Video from University of Cincinnati Libraries. Creative Commons license verified.
What are Primary Sources?
What is a primary source?
A primary source is a document or other piece of evidence written or created during the time being studied, or by one of the persons or organizations directly involved with the event. Primary sources can be records and material that are original, direct, first-hand evidence of an event or object of study. They are recorded at the time of the event, like letters, government documents, photographs, artifacts, field data, and original creative works like art and fiction.
Some examples of primary sources can include:
Original Documents: Diaries, speeches, letters, minutes, interviews, news film footage, autobiographies, official records
Creative Works: Poetry, drama, novels, music, art, films
Relics or Artifacts: Jewelry, pottery, furniture, clothing, buildings, tools
Statistics: public opinion polls, census data, labor statistics
Note: Science disciplines may define "primary" and "secondary" sources differently. For example, in the sciences, original research is considered a primary source.
Why use primary sources?
When doing historical research, primary sources can give you a more personal view of the period or event you are researching. While secondary sources (sources created after the fact) can be useful for looking back at an event or time more critically through the lens of "what happened next," primary sources can tell you how the people at the time you are studying felt about the events happening around them.
Where to find primary sources
Depending on the discipline you are working in, primary sources can take on a variety of forms. For disciplines where new data is generated, the academic articles or reports that contain this data are considered primary sources. If you generate your own data, that is also a primary source.
For other disciplines, primary sources in newspapers, archives and special collections, or databases that specialize in a given topic might be more relevant. See the next tab (on the left) for locations to visit to find primary sources.
