What are they?

Welcome to this source for primary sources developed especially for research in the humanities. It is curated by Margaret Carpenter, library media specialist at H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program in Arlington, Virginia.  She developed it with support from her close colleague at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology Anne Applin with whom she worked for 4 years.  Anne significantly improved the guidance on US history, and provided useful visuals.

Use the bottom 4 links at left to access Pathfinders for Primary Sources according to the topic of study.  Use the first two links for skills development.

Mini-Lesson 1.1

Primary vs. Secondary vs. Tertiary Sources

Learn the difference between Primary and Secondary Sources at this visual tutorial from the University of Illinois.  With images, it overviews many examples of each type of source and discusses their value to research. This presentation basically presents all sources as EITHER primary or secondary.

But some researchers employ a third term "tertiary" (meaning "third level") to describe sources such as textbooks or general encyclopedias (that are not specialized encyclopedias or offering primary sources.)  In tertiary resources, the authors are even more removed from the topic of study and not really involved in original research. A tertiary source is a collection and presentation of general background that might have been compiled by people working only from secondary sources.

Occasionally researchers refer to the tertiary sources under the category of secondary sources. They basically look at sources as simply primary OR secondary, where secondary means "everything that's not a primary source."

Mini-Lesson 1.2

Analyzing Primary Sources to use in your research:

A researcher cannot always take a primary source at face value.  As the tutorial above showed, primary sources can be extremely valuable and offer new insights from the time of the event.  However, some sources are biased, flawed or otherwise inaccurate. A tutorial from the University of Illinois provides 5 helpful questions to apply to your primary source.  These inquiries and your own questions will help you critically analyze the validity of the source and interpret its significance. Your critical analysis of all of your sources helps you to draw conclusions that you can stand behind.

Many primary sources can be located in the Library of Congress.  These guides equip students with the questions to ask as they analyze various types of primary sources, including photographs, manuscripts, sheet music, sound recordings and oral histories.