Identifying Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources
Your professor
has
instructed you to get primary or secondary materials for your research
project,
and you are confused. If you understand the publication cycle of
information, you will then understand what your professor means when
she
requests primary or secondary materials. Chart One of this
guide
defines the different stages of the cycle of information.
Timing
of the event recorded--If the article was
composed close
to the time of the event recorded, chances are it is primary
material.
For instance, a letter written by a soldier during the Vietnam War
is
primary material, as is an article written in the newspaper at the time
of the
Vietnam War. However, an article written about the Vietnam War in
recent
years would be secondary material.
Rhetorical
aim
of the written item--Often, an item that is
written with a persuasive, or analytical, aim
is secondary material. These materials have digested and
interpreted
the event with a certain detachment not characteristic of primary
materials.
Context
of the
researching scholar--Primary materials for a
critic studying the literature of the Vietnam
War are different from primary materials
for a research
scientist studying the affects of Agent Orange syndrome. The
critic's
primary materials are the poems, stories, and films of the era.
The
research scientist's primary materials would be the medical records of
those
person exposed to Agent Orange.
Chart Two
lists subject heading subdivisions you may see on library catalog
items,
indicating the stage of publication in which the information may be
located. For instance, if you see the subdivision, "personal
narrative," the cataloged item is likely to be primary
information.
If the subdivision is "history," the item is likely to be secondary,
because the information is digested and interpreted. If the
subdivision
is "bibliography," the item is likely to be tertiary because the
information is a compilation of secondary materials.
CHART
ONE: CYCLE OF INFORMATION
|
|
PRIMARY |
SECONDARY |
TERTIARY |
|
DEFINITIONS |
Sources that contain raw, original, non interpreted and unevaluated information. |
Sources that digest, analyze, evaluate and interpret the information contained within primary sources. They tend to be argumentative. |
Sources that compile, analyze, and digest secondary sources. They tend to be factual. |
|
TIMING OF PUBLICATION CYCLE |
Primary sources tend to come first in the publication cycle. |
Secondary sources tend to come second in the publication cycle. |
Tertiary sources tend to come last in the publication cycle. |
|
FORMATS--depends on the kind of analysis being conducted. |
Often newspapers, weekly and monthly-produced magazines; letters, diaries. |
Often scholarly periodicals and books. (Professors like these.) |
Often reference books. |
|
EXAMPLE: Historian (studying the Vietnam War) |
Newspaper articles, weekly news magazines, monthly magazines, diaries, correspondence, diplomatic records. |
Articles in scholarly journals analyzing the war, possibly footnoting primary documents; books analyzing the war. |
Historical Dictionary of |
|
Example: Literary Critic (studying the literature of the Vietnam War) |
Novels, poems, plays, diaries, correspondence. |
Articles in scholarly journals analyzing the literature; books analyzing the literature; formal biographies of writers of the war. |
Writing About |
|
Example: Psychologist
(studying the effects of
the |
Article in a magazine that reports research and its methodology; notes taken by a clinical psychologist. |
Articles in scholarly publications synthesizing results of original research; books analyzing results of original research. |
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; The Encyclopedic Dictionary of Psychology |
|
Example: Scientist (studying Agent Orange exposure) |
Article in a magazine reporting research and methodology. |
Articles in scholarly publications synthesizing results of original research; books doing same. |
Agent Orange and |
CHART TWO: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS SUBDIVISIONS INDICATING PRIMARY,
SECONDARY, AND TERTIARY SOURCES
|
PRIMARY |
SECONDARY |
TERTIARY |
|
biography (only if it's
on an autobiographical record)
|
biography (only if it's
describing a biography--not an autobiography) |
abstracts |
From the