1. Primary vs. Secondary Sources
Objective: Students will be able to identify primary and secondary sources.
Mrs. Smith- Okay class, today we are learning about primary versus secondary sources.

2. Primary Sources
Primary sources are the original sources of information recorded at the time an event occurred.
First-hand accounts
of events
Data collected for scientific
studies
Historical documents
Find and use more sophisticated graphics that would appeal to high school students – a bit more mature, maybe photos or paintings. Example: Here you could have Abraham Lincoln writing or delivering the Gettysburg address or signing the Emancipation Proclamation.
Mrs. Smith- As you might know already, primary sources are the original pieces of information recorded at the time an event occurred, such as first hand accounts of events, data collected for studies, or historical documents.

3. Primary Sources Primary sources can also be written well after events.
- memoirs
- oral histories
Mrs. Smith- Primary sources can also be written after events have occurs. Memoirs and oral histories are examples of these and can provide good information.

4. Why use primary sources?
To explain how major events are related to each other in time.
To think critically and distinguish between fact and opinion.
To recognize point of view in print and visual materials.
To draw upon primary sources to create a school presentation and meet the objectives of an assignment.
Mrs. Smith- So why do you think we use primary sources? I mean, they’re so much harder to find. Why don’t we just go off of what everyone else is telling us?
KC- It separates fact from opinion
Megan- To show correlation between different events in the past.
Dakota- Points of view.

5. Why use primary sources?
To develop your own conclusions and analyze how historical events affect your life.
To recognize failures and successes in the past in order to make better decisions as a citizen.
To understand who you are by examining your roots or placing yourself in that time period or situation.
Mrs. Smith- Very good, yes! You are all correct. You can use them to gain your own opinions, or learn from past mistakes of others. Sometimes you can even better understand yourself by researching, and learning about your roots. That is why I am going to have each of you write a paper on a significant happening in the past using three primary, and three secondary sources.

6. Primary Source Examples
Diaries
Poetry
Personal Interviews
Government Documents
Autobiographies
Peer-reviewed Journal Articles
Photographs
Artifacts/Ephemera
Megan- Can you give us a few more examples of primary sources?
Mrs. Smith- Yes, sure! There are diaries, poetry, personal interviews, government documents, autobiographies, peer-reviewed journals; the list goes on and on.

7. Examples of Primary Sources: Baseball Cards Photos Editorial Cartoons
KC- What about pictures and baseball cards and stuff like that? Don’t those work?
Mrs. Smith- Yes, of course. You can even use editorial cartoons.
Those types of sources are called artifacts or ephemera.
*Bell rings*
Examples of Primary Sources:
Baseball Cards
Photos
Editorial Cartoons

8. Finding Primary Sources
Use the library catalog
Ask your librarian
Search article databases and limit to primary sources or peer-reviewed
Search Google Books
Dakota- Hey KC, you want to come to the library with me to start our papers?
KC- Yeah, I don’t even know how to start. Where are we supposed to find primary sources, and when we do, how do we know for sure that’s what they are?
Dakota- I’m not really sure. Let’s ask Libby. Hey Libby, can you help us?
Librarian Libby- Always!
KC- We have to find primary sources to write a paper for Mrs. Smith, but we don’t really know where to start.
Librarian Libby- I know exactly how to help. First, you need to know what to use to find them. Some of the best places are library catalogs, me of course, article databases that are limited to primary sources or peer-reviewed, and Google books.

9. Finding Primary Sources
Some databases will let you limit to Primary Sources.
Librarian Libby- Here let me show you some databases that will let you limit to primary sources. EBSCO’s Academic Search Premier is one.

10. Here’s an example of a primary document
Here’s an example of a primary document. This is a letter written by Thomas Jefferson to John Holmes discussing the slavery issue.

11. Find Primary Sources
And many peer-reviewed journal articles are also considered primary sources because their authors collected data, analyzed it, and wrote up their original results in a paper. Many databases let you limit your search to peer-reviewed or scholarly articles.
You can also search for peer-reviewed or scholarly articles which are also considered primary sources.

12. Peer-reviewed Journal Article
First Page of the Article showing the Abstract
Article Record
Dakota- So peer-reviewed just means all of the facts have been compiled into one article right.
Librarian Libby- Pretty much, yes. Here’s an example of one. This article was written by two professors at the University of Toledo and a high school teacher. It looks like they asked high school students to complete a questionnaire on sleep behaviors and then they compiled and analyzed the data collected and wrote a peer-reviewed article on what they found out.
The schools the authors are affiliated with

13. Finding Primary Sources
To find primary documents on the web, try the following internet search topic + “primary source”
Librarian Libby- You can also find primary documents online by adding “Primary source” to your search.

