Library Orientation

Primary Source

Secondary Source

• First-hand accounts or original works
• Author is writer/creator of the original work
• Definition can often vary depending on academic discipline

• Interprets/Analyzes primary sources
• Includes comment/discussion on the original/primary source to answer question
• Second-hand information

Examples:

• Diary
• Conference papers
• Correspondence
• Dissertations/Theses
• Interviews
• Notes
• Patents
• Proceedings
• Technical Reports
• News (printed, radio, TV, online)
• Photographs
• Blogs
• Social Media sites
• Government Publications
• Speeches
• Original art work
• Novels, plays, short stories, poems, dictionaries
• Articles describing first-hand research, experiment results, surveys, or data sets
• Documentation of lab research/research studies

Examples:

• Books
• Journal articles
• Literature reviews
• Critical review of scholarly studies
• Critical interpretation of art and artists/preformances
• Biographies
• Text books
• Reviews
• Publications about significant research or experiments.