Slave narratives preserved on microfilm.
is an example of a mircofilm colletion, housed at the Library of Congress, that has been digatized and is freely available.
The book by DoVeanna Fulton
American photographer Man Ray's photograph of a flat-iron called ” (The Gift)
Peggy Schrock's article called Ray Le cadeau: the unnatural woman and the de-sexing of modern man published in .
published in the
A review of the literature on college student drinking intervention which uses the article in an analysis entitled: drinking: A meta-analytic review, published in the journal
U.S. Government
An article which used samples of census data entitled: " published in the journal
Research versus Review
Scientific and other peer reviewed journals are excellent sources for primary research sources. However, not every article in those journals will be an article with original research. Some will include book reviews and other materials that are more obviously secondary sources . More difficult to differentiate from original research articles are review articles . Both types of articles will end with a list of References (or Works Cited). Review articles are often as lengthy or even longer that original research articles. What the authors of review articles are doing is analysing and evaluating current research or investigations related to a specific topic, field, or problem. They are not primary sources since they review previously published material. They can be helpful for identifying potentially good primary sources, but they aren't primary themselves. Primary research articles can be identified by a commonly used format. If an article contains the following elements, you can count on it being a primary research article. Look for sections entitled Methods (sometimes with variations, such as Materials and Methods), Results (usually followed with charts and statistical tables), and Discussion . You can also read the abstract to get a good sense of the kind of article that is being presented. If it is a review article instead of a research article, the abstract should make that clear. If there is no abstract at all, that in itself may be a sign that it is not a primary resource. Short research articles, such as those found in Science and similar scientific publications that mix news, editorials, and forums with research reports, may not include any of those elements. In those cases look at the words the authors use, phrases such as "we tested," "we used," and "in our study, we measured" will tell you that the article is reporting on original research.
Primary or Secondary: You Decide
The distinction between types of sources can get tricky, because a secondary source may also be a primary source. DoVeanna Fulton's book on slave narratives, for example, can be looked at as both a secondary and a primary source. The distinction may depend on how you are using the source and the nature of your research. If you are researching slave narratives, the book would be a secondary source because Fulton is commenting on the narratives. If your assignment is to write a book review of Speaking Power , the book becomes a primary source, because you are commenting, evaluating, and discussing DoVeanna Fulton's ideas.
You can't always determine if something is primary or secondary just because of the source it is found in. Articles in newspapers and magazines are usually considered secondary sources. However, if a story in a newspaper about the Iraq war is an eyewitness account, that would be a primary source. If the reporter, however, includes additional materials he or she has gathered through interviews or other investigations, the article would be a secondary source. An interview in the Rolling Stone with Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes would be a primary source, but a review of the latest Black Crowes album would be a secondary source. In contrast, scholarly journals include research articles with primary materials, but they also have review articles that are not, or in some disciplines include articles where scholars are looking at primary source materials and coming to new conclusions.
For your thinking and not just to confuse you even further, some experts include tertiary sources as an additional distinction to make. These are sources that compile or, especially, digest other sources. Some reference materials and textbooks are considered tertiary sources when their chief purpose is to list or briefly summarize or, from an even further removed distance, repackage ideas. This is the reason that you may be advised not to include an encyclopedia article in a final bibliography.
The above material was adapted from the excellent explanation written by John Henderson found on Ithaca College's library website http://www.ithacalibrary.com/sp/subjects/primary and is used with permission.
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Primary research is any type of research that you collect yourself. Examples include surveys, interviews, observations, and ethnographic research. A good researcher knows how to use both primary and secondary sources in their writing and to integrate them in a cohesive fashion.
Conducting primary research is a useful skill to acquire as it can greatly supplement your research in secondary sources, such as journals, magazines, or books. You can also use it as the focus of your writing project. Primary research is an excellent skill to learn as it can be useful in a variety of settings including business, personal, and academic.
With some careful planning, primary research can be done by anyone, even students new to writing at the university level. The information provided on this page will help you get started.
When you are working on a local problem that may not have been addressed before and little research is there to back it up.
When you are working on writing about a specific group of people or a specific person.
When you are working on a topic that is relatively new or original and few publications exist on the subject.
You can also use primary research to confirm or dispute national results with local trends.
Many types of primary research exist. This guide is designed to provide you with an overview of primary research that is often done in writing classes.
Interviews: Interviews are one-on-one or small group question and answer sessions. Interviews will provide a lot of information from a small number of people and are useful when you want to get an expert or knowledgeable opinion on a subject.
Surveys: Surveys are a form of questioning that is more rigid than interviews and that involve larger groups of people. Surveys will provide a limited amount of information from a large group of people and are useful when you want to learn what a larger population thinks.
Observations: Observations involve taking organized notes about occurrences in the world. Observations provide you insight about specific people, events, or locales and are useful when you want to learn more about an event without the biased viewpoint of an interview.
Analysis: Analysis involves collecting data and organizing it in some fashion based on criteria you develop. They are useful when you want to find some trend or pattern. A type of analysis would be to record commercials on three major television networks and analyze gender roles.
Consider the following questions when beginning to think about conducting primary research:
Educator Resources
Finding primary sources.
Primary Sources from DocsTeach Thousands of online primary source documents from the National Archives to bring the past to life as classroom teaching tools.
National Archives Catalog Find online primary source materials for classroom & student projects from the National Archive's online catalog (OPA).
