A primary source is a first person account by someone who experienced or witnessed an event. This original document has not been previously published or interpreted by anyone else.
Often your professor will suggest that you use primary, secondary, or tertiary materials for your research project. it is not always easy to tell the difference between these resources, and what counts as a primary source differs between disciplines..
Use the charts to help you understand these distinctions. Please consult your professor or a librarian if you are unsure about identifying a particular source.
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Area of Research | Definition/Examples |
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Original records* that were either created at the time historical events occurred, or well after those events in the form of memoirs and oral histories.
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Original literary works, as well as letters, diaries, notes, and marginalia written by authors. | |
Articles reporting on the results of original research, as well as the data* gathered by scientists.
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An original object or document: the raw research or first-hand information. | Comments on, interpretations of, or discussions about the primary or original source. | Provide background information or compilations by synthesizing information gathered from other sources, usually secondary sources. | |
Primary sources usually come in the timing of scholarly publication. | Secondary sources usually come in the timing of scholarly publication. | Tertiary sources usually come or last in the timing of scholarly publication. | |
experiment or to a piece of literature | (ex. encyclopedias) abstracts (ex. library databases) | ||
Politics Major (studying terrorism in the wake of the 9/11 attacks) | National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States. (2004). The 9/11 Commission report: final report. New York: Norton. | Carpenter, T. (2005, Winter). Missed Opportunities: The 9/11 Commission Report and US Foreign Policy. , 16(1), 52–61. | political violence |
English Major (studying creative writings about terrorism) | Updike, J. (2006). . New York: Alfred A. Knopf. | Steyn, M. (2006, July 31). Why John Updike's book is a bomb. (29), 58–59. | , 63-87. |
Psychology Major (studying the psychological effects of the 9/11 Attacks on children) | Schuster, M. A., B. D."A National Survey of Stress Reactions After the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks," , Vol. 345, No. 20, November 15, 2001, pp. 1507–1512. | Alexander, G. (2007). International relations theory meets world politics. In (pp. 39–64). New York, NY, US: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group. | Encyclopedia of psychology. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association. |
Biology Major (studying bioterrorism) | United States. (2003). . Washington, D.C.: U.S. G.P.O. | Alexander, D., & Klein, S. (2003, December). Biochemical terrorism: too awful to contemplate, too serious to ignore: subjective literature review. , 183 (6), 491–497. | (2005). Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley-LISS. |
This chart was adapted from a research guide prepared by the Library at the University of North Carolina Wilmington .
COMMENTS
Secondary research is a research method that uses data that was collected by someone else. In other words, whenever you conduct research using data that already exists, you are conducting secondary research. On the other hand, any type of research that you undertake yourself is called primary research. Example: Secondary research.
For a historical research project, secondary sources are usually scholarly books and articles, but as you can see from this list there are other possibilties. Find Secondary Sources. History of Science, Technology and Medicine (Harvard Login) (1975- ) is an index of books, book chapters, and journal articles. Some social sciences material is ...
Secondary research, also known as desk research, is a research method that involves compiling existing data sourced from a variety of channels. This includes internal sources (e.g.in-house research) or, more commonly, external sources (such as government statistics, organizational bodies, and the internet).
When to Use Secondary Research. Choosing between secondary and primary research methods depends significantly on the objectives of your study or project. Secondary research is particularly beneficial in the initial stages of research planning and strategy, offering a broad understanding of the topic at hand and helping to pinpoint areas that may require more in-depth investigation through ...
Primary sources provide raw information and first-hand evidence. Examples include interview transcripts, statistical data, and works of art. Primary research gives you direct access to the subject of your research. Secondary sources provide second-hand information and commentary from other researchers. Examples include journal articles, reviews ...
Therefore, the majority of sources in a literature review are secondary sources that present research findings, analysis, and the evaluation of other researcher's works. Reviewing secondary source material can be of valu e in improving your overall research paper because secondary sources facilitate the communication of what is known about a topic.
LEARN ABOUT: Data Analytics Projects. Secondary Research Methods with Examples. ... Local newspapers, journals, magazines, radio and TV stations are a great source to obtain data for secondary research. These commercial information sources have first-hand information on economic developments, political agenda, market research, demographic ...
