Q. Can you explain a primary versus a secondary source?

Humanities

Sciences

Primary Source

• Original, first-hand account of an event or time period
• Usually written or made during or close to the event or time period
• Original, creative writing or works of art
• Factual, not interpretive

• Report of scientific discoveries
• Results of experiments
• Results of clinical trials
• Social and political science research results
• Factual, not interpretive

Secondary Source

• Analyzes and interprets primary sources
• Second-hand account of an historical event
• Interprets creative work

• Analyzes and interprets research results
• Analyzes and interprets scientific discoveries

Humanities

Sciences

Primary Sources

• Diaries, journals, and letters
• Newspaper and magazine articles (factual accounts)
• Government records (census, marriage, military)
• Photographs, maps, postcards, posters
• Recorded or transcribed speeches
• Interviews with participants or witnesses (e.g., The Civil Right Movement)
• Interviews with people who lived during a particular time (e.g., genocide in Rwanda)
• Songs, Plays, novels, stories
• Paintings, drawings, and sculptures

• Published results of research studies
• Published results of scientific experiments
• Published results of clinical trials
• Published results of an Empirical Study or Quantitative Study
• Proceedings of conferences and meetings

Secondary Sources

• Biographies
• Histories
• Literary Criticism
• Book, Art, and Theater Reviews
• Newspaper articles that interpret
• Textbooks or reference books

• Publications about the significance of research or experiments
• Analysis of a clinical trial
• Review of the results of experiments or trials

Primary Source

Secondary Source

Literature

“Song of Myself” (Poem)

Journal article about the poem’s historical importance

Psychology

Results of clinical trial to treat ADD by modifying diet

Book about ways to treat childhood ADD without drugs

Politics and Government

U.S. Census Statistics

Book about suburban population changes in U.S.

History

Recorded interview with Choctaw American Indian

Journal article about Native Americans who served in WWII

Social Science

Diary of Anne Frank

Book about diaries kept during the Holocaust

Art

Photographs by Diane Arbus

Magazine article about 20th century female photographers