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Alice E. Chatlos Library of Davis College

Primary and Secondary Sources

In your research at Davis College, sometimes your professors will urge you to use primary source material.  What is the difference between primary and secondary sources, and what difference does it make? 

Primary Sources

A primary source is an document that contains firsthand information.  Examples would include photographs, a literature piece, original art, diaries, autobiographies, interviews, letters, minutes from a meeting, legislative acts or decrees.  When questioning as to whether a source is primary or secondary, ask if there has been any person beyond the creator of the source who has added to, changed, or interpreted the source.  When another individual changes the information or interprets, the source becomes secondary.

Secondary Sources

A secondary source usually comments on or discusses a primary source, and sometimes comments on other secondary sources.  There is interpretation of some kind.  Examples of secondary sources are encyclopedias, biographies, theses and dissertations, newspaper, journal and magazine articles, and books.  However, if one is studying about a certain author, the author's books and articles may become a primary source, as it was written by his/her own hand.  So what is primary and secondary sometimes is determined by the nature of the study one is doing. 

Also, it should be noted, that sometimes age and the circumstance behind the writing helps a source to achieve primary status.  For instance, there were several biographers of Alexander the Great who traveled with him.  Because of the age and circumstance (being right there) of their writings, they are honored by most as primary source material.  Any modern biography of Alexander is secondary, and relies mostly on those early biographers.

What difference does it make?

Using primary sources can strengthen one's argument or ensure accuracy.  For instance, if one was writing on the Declaration of Independence (a primary source), it would make a strong paper to interact directly with letters and diaries of the time to discern their motives and intents. 

However, secondary sources are very important too.  Secondary sources record and on-going conversation about a subject, so one would not want to write a paper on the Declaration without tapping into that conversation.  Probably you will not discover anything totally new about the Declaration by just reading it.  Flashes of insight may come as you read the wisdom of others.  GPF