Beginning Research Activities Student activities designed to help you navigate the National Archives resources and web site.
Online Exhibits Exhibits featuring online documents, photos and primary sources from the National Archives
Our Documents 100 Milestone Documents of American History
Getting Started with Research How to start researching records at the National Archives. Finding your topic, identifying records, planning a visit, and more.
Online Research Tools & Aids Introduction to catalogs, databases, and other online resources.
Citing Primary Sources Citing Records in the National Archives of the United States
Primary and secondary sources, primary sources.
Primary sources are the raw materials of history — original documents and objects which were created at the time under study. Examples of primary sources are letters, manuscripts, diaries, journals, newspapers, speeches, interviews, memoirs, documents from government agencies, photographs, audio and video recordings, research data, objects, and artifacts. A primary source provides direct or firsthand evidence about an event, object, or person. Primary sources also include historical and legal documents, eyewitness accounts, results of experiments, statistical data, pieces of creative writing, and fieldwork. Internet communications via email, blogs, listservs, and newsgroups are also primary sources.
Examples of primary source database collections are
Secondary sources are works that interpret or analyze historical events or phenomena. They are accounts or interpretations of events created by someone without firsthand experience. One step removed from the subject, secondary sources are the result of someone else's contemplation and synthesis of primary sources. Examples of secondary sources are scholarly or popular books and journal articles, histories, criticisms, reviews, commentaries, encyclopedias, and textbooks. Secondary sources describe, discuss, interpret, comment upon, analyze, evaluate, summarize, and process primary sources.
What are some examples of primary sources.
Common examples of primary sources include interview transcripts , photographs, novels, paintings, films, historical documents, and official statistics.
Anything you directly analyze or use as first-hand evidence can be a primary source, including qualitative or quantitative data that you collected yourself.
A scientific citation style is a system of source citation that is used in scientific disciplines. Some commonly used scientific citation styles are:
There are many different citation styles used across different academic disciplines, but they fall into three basic approaches to citation:
A source annotation in an annotated bibliography fulfills a similar purpose to an abstract : they’re both intended to summarize the approach and key points of a source.
However, an annotation may also evaluate the source , discussing the validity and effectiveness of its arguments. Even if your annotation is purely descriptive , you may have a different perspective on the source from the author and highlight different key points.
You should never just copy text from the abstract for your annotation, as doing so constitutes plagiarism .
Most academics agree that you shouldn’t cite Wikipedia as a source in your academic writing , and universities often have rules against doing so.
This is partly because of concerns about its reliability, and partly because it’s a tertiary source. Tertiary sources are things like encyclopedias and databases that collect information from other sources rather than presenting their own evidence or analysis. Usually, only primary and secondary sources are cited in academic papers.
A Wikipedia citation usually includes the title of the article, “Wikipedia” and/or “Wikimedia Foundation,” the date the article was last updated, and the URL.
In APA Style , you’ll give the URL of the current revision of the article so that you’re sure the reader accesses the same version as you.
There’s some disagreement about whether Wikipedia can be considered a reliable source . Because it can be edited by anyone, many people argue that it’s easy for misleading information to be added to an article without the reader knowing.
Others argue that because Wikipedia articles cite their sources , and because they are worked on by so many editors, misinformation is generally removed quickly.
However, most universities state that you shouldn’t cite Wikipedia in your writing.
Hanging indents are used in reference lists in various citation styles to allow the reader to easily distinguish between entries.
You should apply a hanging indent to your reference entries in APA , MLA , and Chicago style.
A hanging indent is used to indent all lines of a paragraph except the first.
When you create a hanging indent, the first line of the paragraph starts at the border. Each subsequent line is indented 0.5 inches (1.27 cm).
APA and MLA style both use parenthetical in-text citations to cite sources and include a full list of references at the end, but they differ in other ways:
A parenthetical citation in Chicago author-date style includes the author’s last name, the publication date, and, if applicable, the relevant page number or page range in parentheses . Include a comma after the year, but not after the author’s name.
For example: (Swan 2003, 6)
To automatically generate accurate Chicago references, you can use Scribbr’s free Chicago reference generator .
APA Style distinguishes between parenthetical and narrative citations.
In parenthetical citations , you include all relevant source information in parentheses at the end of the sentence or clause: “Parts of the human body reflect the principles of tensegrity (Levin, 2002).”
In narrative citations , you include the author’s name in the text itself, followed by the publication date in parentheses: “Levin (2002) argues that parts of the human body reflect the principles of tensegrity.”
In a parenthetical citation in MLA style , include the author’s last name and the relevant page number or range in parentheses .
For example: (Eliot 21)
A parenthetical citation gives credit in parentheses to a source that you’re quoting or paraphrasing . It provides relevant information such as the author’s name, the publication date, and the page number(s) cited.
How you use parenthetical citations will depend on your chosen citation style . It will also depend on the type of source you are citing and the number of authors.
APA does not permit the use of ibid. This is because APA in-text citations are parenthetical and there’s no need to shorten them further.
Ibid. may be used in Chicago footnotes or endnotes .
Write “Ibid.” alone when you are citing the same page number and source as the previous citation.
When you are citing the same source, but a different page number, use ibid. followed by a comma and the relevant page number(s). For example:
Only use ibid . if you are directing the reader to a previous full citation of a source .
Ibid. only refers to the previous citation. Therefore, you should only use ibid. directly after a citation that you want to repeat.