14. Secondary Sources
Secondary sources of information are derived from primary sources
Summaries of primary sources
Analyses or interpretations of primary sources
KC- So what exactly is a secondary source then?
Librarian Libby- Secondary sources are information derived from primary sources. They can also be viewed as summaries or interpretations of primary sources.

15. Why use secondary sources?
To get expert opinions in order to evaluate what really happened.
To gain insight by examining the same event from different perspectives.
To form our own opinions.
To save time by reading information collected from a number of different sources.
Dakota- Wait, why would you need or even want secondary sources if the primary sources already tell you exactly what happened? It could just get convoluted and messed up.
Librarian Libby- That’s very true, but opinions such as expert’s opinions could actually tell more of what happened than the original can. It also gives you insight from many different points of view regarding the situation or event. This allows you to form your own opinion on what might have happened. Secondary sources can also save you a lot of time because someone else collected and put the information together.

16. Secondary Source Examples
Dictionaries
Encyclopedias
Textbooks
Articles that review other sources
Biographies
KC- Okay, give us some examples of good secondary sources.
Librarian Libby- Well, there are dictionaries, encyclopedias, textbooks, articles that review other sources, and biographies; just to name a few.

17. Examples of Secondary Sources: Biographies Textbooks Encyclopedias
Librarian Libby- Here are a couple examples of secondary source books.
Examples of Secondary Sources:
Biographies
Textbooks
Encyclopedias

18. Finding Secondary Sources
Use the library catalog
Ask the librarian
Use article databases
Search Google Books
Dakota- How do you find them?
Librarian Libby- Pretty much the same as you find primary sources. You can use the library catalog, your librarian, databases, and Google books.

19. Secondary Source Example
The image on the right shows a snippet of a review of the book Lies My Teacher Told Me. Book reviews are secondary sources.
Librarian Libby- This book review is a very good secondary source. It tells you what the book Lies My Teacher Told Me is about.

20. Both Primary and Secondary sources may have a slant or bias
You need to look at both primary and secondary sources critically to see if they are promoting a particular point of view or showing both sides of an issue. Bias can also show up by what is left out, as much as by what is left in.
Primary Source Bias Example: John Adams Personal Papers In his personal letters to Thomas Jefferson, John Adams viewed his role in the creation of the Declaration of Independence as central. But, Thomas Jefferson, as the primary author of the document, gets much of the credit in history textbooks.
Secondary Source Bias Example:
History Textbooks
A history textbook is a secondary source. Because there is so much history to cover, much of what is discussed shows the positives and not the negatives. The author of Lies My Teacher Told Me provides less flattering, although factual, portraits of some individuals who have played significant roles in the history of the United States.
Librarian Libby- Sometimes both primary and secondary sources have a slant or bias which means you should look critically at them to see if they are promoting a particular point of view, or showing both sides of an issue.
KC-Well that makes sense.
Librarian Libby- Keep in mind that bias is not always readily apparent. Sometimes bias occurs when critical information is left out of a source. Not giving the full picture also creates a slanted point of view.

21. Reading Sources
Ask these basic questions about every source, no matter how obvious the answer might seem.
Who wrote this?
What does it say?
When was it written?
Where was it written?
Why was it written?
Librarian Libby- With every piece of information that you find whether primary or secondary, try to answer these five questions, and you might learn more than what it said. Who wrote this? What does it say? When was it written? Where was it written? Why was it written?

22. Summing Up
It is important to determine the type of information you are looking at.
Primary sources are original sources of information
Secondary sources summarize, analyze, or critique primary sources
Both primary and secondary sources can be good sources of information, but you need to critically evaluate them.
Librarian Libby- So tell me what you learned.
Dakota- It is important to determine what kind of information you are looking at.
KC- Primary sources are original sources of information.
Dakota- Secondary sources summarize, analyze, or critique Primary sources.
KC-Both primary and secondary sources can be good sources of information, but you need to critically evaluate them.
Librarian Libby- Very good, you guys should fly through this now.

23. Matching Review Game Primary Secondary Letters Memoirs
Personal Interviews
Photographs
Artifacts or Objects
Manuscripts
Diaries
Original Research Data
Articles that review other sources
Biographies
Textbooks
Government Documents
Encyclopedias or Dictionaries
Newspaper First Hand Reports
Journals
Audio Recordings
Moving Pictures or Video
Autobiographies
Speeches
Poetry
Peer-reviewed journal articles
Newspaper Editorials
This is an interactive activity where the sources need to be put into primary or secondary bins. Talk to me about this before you start working on it, Ludwig.