1. How to Identify and Analyze a Source
Created by Dixon High School
Department of Social Science

2. Did you know…
Context determines whether a source is primary, secondary or tertiary.
Sources that are normally considered to fit into one category may sometimes be used as another.

3. Primary Source Definition:
Primary sources are original materials on which other research is based.
A primary source is a document or physical object which was written or created during the time under study.
These sources were present during an experience or time period and offer an inside view of a particular event.
They are from the time period involved and have not been through interpretation or evaluation.
Examples include:
Artifacts (e.g. coins, plant specimens, fossils, furniture, tools, clothing, all from the time under study);
Audio recordings (e.g. radio programs)
Diaries;
Internet communications on , listservs;
Interviews (e.g., oral histories, telephone, );
Journal articles published in peer-reviewed publications;
Letters;
Newspaper articles written at the time;
Original Documents (i.e. birth certificate, will, marriage license, trial transcript);
Cartography, Explorer Maps
Photographs
Proceedings of Meetings, conferences and symposia;
Records of organizations, government agencies (e.g. annual report, treaty, constitution, government document);
Speeches;
Data Sets;
Survey Research (e.g., market surveys, public opinion polls);
Video recordings (e.g. television programs);
Patents;
Works of art, architecture, literature, and music (e.g., paintings, sculptures, musical scores, buildings, novels, poems).
Web site

4. Secondary Source Definition:
A secondary source contains commentary on or discussion about a primary source.
These sources are one or more steps removed from the event.
The most important feature of secondary sources is that they offer an interpretation and anaylsis of information gathered from primary sources.
Secondary sources may have pictures, quotes or graphics of primary sources in them.
Examples include:
Bibliographies (also considered tertiary);
Biographical works;
Charts, graphs (most);
Commentaries, criticisms, political cartoons
Dictionaries, Encyclopedias (also considered tertiary);
Maps (most);
Histories;
Journal articles
Magazine and newspaper articles
Monographs, other than fiction and autobiography;
Textbooks (also considered tertiary);
Web site (also considered primary).

5. Tertiary Source Almanacs; Bibliographies (also considered secondary);
Definition:
A tertiary source provide overviews of topics by synthesizing information gathered from other resources.
It presents summaries or condensed versions of materials, usually with references back to the primary and/or secondary sources.
It often provides data in a convenient form or provide information with context by which to interpret it.
It can be a good place to look up facts or get a general overview of a subject, but they rarely contain original material.
Examples Include:
Almanacs;
Bibliographies (also considered secondary);
Chronologies;
Dictionaries and Encyclopedias (also considered secondary);
Directories;
Fact books;
Guidebooks;
Indexes, abstracts, bibliographies used to locate primary and secondary sources;
Manuals;
Textbooks (also be secondary)