Ibid. is an abbreviation of the Latin “ibidem,” meaning “in the same place.” Ibid. is used in citations to direct the reader to the previous source.
Signal phrases can be used in various ways and can be placed at the beginning, middle, or end of a sentence.
To use signal phrases effectively, include:
Different citation styles require you to use specific verb tenses when using signal phrases.
Signal phrases allow you to give credit for an idea or quote to its author or originator. This helps you to:
A signal phrase is a group of words that ascribes a quote or idea to an outside source.
Signal phrases distinguish the cited idea or argument from your own writing and introduce important information including the source of the material that you are quoting , paraphrasing , or summarizing . For example:
“ Cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker (1994) insists that humans possess an innate faculty for comprehending grammar.”
If you’re quoting from a text that paraphrases or summarizes other sources and cites them in parentheses , APA and Chicago both recommend retaining the citations as part of the quote. However, MLA recommends omitting citations within a quote:
Footnote or endnote numbers that appear within quoted text should be omitted in all styles.
If you want to cite an indirect source (one you’ve only seen quoted in another source), either locate the original source or use the phrase “as cited in” in your citation.
In scientific subjects, the information itself is more important than how it was expressed, so quoting should generally be kept to a minimum. In the arts and humanities, however, well-chosen quotes are often essential to a good paper.
In social sciences, it varies. If your research is mainly quantitative , you won’t include many quotes, but if it’s more qualitative , you may need to quote from the data you collected .
As a general guideline, quotes should take up no more than 5–10% of your paper. If in doubt, check with your instructor or supervisor how much quoting is appropriate in your field.
To present information from other sources in academic writing , it’s best to paraphrase in most cases. This shows that you’ve understood the ideas you’re discussing and incorporates them into your text smoothly.
It’s appropriate to quote when:
To paraphrase effectively, don’t just take the original sentence and swap out some of the words for synonyms. Instead, try:
The main point is to ensure you don’t just copy the structure of the original text, but instead reformulate the idea in your own words.
“ Et al. ” is an abbreviation of the Latin term “et alia,” which means “and others.” It’s used in source citations to save space when there are too many authors to name them all.
Guidelines for using “et al.” differ depending on the citation style you’re following:
To insert endnotes in Microsoft Word, follow the steps below:
If you need to change the type of notes used in a Word document from footnotes to endnotes , or the other way around, follow these steps:
To insert a footnote automatically in a Word document:
Footnotes are notes indicated in your text with numbers and placed at the bottom of the page. They’re used to provide:
Be sparing in your use of footnotes (other than citation footnotes), and consider whether the information you’re adding is relevant for the reader.
Footnotes appear at the bottom of the page they refer to. This is convenient for the reader but may cause your text to look cluttered if there are a lot of footnotes.
Endnotes appear all together at the end of the whole text. This may be less convenient for the reader but reduces clutter.
Both footnotes and endnotes are used in the same way: to cite sources or add extra information. You should usually choose one or the other to use in your text, not both.
An in-text citation is an acknowledgement you include in your text whenever you quote or paraphrase a source. It usually gives the author’s last name, the year of publication, and the page number of the relevant text. In-text citations allow the reader to look up the full source information in your reference list and see your sources for themselves.
If you are reusing content or data you used in a previous assignment, make sure to cite yourself. You can cite yourself just as you would cite any other source: simply follow the directions for that source type in the citation style you are using.
Keep in mind that reusing your previous work can be considered self-plagiarism , so make sure you ask your professor or consult your university’s handbook before doing so.
A credible source should pass the CRAAP test and follow these guidelines:
Peer review is a process of evaluating submissions to an academic journal. Utilizing rigorous criteria, a panel of reviewers in the same subject area decide whether to accept each submission for publication. For this reason, academic journals are often considered among the most credible sources you can use in a research project– provided that the journal itself is trustworthy and well-regarded.
Academic dishonesty can be intentional or unintentional, ranging from something as simple as claiming to have read something you didn’t to copying your neighbor’s answers on an exam.
You can commit academic dishonesty with the best of intentions, such as helping a friend cheat on a paper. Severe academic dishonesty can include buying a pre-written essay or the answers to a multiple-choice test, or falsifying a medical emergency to avoid taking a final exam.
Academic dishonesty refers to deceitful or misleading behavior in an academic setting. Academic dishonesty can occur intentionally or unintentionally, and varies in severity.
It can encompass paying for a pre-written essay, cheating on an exam, or committing plagiarism . It can also include helping others cheat, copying a friend’s homework answers, or even pretending to be sick to miss an exam.
Academic dishonesty doesn’t just occur in a classroom setting, but also in research and other academic-adjacent fields.
To apply a hanging indent to your reference list or Works Cited list in Word or Google Docs, follow the steps below.
Microsoft Word:
Google Docs:
When the hanging indent is applied, for each reference, every line except the first is indented. This helps the reader see where one entry ends and the next begins.
For a published interview (whether in video , audio, or print form ), you should always include a citation , just as you would for any other source.
For an interview you conducted yourself , formally or informally, you often don’t need a citation and can just refer to it in the text or in a footnote , since the reader won’t be able to look them up anyway. MLA , however, still recommends including citations for your own interviews.
The main elements included in a newspaper interview citation across APA , MLA , and Chicago style are the names of the interviewer and interviewee, the interview title, the publication date, the name of the newspaper, and a URL (for online sources).
