What is the difference between a primary source and a secondary source?

Answer

Primary Sources

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.

Secondary Sources

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 resources are books, journal articles, or reviews of the literature. Secondary sources may also be primary sources. For example if someone studies the nature of literary criticism in the 19th century then a literary critique from the 19th century becomes a primary resource.

 

Discipline

Primary Sources

Secondary Sources

 Anthropology, Archeology

 Articles describing research,     ethnographies, surveys, cultural and   historical artifacts

 Reviews of the literature, critical   interpretations of scholarly studies

 Communications, Journalism

 News (print, radio, TV, online),   photographs, blogs, social media   sites

 Interpretive journal articles, books   and blogs about the communications   industry

 Education, Political Science, Public   Policy

 Government publications, laws, court   cases, speeches, test results,   interviews, polls, surveys

 Reviews of the literature, critical   interpretations of scholarly studies

 Fine Arts

 Original art work, photographs,   recordings of performances and   music, scripts (film, theater,   television), music scores, interviews,   memoirs, diaries, letters

 Critical interpretations of art and   artists – biographies, reviews,   recordings of live performances

 History

 Government publications,   newspapers, photographs, diaries,   letters, manuscripts, business   records, court cases, videos, polls,   census data, speeches

 Interpretive journal articles and books

 Language and Literature

 Novels, plays, short stories, poems,   dictionaries, language materials

 Literary criticism, biographies,   reviews, text books

 Psychology, Sociology, Economics

 Articles describing research,   experiment results, ethnographies,   interviews, surveys, data sets

 Reviews of the literature, critical   interpretations of scholarly studies

 Sciences

 Articles describing research and   methodologies, documentation of lab   research, research studies

 Publications about the significance   of esearch or experiments

  • Last Updated Mar 25, 2020
  • Views 33
  • Answered By Tristan Draper

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