PRIMARY SOURCES
Original, first-hand account of an event or time period
- Usually written or made during or close to the event or time period
- Original, creative writing or works of art
- Factual, not interpretive
Primary Source Examples
- Diaries, journals, and letters
- Newspaper and magazine articles (factual accounts)
- Government records (census, marriage, military)
- Photographs, maps, postcards, posters
- Recorded or transcribed speeches
- Interviews with participants or witnesses
- Interviews with people who lived during a particular time
- Songs, Plays, novels, stories
- Paintings, drawings, and sculptures
How can primary sources be used in research?
- Central point of a discussion
- To back up claims and criticisms
- Evidence for theories and research
- Historical perspective