The information is presented differently in different citation styles. One key difference is that APA advises listing the interviewer in the author position, while MLA and Chicago advise listing the interviewee first.
The elements included in a newspaper article citation across APA , MLA , and Chicago style are the author name, the article title, the publication date, the newspaper name, and the URL if the article was accessed online .
In APA and MLA, the page numbers of the article appear in place of the URL if the article was accessed in print. No page numbers are used in Chicago newspaper citations.
Untitled sources (e.g. some images ) are usually cited using a short descriptive text in place of the title. In APA Style , this description appears in brackets: [Chair of stained oak]. In MLA and Chicago styles, no brackets are used: Chair of stained oak.
For social media posts, which are usually untitled, quote the initial words of the post in place of the title: the first 160 characters in Chicago , or the first 20 words in APA . E.g. Biden, J. [@JoeBiden]. “The American Rescue Plan means a $7,000 check for a single mom of four. It means more support to safely.”
MLA recommends quoting the full post for something short like a tweet, and just describing the post if it’s longer.
The main elements included in image citations across APA , MLA , and Chicago style are the name of the image’s creator, the image title, the year (or more precise date) of publication, and details of the container in which the image was found (e.g. a museum, book , website ).
In APA and Chicago style, it’s standard to also include a description of the image’s format (e.g. “Photograph” or “Oil on canvas”). This sort of information may be included in MLA too, but is not mandatory.
The main elements included in a lecture citation across APA , MLA , and Chicago style are the name of the speaker, the lecture title, the date it took place, the course or event it was part of, and the institution it took place at.
For transcripts or recordings of lectures/speeches, other details like the URL, the name of the book or website , and the length of the recording may be included instead of information about the event and institution.
The main elements included in a YouTube video citation across APA , MLA , and Chicago style are the name of the author/uploader, the title of the video, the publication date, and the URL.
The format in which this information appears is different for each style.
All styles also recommend using timestamps as a locator in the in-text citation or Chicago footnote .
Each annotation in an annotated bibliography is usually between 50 and 200 words long. Longer annotations may be divided into paragraphs .
The content of the annotation varies according to your assignment. An annotation can be descriptive, meaning it just describes the source objectively; evaluative, meaning it assesses its usefulness; or reflective, meaning it explains how the source will be used in your own research .
Any credible sources on your topic can be included in an annotated bibliography . The exact sources you cover will vary depending on the assignment, but you should usually focus on collecting journal articles and scholarly books . When in doubt, utilize the CRAAP test !
An annotated bibliography is an assignment where you collect sources on a specific topic and write an annotation for each source. An annotation is a short text that describes and sometimes evaluates the source.
The elements included in journal article citations across APA , MLA , and Chicago style are the name(s) of the author(s), the title of the article, the year of publication, the name of the journal, the volume and issue numbers, the page range of the article, and, when accessed online, the DOI or URL.
In MLA and Chicago style, you also include the specific month or season of publication alongside the year, when this information is available.
In APA , MLA , and Chicago style citations for sources that don’t list a specific author (e.g. many websites ), you can usually list the organization responsible for the source as the author.
If the organization is the same as the website or publisher, you shouldn’t repeat it twice in your reference:
If there’s no appropriate organization to list as author, you will usually have to begin the citation and reference entry with the title of the source instead.
The main elements included in website citations across APA , MLA , and Chicago style are the author, the date of publication, the page title, the website name, and the URL. The information is presented differently in each style.
When you want to cite a specific passage in a source without page numbers (e.g. an e-book or website ), all the main citation styles recommend using an alternate locator in your in-text citation . You might use a heading or chapter number, e.g. (Smith, 2016, ch. 1)
In APA Style , you can count the paragraph numbers in a text to identify a location by paragraph number. MLA and Chicago recommend that you only use paragraph numbers if they’re explicitly marked in the text.
For audiovisual sources (e.g. videos ), all styles recommend using a timestamp to show a specific point in the video when relevant.
The abbreviation “ et al. ” (Latin for “and others”) is used to shorten citations of sources with multiple authors.
“Et al.” is used in APA in-text citations of sources with 3+ authors, e.g. (Smith et al., 2019). It is not used in APA reference entries .
Use “et al.” for 3+ authors in MLA in-text citations and Works Cited entries.
Use “et al.” for 4+ authors in a Chicago in-text citation , and for 10+ authors in a Chicago bibliography entry.
Check if your university or course guidelines specify which citation style to use. If the choice is left up to you, consider which style is most commonly used in your field.
Other more specialized styles exist for certain fields, such as Bluebook and OSCOLA for law.
The most important thing is to choose one style and use it consistently throughout your text.
The main elements included in all book citations across APA , MLA , and Chicago style are the author, the title, the year of publication, and the name of the publisher. A page number is also included in in-text citations to highlight the specific passage cited.
In Chicago style and in the 6th edition of APA Style , the location of the publisher is also included, e.g. London: Penguin.
A block quote is a long quote formatted as a separate “block” of text. Instead of using quotation marks , you place the quote on a new line, and indent the entire quote to mark it apart from your own words.
The rules for when to apply block quote formatting depend on the citation style:
In academic writing , there are three main situations where quoting is the best choice:
Don’t overuse quotes; your own voice should be dominant. If you just want to provide information from a source, it’s usually better to paraphrase or summarize .
