Primary Sources

Provided by SAS

 

 

     Unit Overview

In this unit, you will learn what primary and secondary sources are and the differences between them.

This unit will prepare you to complete future units on “Analyzing a Primary Source” in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. 

Primary and secondary sources help teach us about the past and understand how things came to be as they are today.

 

     Section A: Primary Sources

 

Primary sources are original documents, photographs, records, or any artifact created at the time of an event.  Primary sources can teach us what life was like or how people thought at the time of the event.  They can help us understand how or why an event occurred. 

·      “first-hand” information

·      “eye-witness” account offering an inside view

·      Diaries — Interviews — Letters — Raw Data — Official Documents — Court Records — Photographs

 

Let's Practice:  Primary Source or NOT

 

 

 

     Section B: Secondary Sources

 

Secondary sources are any records of the past created after or since the time of the event. This includes items like books, animations, drawings, newspaper reports, and videos that tell about something that previously occurred.  Secondary sources can be comments of primary sources, like an English textbook analyzing Romeo and Juliet.  We learn new thoughts and gain other perspectives on primary sources and past events from secondary sources.

·      “second-hand” information

·      Written well after the event they reported on

·      Wikipedia — Textbooks — Biographies — Magazines

 

Let's Practice:  Identify

 

 

 

     Section C: Primary v. Secondary

There is a difference between primary and secondary sources.  A primary source is original documents, artifacts, records, or reports created at the time of an event. Secondary sources are any records of the past created after the time of the event.  One way to tell the difference is to look at the author or person who created the document. 

For example, an interview on the television with someone who saw an event is a primary source.  However, a story about the event written years later is a secondary source.

Both primary and secondary sources support or provide evidence for events in a story, whether they are newspaper stories, a presentation to your classmates, or online news interviews. Primary and secondary sources can also be used to support an argument.

·      Can be used to support an argument or as evidence in a story

·      Can be found in locations such as museums, libraries, homes, and online

Let's Practice:  Close Text