accounts are first-hand. They are produced at or soon after the time the event occurs or a person lives.
A primary sources is any document, book, or artifact created at the time of an event. They may describe an experience or thought about the event. Some examples include diaries, journals, letters, photographs, maps, recorded film or audio, interviews, speeches, sculptures, statistical data, a statute of government, some newspaper or magazine articles, manuscripts, minutes, fossils, and some original research or experimentation.
Primary sources can also be more current. For example, a tweet from the Women's March can be considered a primary source for that event. Sources that cite, interpret, comment on, or build upon the content of primary sources are considered secondary sources.
These may include textbooks, biographies, movies, and scholarly articles. Reference texts such as encyclopedias, dictionaries, indexes, databases, and Wikipedia are considered tertiary sources and provide summary or background information on topics.
These sources can be used to gain a brief overview of a particular topic,but are typically not desirable as sources for academic papers as they do not provide an in- depth analysis on a topic.
Primary sources are used by researchers to better understand a point in history, a physical or natural phenomenon, or a group or individuals' experienced during a particular event.
For example, say you are studying wireless communication in the late 19th century.
After studying archival documents, news articles,personal letters, company publications, maybe viewing photographs from the late 19th century, and after reading more recently published books or articles on the topic, you as a researcher have consulted both primary and secondary sources for your own research and can now compile your findings.
Be sure you understand your research topic so you will know the types of primary sources to look for and where you might possibly look for these sources.
Secondary Sources:
Secondary sources are second-hand interpretations of historical events made after the events occurred, often many years after the event occurred. A scholar writing in 2015 about events that took place in 1915 is producing secondary sources such as journal articles or books.
Secondary sources save you time with unnecessary research or reinventing the wheel since you are tapping into research and analysis that has already been done. Suppose, for example, you’re presented with the following.
An employee of a large corporation is terminated for poor job performance. She suspects that the company has made disparaging remarks about her to other potential employers and, on her last job interview she was forced to divulge the reason for her termination. We know very little about the legal issues involved and you are not sure if this qualifies as libel and slander or an employment law issue.
One place to start is with a legal encyclopedia called American Jurisprudence or AmJur. AmJur is one of the two major, national legal encyclopedias. The other national legal encyclopedia is called Corpus Juris Secundum or CJS.
AmJur and CJS provide terms of art to a particular issue. The entries in legal encyclopedias appear alphabetically by subject and are usually neutral in tone.
To locate your topic in a legal encyclopedia, you would use the table of contents or index. Like any index, you’d have to figure out which term to look under.
Here we find a discussion of our topic under the entry for libel and slander. For example, section 223 of libel and slander pertains to the discharge of an employee.
This encyclopedia entry from American Jurisprudence provides citations to cases from different jurisdictions and that it identifies terms of art unique to this field.
The entry introduces you to the concepts of slander per se. This term represents an important concept within our subject and knowing it will not only allow you to better understand this area of law but it also helps you refine your research since you can now use this word as a search term.
The national encyclopedias are good sources for a broad overview of a particular area of law. It’s worth noting that as a general rule, legal encyclopedias are not cited as the ultimate source for a legal proposition. Rather, legal encyclopedias are best used as a starting point for one’s research.
Tertiary Source:
Tertiary sources are sources that draw on and summarize primary and secondary sources, such as encyclopedias, almanacs, dictionaries, indexes and other reference works.
Tertiary sources are often found in the reference section of your library. These sources can help us to learn background about a topic or an event and can refer you through a references and further readings list to primary and secondary sources, but you should not use tertiary sources within your research papers because they are not peer-reviewed or considered to be scholarly, and they generally do not cite their own sources clearly.
A Tertiary Source provides an overview of information or summary on a specific topic. Examples of Tertiary Sources: Dictionaries, Almanacs, Indexes, Chronologies, Guidebooks, Bibliographies, Directories, Manuals like secondary sources, tertiary sources rely on info and opinions written by others, instead of reporting firsthand experiences.
While secondary sources draw their info. from primary sources, tertiary sources usually draw info from secondary sources.
Secondary Sources are one step away from Primary Sources, but Tertiary sources are two steps away from Primary Sources.
When do you use Tertiary sources?
Tertiary sources are a good place to quickly look up facts.
Tertiary sources are often helpful during the background research stage of a research assignment.
For example, You might use an encyclopedia article to get an overview of your topic.
A bibliography could be useful for looking for articles relevant to your topic.
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