Every time you quote a source , you must include a correctly formatted in-text citation . This looks slightly different depending on the citation style .
For example, a direct quote in APA is cited like this: “This is a quote” (Streefkerk, 2020, p. 5).
Every in-text citation should also correspond to a full reference at the end of your paper.
A quote is an exact copy of someone else’s words, usually enclosed in quotation marks and credited to the original author or speaker.
The DOI is usually clearly visible when you open a journal article on an academic database. It is often listed near the publication date, and includes “doi.org” or “DOI:”. If the database has a “cite this article” button, this should also produce a citation with the DOI included.
If you can’t find the DOI, you can search on Crossref using information like the author, the article title, and the journal name.
A DOI is a unique identifier for a digital document. DOIs are important in academic citation because they are more permanent than URLs, ensuring that your reader can reliably locate the source.
Journal articles and ebooks can often be found on multiple different websites and databases. The URL of the page where an article is hosted can be changed or removed over time, but a DOI is linked to the specific document and never changes.
When a book’s chapters are written by different authors, you should cite the specific chapter you are referring to.
When all the chapters are written by the same author (or group of authors), you should usually cite the entire book, but some styles include exceptions to this.
Articles in newspapers and magazines can be primary or secondary depending on the focus of your research.
In historical studies, old articles are used as primary sources that give direct evidence about the time period. In social and communication studies, articles are used as primary sources to analyze language and social relations (for example, by conducting content analysis or discourse analysis ).
If you are not analyzing the article itself, but only using it for background information or facts about your topic, then the article is a secondary source.
A fictional movie is usually a primary source. A documentary can be either primary or secondary depending on the context.
If you are directly analyzing some aspect of the movie itself – for example, the cinematography, narrative techniques, or social context – the movie is a primary source.
If you use the movie for background information or analysis about your topic – for example, to learn about a historical event or a scientific discovery – the movie is a secondary source.
Whether it’s primary or secondary, always properly cite the movie in the citation style you are using. Learn how to create an MLA movie citation or an APA movie citation .
To determine if a source is primary or secondary, ask yourself:
Some types of source are nearly always primary: works of art and literature, raw statistical data, official documents and records, and personal communications (e.g. letters, interviews ). If you use one of these in your research, it is probably a primary source.
Primary sources are often considered the most credible in terms of providing evidence for your argument, as they give you direct evidence of what you are researching. However, it’s up to you to ensure the information they provide is reliable and accurate.
Always make sure to properly cite your sources to avoid plagiarism .
Common examples of secondary sources include academic books, journal articles , reviews, essays , and textbooks.
Anything that summarizes, evaluates or interprets primary sources can be a secondary source. If a source gives you an overview of background information or presents another researcher’s ideas on your topic, it is probably a secondary source.
The Scribbr Citation Generator is developed using the open-source Citation Style Language (CSL) project and Frank Bennett’s citeproc-js . It’s the same technology used by dozens of other popular citation tools, including Mendeley and Zotero.
You can find all the citation styles and locales used in the Scribbr Citation Generator in our publicly accessible repository on Github .
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Primary resources contain first-hand information, meaning that you are reading the author’s own account on a specific topic or event that s/he participated in. Examples of primary resources include scholarly research articles, books, and diaries. Primary sources such as research articles often do not explain terminology and theoretical principles in detail. Thus, readers of primary scholarly research should have foundational knowledge of the subject area. Use primary resources to obtain a first-hand account to an actual event and identify original research done in a field. For many of your papers, use of primary resources will be a requirement.
Examples of a primary source are:
How to locate primary research in NU Library:
Secondary sources describe, summarize, or discuss information or details originally presented in another source; meaning the author, in most cases, did not participate in the event. This type of source is written for a broad audience and will include definitions of discipline specific terms, history relating to the topic, significant theories and principles, and summaries of major studies/events as related to the topic. Use secondary sources to obtain an overview of a topic and/or identify primary resources. Refrain from including such resources in an annotated bibliography for doctoral level work unless there is a good reason.
Examples of a secondary source are:
Locate secondary resources in NU Library within the following databases:
This workshop introduces to the beginning stages of the research process, focusing on identifying different types of information, as well as gathering background information through electronic books.
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Primary Resources are documents, letters, accounts, descriptions, photographs, or drawings of an individual, organizations, or set of records that were created temporarily to the events that these resources described. These records tend to be unique, specialized, or rare objects, where few copies tend to exist in the world. These records offer unique insight on how events happen, insight on individuals, as well as our understanding of social norms.
As a result, examining primary resources rather than historical treaties, books, and analysis can offer new insight on historical events. In addition, some of the records or information about events were not available to historians at the time when they wrote a historical text. For example, only in 2020 the sound Recordings of Richard Nixon’s Meeting/Telephone Conversation from 1971 to 1973 had been declassified and available to anyone to examine. (For a full list of the most recent declassified document list: https://www.archives.gov/declassification/ndc ).
Most of these primary resources are located inside archives or special collections. Special Collections and archives exist to create access to these primary resources. However, these resources are organized differently from libraries in types of materials that they hold, how to access, and the process on how to search for relevant materials to your research. This document is a primer on strategies and methods on how to find and recall materials that are relevant to your topic.
Primary Sources are records created or made by individuals who were there at an event in the past. Compared to secondary sources, which are records made after the event has happened and have the benefit of hindsight when writing about a past event. The ability to examine original records allows us to clarify our understanding of past events.
