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Primary Sources: Materials which have not been interpreted by another person. Original document/writing created at or near the time an event occurred. Primary sources provide first hand accounts or experiences of events. Information is generally presented in its original form, whether it be a work of literature or art, or an account of an event or experience, or original documents or research products such as interviews, speeches, questionnaires, letters, diaries, manuscripts, memoirs, etc. Includes books, periodicals, and web sites.
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Secondary Sources: Secondary sources provide second hand accounts of events. These sources include materials that have been reported, analyzed, or interpreted by people who do not have firsthand knowledge of an event and may be found in books or periodicals, or on web sites.
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What are primary sources?
What are secondary sources?
Anything that is written after the fact, and interpret or analyze primary sources and events. They are one step removed from the original.
Hartness Library, Vermont Tech and the Community College of Vermont. Creative Commons Attribution license (reuse allowed)
There are several different categories of articles - and the periodicals they come from.
Watch the video for more information.
And check out our helpful resource on this topic for more information.
There is more information about Periodicals and how to distinguish between types of them on the following guide:
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Primary or Secondary? |
Information Types |
Coverage / Use |
Retrieval Methods |
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Secondary |
Reference books: Almanacs, Dictionaries, Directories Encyclopedias, Handbooks
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Provide overviews on any given topic. They can include background information, factual data, key ideas, important dates, and concepts. Can be general (e.g., Oxford World Encyclopedia) or specialized (e.g., Military & Government Collection). When to use:
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Secondary |
Books
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Books cover virtually any topic, fact or fiction. Books typically provide an in-depth examination of the given topic, usually from a retrospective point of view. Most research-oriented books are works of non-fiction (e.g., textbooks). Fiction works include novels, short stories, and poetry. For research purposes, you will probably be looking for books that synthesize all the information on one topic to support a particular argument or thesis. When to use:
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Secondary |
Periodical articles: Journals, Magazines. Newspapers
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Periodicals are published on a regular ongoing basis (e.g., daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly). Journal, magazine, and newspaper articles tend to be more specific or about certain aspects of an issue compared to books. Periodicals provide up-to-date information on the latest developments on various issues or current events and are usually from a contemporary point of view. Articles can be brief & general or in-depth & focused in on a very specific or local topic. When to use:
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Mostly Primary |
Government Documents
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Government sources from all levels of government (international, national, state and local) provide both historical and current information, and statistical data. When to use:
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Secondary |
Multimedia: web pages, images, music, videos
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The Web allows you to access most types of information and multimedia on the Internet through a Web browser such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome. One of the main features of the Web is the ability to quickly link to information. The Web contains information beyond plain text, including images, sound, music, and video. Since anyone can publish on the web, you need to carefully evaluate what you retrieve through search engines such as Yahoo and Google. When to use:
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