Research Essentials

Primary Sources provide direct or first-hand evidence about an event, object, person or work of art.

• Usually contemporary to the events and people described

• May be written and non-written

• Examples include:
• diaries
• works of art and literature
• speeches
• audio and video recordings
• photographs and posters
• newspaper ads and stories
• laws and legislative hearings
• plant and animal specimens
• original research studies

Secondary Sources lack the immediacy of a primary record.

• Produced sometime after an event happened

• Contain information that has been interpreted, analyzed or processed

• Often based on primary sources

• Examples:
• history textbooks
• interpretive journal articles
• book reviews 

1. Choose a relevant database or digital collection to search. 

2. Enter relevant keywords.

3. If possible, limit search by publication date and format (e.g., book reviews, photographs).
(Many databases have this option.)

4. Consult a librarian for recommended databases and resources.

Web Resources:

Example search terms for names, events, topics, or document types.

Document collections

• feminism AND history AND sources
• Roosevelt Franklin AND archives
• Vietnam AND foreign relations AND sources  

Speeches

• American AND speeches
• Douglass Frederick AND speeches
• statesmen AND speeches 

Interviews, personal accounts, and letters

• novelists AND correspondence
• rap musicians AND interviews
• working class women AND diaries 

Commercial and advertising art

• advertising AND catalogs
• advertising AND collectibles AND catalogs
• commercial art AND catalogs 

Film and documentaries

• biographical films AND Mahatma Gandhi
• documentary films AND race relations
• documentary films AND sports