Whereas secondary sources potentially have bias and unconscious views infuse how they talk about an given event. Secondary Sources may discount the contribution made by individuals or groups of people. It is hard to know if this is happening in your source unless you can compare primary sources to secondary sources.
Oral Histories | Letters |
Books |
Using the Source
What is considered a primary source can vary depending on how you are using the source.
For instance, if you were analyzing how authors of popular magazine articles discussed the Boeing 737 MAX crashes, the magazine articles would serve as your primary sources. However, if you cited from a magazine article for your research paper on airline safety , the magazine would serve as a secondary source.
Different Disciplines
Disciplines may be more or less likely to work with specific types of primary sources. See this chart for examples. If you unsure what is considered a primary source in your discipline, consult with your faculty instructor.
creative works, diaries, interviews, news footage, maps | results of experiments, research and clinical trials | census data, statistics, results of experiments on human behavior | |
books, journal articles, textbooks | books, journal articles, textbooks | books, journal articles, textbooks | |
reference materials, databases | reference materials, databases | reference materials, databases |
General guidelines.
By carefully documenting your sources, you acknowledge intellectual debts and provide readers with information about the materials you consulted during your research. Methods for citing primary sources (e.g., archival and manuscript collections) differ from those for published works. The discipline in which you are writing and class requirements will determine the citation system you should use.
Typical elements of a citation include: document title, document date, location information, collection title, collection number, and repository name. For primary sources published online, a citation would include: the author, document title or a description, document date, title of the website, reference URL, and date accessed. Elements of a citation are usually listed from the most specific to the most general.
The Finding Aid is the best place to find the information you need to cite a primary source. Below are examples from a finding aid that show where you can locate this information.
Take a look at the John H Alexander finding aid . In the top left corner of the record there is a citation button that will generate a citation for the collection you are viewing. You may need to slightly reformat this automatically generate citation, based upon the style guide your project requires.
Repository Name: In this findi ng ai d, th is information (the name of the collecting institution) is simply listed under "Repository".
Collection Number: Sometimes called the acquisition number, this is located just below title and author/creator in this finding aid.
Document Title: The Finding Aid only lists the names of folders, not the individual names of every item contained within each folder. If the document you want to cite has a title on it, like the name of a pamphlet, use that as the title in your citation. If it does not, give it a title that accurately describes the item. For example, if I were citing a letter in folder 1, I could title it, [Letter to J.J. Albert dated May 5, 1831]. If you do this, put the title in brackets to indicate that you created the title.
Document Date: Look at the title of the Series, or the folder title. Sometimes, as in the example above, the date is a range. To find the specific date, look at the specific document you wish to cite.
Location Information: Note the series, sub-series, or folder number the document is located in. In this example, it is "John H. Alexander Papers, Series 1: Correspondence, 1831-1848, Folder 1)
Preferred Citation : In this case, SCUA has provided a preferred citation format for you! It also provided a unique identifier to link to the finding aid, which should be included in your citation.
Once you have gathered this information, refer to the style handbook for the citation format you will be using (MLA, Chicago, APA). Citation format will differ not only by the style you use, but the format of the record itself, i.e. whether it is a letter, pamphlet, book, government document, etc.
The Library of Congress gives examples of how to cite different types of primary sources in these three styles. And if in doubt, you can always ask a librarian how best to cite the document you need.
Below is the letter we used as an example from the John H. Alexander collection cited in MLA, Chicago, and APA.
Alexander, John H. [Letter to J.J. Albert dated May 5, 1831]. 1831. "John H. Alexander Papers". Special Collections, University of Maryland Libraries, College Park. http://hdl.handle.net/1903.1/1747
Alexander, John H . (1831). [Letter to J.J. Albert dated May 5, 1831] . "John H. Alexander Papers". Special Collections, University of Maryland Libraries, College Park, MD . http://hdl.handle.net/1903.1/1747
John H. Alexander to J.J. Albert, 5 May 1831, Box 1, Folder 1, John H. Alexander Papers, Special John M. Sell to William Sell, 3 November 1861, Box 1, Folder 3, Special Collections, University of Maryland Libraries, College Park. http://hdl.handle.net/1903.1/1747
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Question Can a blood test based on the ratio of plasma phosphorylated tau 217 (p-tau217) relative to non–p-tau217 (expressed as percentage of p-tau217) combined with the amyloid-β 42 and amyloid-β 40 plasma ratio (the amyloid probability score 2 [APS2]) accurately identify Alzheimer disease in primary care and secondary care when prospectively applying predefined biomarker cutoff values?
Findings There were 1213 patients undergoing cognitive evaluation in primary or secondary care. The APS2 had high diagnostic accuracy (range, 88%-92%) for detecting Alzheimer disease pathology in both primary and secondary care. Dementia specialists identified clinical Alzheimer disease with a diagnostic accuracy of 73% vs 91% using the APS2 and primary care physicians had a diagnostic accuracy of 61% vs 91% using the APS2.
Meaning This blood test (the APS2) had high diagnostic accuracy for identifying Alzheimer disease among individuals with cognitive symptoms in primary and secondary care, providing superior performance compared with the diagnostic accuracy after standard clinical evaluation (not using Alzheimer disease biomarkers).
