1. Today’s Objectives
Know the characteristics of primary sources and examples.
Know the characteristics of secondary sources and examples.
Be able to tell whether a source should be classified as primary or secondary.
Inquiry-Based Literacy Standards (I)
Standard 3- Construct knowledge, applying disciplinary concepts and tools, to build deeper understanding of the world through exploration, collaboration, and analysis.
3.3 – Gather information from a variety of primary and secondary sources and evaluate sources for perspective, validity, and bias.

2. You already know that there are many different sources to use for research projects.
Can you name a few?

3. But did you know that there are two different types of reference sources?
Primary sources
Secondary sources

4. Many research projects require you to use both primary and secondary sources. It’s important to understand the difference between the two types of material.

5. Primary Sources
Primary sources provide first-hand testimony or direct evidence about your topic. They are created by witnesses, people who actually experienced the events.
With primary sources, we see exactly how the events were seen at the time they happened.

6. Why Use Primary Sources?
Research should be based on fact and observation, which involves the use of primary sources.
They are used so that you can form your own opinion, based on the facts.  They also allow you to understand how people feel, at the time, about an event or a person.
When you use a primary source, you are able to take the facts, interpret them, and draw your own conclusion.
A mixture of sources produces a more substantial paper - use primary and secondary; scholarly and popular; paper and electronic; ideas and artifacts; fact and fiction, etc.  

7. Examples of Primary Sources
Autobiographies
Memoirs
Spoken histories
Personal diaries
Reports created at the time the events happened by someone who was there.

8. Secondary Sources
Secondary sources are documents written after an event has occurred, giving secondhand information.
Unlike primary sources, secondary sources give us different points of view, analyses, and conclusions.

9. Why Use Secondary Sources?
Secondary sources can provide you with background information and offer analysis of the event or work by someone who was not personally involved and may be more impartial.
Articles written by experts who have studied the field can provide informed interpretation of the events.
Secondary sources can also provide historical perspective based on other events that have happened since the original event or work.

10. Examples of Secondary Sources
Examples include:
Journal and magazine articles written after the event.
Encyclopedias
Textbooks

11. Primary or Secondary?
Please indicate on the following slides whether or not each example is a primary or secondary source. Hold up 1 finger for primary and 2 fingers for secondary.

12. A Collection of Biographies about Famous People from all Ages
Secondary!

13. An Original Photograph
This is a Primary Source!

14. Textbooks
Secondary, naturally!

15. The actual Declaration of Independence document
Primary.

16. Now let’s play a game to check your understanding of the difference between primary and secondary sources.

17. Finding Credible (Trustworthy) Sources
It is also very important to be sure that the sources you use are accurate and dependable. Since it is easy to put something on the Internet, not everything you find there is true.

18. One simple way to be sure that your sources are credible (trustworthy) is to use discus, South Carolina’s virtual database. Every source in discus has been checked for you by the South Carolina State Library, so you know the facts you find can be trusted.

19. He always chooses trustworthy sources!

20. User Name discus17 Password smart
The URL (web address) for discus is
You don’t need a password to use discus at school or at any library in South Carolina.
You can also use discus at home, but you do need a user name and a password that is changed every year in August. This year you use:
User Name discus17
Password smart
Discus is an acronym. An abbreviation made from the first letter or first few letters of words. The letters in discus stand for “digital information for South Carolina users.”

21. Exit Ticket
What is a primary source? Can you give an example of a primary source that you have used or created? What is a secondary source? Can you give an example of a secondary source that you have used or created?