1. Primary & Secondary Sources

2. Primary Source: First-hand information from a person who witnessed or lived through an event. Actual records that have survived from the past.

3. Examples: Diaries Memoirs Letters Photographs Official documents / records Manuscripts Newspapers Legal cases (transcripts) Interviews Oral histories Personal narratives Research data / reports Statistics Documentaries Artifacts Coins Stamps

4. Analysis of Primary Sources Some sources are more reliable than others. Since primary sources are taken during an event, they always have a bias, or slanted point of view in favor or against, the idea or concept at hand. Because of this, historians use certain rules to analyze primary sources to read them skeptically and critically.

5. Time and Place Rule The closer in time and place a source and its creator are to an event, the better and more reliable the source will be. Which is more reliable according to the time and place rule? A soldier’s letter home during WWII An interview with a WWII soldier 30 years after the war

6. Bias Rule Every primary source is biased in some way. The creator’s point of view must be considered and also compared with other related sources. Which is more reliable according to the bias rule? A diary A news report

7. Secondary Source: Description by a person usually not present at the event, relying on primary sources for information. Usually analyze and interpret primary sources. Accounts of the past created by people writing about the topic long after the events.

8. Examples Novels Non-fiction books Encyclopedias Textbooks Research papers Informational material – websites, TV shows, magazines, brochures, posters, etc.

9. YouTube Examples Pearl Harbor Primary speech/photos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhtuMrMVJDk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhtuMrMVJDk Secondary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjMgvXhwiWU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjMgvXhwiWU Apollo 13 Primary http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4ek9g_eN0Q http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4ek9g_eN0Q Primary Interview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e4fYb-zwdE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e4fYb-zwdE Secondary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czP0aYQfNHk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czP0aYQfNHk