Importance An accurate blood test for Alzheimer disease (AD) could streamline the diagnostic workup and treatment of AD.
Objective To prospectively evaluate a clinically available AD blood test in primary care and secondary care using predefined biomarker cutoff values.
Design, Setting, and Participants There were 1213 patients undergoing clinical evaluation due to cognitive symptoms who were examined between February 2020 and January 2024 in Sweden. The biomarker cutoff values had been established in an independent cohort and were applied to a primary care cohort (n = 307) and a secondary care cohort (n = 300); 1 plasma sample per patient was analyzed as part of a single batch for each cohort. The blood test was then evaluated prospectively in the primary care cohort (n = 208) and in the secondary care cohort (n = 398); 1 plasma sample per patient was sent for analysis within 2 weeks of collection.
Exposure Blood tests based on plasma analyses by mass spectrometry to determine the ratio of plasma phosphorylated tau 217 (p-tau217) to non–p-tau217 (expressed as percentage of p-tau217) alone and when combined with the amyloid-β 42 and amyloid-β 40 (Aβ42:Aβ40) plasma ratio (the amyloid probability score 2 [APS2]).
Main Outcomes and Measures The primary outcome was AD pathology (determined by abnormal cerebrospinal fluid Aβ42:Aβ40 ratio and p-tau217). The secondary outcome was clinical AD. The positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), diagnostic accuracy, and area under the curve (AUC) values were calculated.
Results The mean age was 74.2 years (SD, 8.3 years), 48% were women, 23% had subjective cognitive decline, 44% had mild cognitive impairment, and 33% had dementia. In both the primary care and secondary care assessments, 50% of patients had AD pathology. When the plasma samples were analyzed in a single batch in the primary care cohort, the AUC was 0.97 (95% CI, 0.95-0.99) when the APS2 was used, the PPV was 91% (95% CI, 87%-96%), and the NPV was 92% (95% CI, 87%-96%); in the secondary care cohort, the AUC was 0.96 (95% CI, 0.94-0.98) when the APS2 was used, the PPV was 88% (95% CI, 83%-93%), and the NPV was 87% (95% CI, 82%-93%). When the plasma samples were analyzed prospectively (biweekly) in the primary care cohort, the AUC was 0.96 (95% CI, 0.94-0.98) when the APS2 was used, the PPV was 88% (95% CI, 81%-94%), and the NPV was 90% (95% CI, 84%-96%); in the secondary care cohort, the AUC was 0.97 (95% CI, 0.95-0.98) when the APS2 was used, the PPV was 91% (95% CI, 87%-95%), and the NPV was 91% (95% CI, 87%-95%). The diagnostic accuracy was high in the 4 cohorts (range, 88%-92%). Primary care physicians had a diagnostic accuracy of 61% (95% CI, 53%-69%) for identifying clinical AD after clinical examination, cognitive testing, and a computed tomographic scan vs 91% (95% CI, 86%-96%) using the APS2. Dementia specialists had a diagnostic accuracy of 73% (95% CI, 68%-79%) vs 91% (95% CI, 88%-95%) using the APS2. In the overall population, the diagnostic accuracy using the APS2 (90% [95% CI, 88%-92%]) was not different from the diagnostic accuracy using the percentage of p-tau217 alone (90% [95% CI, 88%-91%]).
Conclusions and Relevance The APS2 and percentage of p-tau217 alone had high diagnostic accuracy for identifying AD among individuals with cognitive symptoms in primary and secondary care using predefined cutoff values. Future studies should evaluate how the use of blood tests for these biomarkers influences clinical care.
Palmqvist S , Tideman P , Mattsson-Carlgren N, et al. Blood Biomarkers to Detect Alzheimer Disease in Primary Care and Secondary Care. JAMA. Published online July 28, 2024. doi:10.1001/jama.2024.13855
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Graduate students in the School of Education turned to primary source documents and artifacts at Syracuse University Libraries ’ Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) to discover enlightening—and sometimes startling—information and examples of the ways that people with intellectual disability have been treated over the past almost 180 years in the U.S, particularly in New York State.
The students were part of the Significant Disabilities: Shifts in Paradigms and Practices (SPE 644) course taught by Julia M. White , associate professor in the School of Education, who was the Libraries’ 2023-24 Special Collections Research Center faculty fellow .
The students presented their findings at a public showcase in spring 2024 and their work is available online as a digital exhibition. “ From Institutionalization to Inclusion: Disability Activism in the Syracuse University Libraries’ Special Collections ” explores disability as a cultural construction by examining historical developments in special and inclusive education, as well as the development and later closures of institutions and asylums for individuals with intellectual disabilities. The archives—and exhibit—show details of how Americans in past decades regarded disability, including information about eugenics (the selective breeding of humans) as the basis for institutionalization; letters exchanged between institutions and individuals about certain individuals and situations; and striking images collected by those who advocated for disabled individuals and disability rights.
Graduate students held a public showcase last spring describing their research and capping their course, “Significant Disabilities: Shifts in Paradigms and Practices.” (Photo by Martin Walls)
White says the primary source materials provided the students with particularly rich and informative records, in part due to Syracuse University’s long history as a vanguard for disabled individuals and a leader in inclusive education and disability rights. Today, the Center on Disability and Inclusion continues the legacy of the Center on Human Policy , founded in 1971 by Dean Burton Blatt, a groundbreaking disability rights scholar. Blatt and other individuals at the University were involved in disability rights lawsuits during the 1970s and developed language surrounding the creation of special education law. All of that history—and dozens of associated original documents and artifacts—are preserved for viewing and research.
