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.
Examples
Disciplines
Primary source examples
Articles describing research, ethnographies, surveys,
cultural and historical artifacts
News (printed, radio, TV, online), photographs,
blogs, social media sites
Education, Political Science, Public Policy
Government publications, laws, court cases,
speeches, test results, interviews, polls, surveys
Original art work, photographs, recordings of performances
and music, scripts (film, theater, television), music scores,
interviews, memoirs, diaries, letters
Government publications, newspapers, photographs,
diaries, letters, manuscripts, business records,
court cases, videos, polls, census data, speeches
Language and Literature
Novels, plays, short stories, poems, dictionaries,
Psychology, Sociology, Economics
Articles describing research, experiment results, ethnographies, interviews, surveys, data sets
Articles describing research and methodologies, documentation of lab research, research studies
Primary Source Databases
What is a secondary source?
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.
Examples
Disciplines
Secondary source examples
Reviews of the literature, critical interpretations of scholarly studies
Interpretive journal articles, books and blogs about the communications industry.
Education, Political Science, Public Policy
Reviews of the literature, critical interpretations of scholarly studies
Critical interpretations of art and artists—biographies, reviews, recordings of live performances
Interpretive journal articles and books
Language and Literature
Literary criticism, biographies, reviews, text books
Psychology, Sociology, Economics
Reviews of the literature, critical interpretations of scholarly studies
Publications about the significance of research or experiments