There
are basically two types of resources:
primary sources and secondary sources. Simply put, “Primary sources are
those in which the author or creator was a direct observer of the recorded
event. Secondary sources are those in
which the author is reporting the obervations of others and may be many times
removed from the actual event.” (Starko,
Alane J., Looking For Data In All the
Right Places. Mansfield Center, CT: Creative Learning Press, 1992, p. 28)
Primary sources include first-hand information from a person who witnessed or participated in an event. For subjects in history, it's FROM the time, not ABOUT the time. A primary source can also be scientific data, statistics, or an official transcript of a government proceeding. Actually, a primary source can be almost anything.
Primary sources are found in a variety of formats, such as: Original documents in archives and libraries; materials reprinted in published sources, such as collections of letters, diaries, autobiographies; microforms; digitized on the web; recordings.
Patrick Rael
at Bowdoin College has a good discussion on How to Read a Primary Source
(choose section to the left under Reading).
There are basically two types of
resources: primary sources and secondary sources. Simply put, “Primary sources
are those in which the author or creator was a direct observer of the recorded
event. Secondary sources are those in which the author is reporting the
obervations of others and may be many times removed from the actual event.”
(Starko, Alane J., Looking For Data in All the Right Places. Mansfield
Center, CT: Creative Learning Press, 1992, p. 28)
Primary sources
include first-hand information from a person who witnessed or participated in
an event. They are original materials, created at the time of an event or soon
thereafter. Primary sources can can also be scientific data, statistics, or an
official transcript of a government proceeding; they can be almost anything. Primary sources are found in a variety of
formats, such as original documents in archives and libraries; materials
reprinted in published sources, such as collections of letters, diaries,
autobiographies; microforms; digitized on the web; recordings.
For subjects in history, it’s From
the time, not About the time.
Secondary sources are those in which the author is reporting the
observations of others and may be many times removed from the actual event.
These are sources in which the author
is reporting the observations of others and might be many times removed from
the actual event or written after the fact, with the advantage of hindsight.
Secondary sources describe, interpret, analyze, evaluate, explain, or comment
on something. Typical examples of secondary sources are: biographies,
dictionaries and encyclopedias, handbooks and manuals, histories about a topic,
works of criticism and interpretation, textbooks, monographs, bibliographies,
and directories.
You want to use secondary sources for
background information and to find simple facts. Reading secondary sources is
often the quickest and simplest way to find out what is already known about the
subject you are studying.
Patrick Rael at Bowdoin College has a
good discussion on How
to Read a Primary Source and How to Read a
Secondary Source (to choose, select from the left column under
Reading).