Identifying Sources
World of Information handout
SECONDARY SOURCES are books and articles written by scholars investigating a research topic using primary sources.
- To search for books: use FRANCIS, the library catalog (for Williams collections) or Worldcat (for worldwide Libraries).
- To search for articles: use the article databases
PRIMARY SOURCES are first-hand accounts by participants of a particular event or historical time period. Examples of primary sources include:
- Memoirs and Diaries
- Speeches
- Correspondence
- Autobiographies
- Interviews
- Papers of a political party, agency, or association
- Government documents (e.g. congressional hearings and reports)
- Articles in magazines and newspapers contemporary of the event
- Ethnographic materials
- Statistics and Censuses
- Documentaries contemporary of the event
- Art works and music contemporary of the event
There are two categories of primary sources: unpublished primary sources (available only in archives and special collections) and published primary sources, available more widely in libraries.
Books as Primary Sources | Articles as Primary Sources | Government Documents as Primary Sources