Secondary Research. Data Source: Involves utilizing existing data and information collected by others. Data Collection: Researchers search, select, and analyze data from published sources, reports, and databases. Time and Resources: Generally more time-efficient and cost-effective as data is already available.
Secondary sources are your starting point when undertaking a research project. We answer the 5 most asked questions about secondary sources. ... Any material which summarizes research undertaken by someone else is a secondary source. A project you complete, if consulted by someone else and used in their research, is a secondary source. ...
Primary and secondary sources are the two main types of source materials that you will use for your research project. They are both important and needed for your project. Whether you are going to use more primary or more secondary sources depends on your academic level - undergrad, postgrad, or professional.
Law review or journal articles are another great secondary source for legal research, valuable for the depth in which they analyze and critique legal topics, as well as their extensive references to other sources, including primary sources. ... The ALI web site contains information regarding Restatement projects, ALI membership, history and ...
Secondary research, also known as a literature review, preliminary research, historical research, background research, desk research, or library research, is research that analyzes or describes prior research.Rather than generating and analyzing new data, secondary research analyzes existing research results to establish the boundaries of knowledge on a topic, to identify trends or new ...
Secondary research methods focus on analyzing existing data rather than collecting primary data. Common examples of secondary research methods include: Literature review. Researchers analyze and synthesize existing literature (e.g., white papers, research papers, articles) to find knowledge gaps and build on current findings. Content analysis.
Updated on August 27, 2018. In contrast to primary sources in research activities, secondary sources consist of information that has been gathered and often interpreted by other researchers and recorded in books, articles, and other publications. In her "Handbook of Research Methods, " Natalie L. Sproull points out that secondary sources "are ...
Compared to primary research, the collection of secondary data can be faster and cheaper to obtain, depending on the sources you use. Secondary data can come from internal or external sources. Internal sources of secondary data include ready-to-use data or data that requires further processing available in internal management support systems ...
This article provides a comprehensive step-by-step guide for conducting effective secondary research for your dissertation. It covers essential topics such as developing research skills, identifying and using credible sources, employing search strategies, and utilizing advanced search operators. Additionally, it discusses integrating secondary ...
Sources for secondary research can range from scientific journals to government databases and archived data accumulated by research institutes. University students might engage in secondary research to become familiar with an area of research. That might help spark an intriguing hypothesis for a research project of master's thesis.
For instance, movie reviews are usually considered secondary sources. But if your research project is about the effect movie reviews have on ticket sales, the movie reviews you study would become primary sources. Deciding whether to consider a journal article a primary or a secondary source can be complicated for at least two reasons.
A definition of. secondary source. In contrast, a secondary source of information is one that was created later by someone who did not experience first-hand or participate in the events or conditions you're researching. For the purposes of a historical research project, secondary sources are generally scholarly books and articles.
A primary source is firsthand testimony or direct evidence. In business research, this could be an interview in a news article, financial statements from an annual report, images of company logos, census data collected by the government, a new law that affects businesses, and data collected by an academic researcher for a new research project.
Types of secondary data are as follows: Published data: Published data refers to data that has been published in books, magazines, newspapers, and other print media. Examples include statistical reports, market research reports, and scholarly articles. Government data: Government data refers to data collected by government agencies and departments.
Secondary. A secondary source is one step removed from the primary original source. The author is reexamining, interpreting and forming conclusions based on the information that is conveyed in the primary source. Newspaper reporting on a scientific study. Review of a music CD or art show.
SECONDARY: TERTIARY: DEFINITION: An original object or document: the raw research or first-hand information. Comments on, interpretations of, or discussions about the primary or original source. Provide background information or compilations by synthesizing information gathered from other sources, usually secondary sources. TIMING
Elizabeth Rush: 'These Andes' Rush, an assistant professor of the practice in the Department of English, will use the IBES Catalyst Award to support the research and development of a polyvocal work of auto-fiction tentatively titled These Andes, which will focus on the art of bi-cultural family-making in a broken world.She will spend the 2024-2025 academic year based in her husband's hometown ...