Secondary sources describe, discuss, interpret, comment, analyze, evaluate, summarize and treat primary sources. A secondary source is usually one or more steps that are removed from the event or period and are subsequently written or produced. Secondary sources often lack the freshness and immediacy of the original material. Sometimes secondary sources collect, organize, and package information about primary sources to increase usability and speed of deployment, such as an online encyclopedia. Like primary sources, secondary materials may or may not be written (sound, images, films, etc.). Primary sources help students relate to past events in a personal way and promote a deeper understanding of history than a series of human events. Because primary sources are incomplete excerpts from history, each represents a mystery that students can explore more than by finding new evidence. When analyzing primary sources, students move from observations and hard facts to questions and conclusions about materials. Ask if this source matches other primary sources or what students already know.

Connecting young people to these unique, often deeply personal, documents and objects can give them a sense of what it was like to be alive in a bygone era. Helping students analyze primary sources can also spark curiosity and improve critical thinking and analytical skills. Primary sources come from people who had a direct connection to it. Event analysis or interpretation of data/documents is considered a secondary source. A primary source provides direct or first-hand evidence about an event, object, person, or work of art. Primary sources provide the original materials on which further research is based and allow students and other researchers to get as close as possible to what actually happened during a particular event or time period. Published materials can be considered primary resources if they date from the period discussed and were written or produced by someone who experienced the event firsthand. Often, primary sources reflect the individual point of view of a participant or observer. Primary sources may or may not be written (sound, images, artifacts, etc.). In scientific research, primary sources present original ideas, report discoveries, or share new information. Primary sources are the raw materials of history – original documents and objects created in the period studied.

They differ from secondary sources, reports that tell, analyze or interpret events, usually at a distance from time or place. Examining primary sources encourages students to grapple with contradictions and compare multiple sources that have different points of view and confront the complexities of the past. Primary sources are often incomplete and have little context. Students must use prior knowledge and work with multiple resources to find models and build knowledge. Sources of information are often classified as primary or secondary, depending on their originality. Click here vimeo.com/scclibrary/primary-and-secondary-sources/ to see the tutorial. Encourage students to speculate about each source, its creator, and its context. Encourage students to reflect on their personal reaction to Source. Questions about the Creator`s bias, purpose, and perspective can challenge students` assumptions. www.sccollege.edu/Library/Pages/Primary-Sources.aspx.