Julia White
“We at Syracuse have really reconceptualized how to think about people with disabilities, especially intellectual disabilities. The University is known for its forefront advocacy on inclusive education and all that work is evident in the archives,” White says. “There are so many things to investigate and so many lessons we can get from this; it’s a gold mine waiting to be explored.”
A former special education teacher, White now researches national and international special education policy and inclusive education as a human right. But she “was always interested in how law and policies could be applied to different people under different circumstances. I noticed how some students could be placed in segregated or self-contained classrooms while others were in resource rooms and were more integrated. Very little was different about their learning profiles other than their race or socioeconomic profile. I wondered why, if some students had more significant disabilities, they were held to very few or no academic standards.”
Based on her experience as both a doctoral student and a teacher, White says, “I had a pretty strong sense of the racial and economic injustice inherent in U.S. society and always considered inclusive education a civil rights issue.” Yet it was her experience in a Fulbright teacher exchange program in the Slovak Republic and later work for the Landmine Survivors Network for the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, that cemented her perspective of inclusive education as a broader human rights issue.
Cover of “ New York State Custodial Asylum for Feeble-Minded Women Record of Inmates .” (Photo: Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries)
The time she spent examining materials and working with staff at SCRC “was a fantastic process all around,” White says. “Sometimes, an artifact had very little to do with what I was interested in—Syracuse University’s role in deinstitutionalization, inclusive education and disability activism—but there were many ‘aha’ moments that sent me down rabbit holes and that was a lot of fun. The discovery of so many amazing contributions of folks affiliated with the University was the best part of this fellowship. And the staff were phenomenal; they had great insights. I came into this knowing little about archival work and hadn’t done any myself, but they were so gracious and so helpful.”
SCRC staff were also readily available to the graduate students , discussing their readings, helping them categorize materials and offering advice on how to formulate the exhibit, White says. Jana Rosinski , instruction and education librarian, was involved with the class almost every time they met. Patrick Williams , humanities librarian and digital and open scholarship lead, helped them create the digital exhibit.
The experience of using primary source documents and finding so much relevant information to work with was gratifying for the students, two of the class members say.
Sierra Eastman ’20, G’25 teaches math to seventh- and eighth-grade students in the Syracuse City School District. Her review of archive materials helped her gain a better understanding of the perspectives of people with disabilities, Eastman says. “I have students with various disabilities in my classes and I wanted to get an understanding of them that I didn’t have as an able-bodied person. We tried to put ourselves in their shoes and see how we could make sense of how this [institutionalism] happened, how they were personally impacted and the larger societal reasons that it occurred.”
A “Fight Handicapism” poster provides a historic perspective about the word’s definition. (Photo: Syracuse University Poster Collection , Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries)
Kionna Morrison G’24 is an algebraic reasoning teacher in the Syracuse City School District who completes the inclusive special education (grades 7-12) program this month as a Project IMPRESS scholar. She wanted to understand the experiences that people of color, especially Black children, had in institutions for the intellectually disabled. “I could see how disability, institutionalization and racism can be traced to the pre-Civil War and Reconstruction eras. I gained insight on how certain bodies have been consistently institutionalized. Now, I want to continue to learn about the intersectionality between race and special education and how people from multiple marginalized communities navigate their experiences with disability,” she says.
White believes there has been a significant change in the public’s views on disability, and particularly on intellectual disability, in recent years. “The U.S. has much farther to go in terms of changing society’s perception of disability, intellectual disability and breaking down barriers for any group of marginalized people,” she says. “We need to recognize how far we’ve come in changing attitudes in society, making places accessible, and providing higher education opportunities for disabled people, such as Syracuse University’s InclusiveU program. That’s a good start to thinking differently. Although attitudes are something that we still have to change, the civil and human rights of people with intellectual disabilities are routinely denied in the U.S. and worldwide, and I hope that this project helps shed some light on the history of the continuing fight for disability rights.”
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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 ...
Knowing a primary source when you see one Primary sources provide first-hand testimony or direct evidence concerning a topic under investigation. They are created by witnesses or recorders who experienced the events or conditions being documented.
In history, for example, primary sources include documents from the period or person you are studying, objects, maps, even clothing; in literature or philosophy, your main primary source is usually the text you are studying, and your data are the words on the page. In such fields, you can rarely write a research paper without using primary ...
If you've never written a research paper using primary sources, it is important to understand that the process is different from using only secondary sources. Many students discover that finding and gaining access to primary source documents can be difficult. The Library website has a valuable guide to locating primary source documents.
This guide is to help users to identify, locate, and use primary sources in their research. Information about how to find, use, and evaluate primary sources in research
What is a Primary Source? Each academic discipline creates and uses primary and secondary sources differently. The definition of a primary source only makes sense in the context of a specific discipline or field of inquiry.
Determining what is a primary source can be tricky and depends on the topic, subject, and discipline you are researching. The types of information that can be considered primary sources may vary depending on the subject or discipline. Also how you are using the material in your paper or project can effect this determination. For some papers or projects it may be important to view the original ...
Offers detailed guidance on how to develop, organize, and write a college-level research paper in the social and behavioral sciences.
The key is to remember that primary sources provide firsthand information and evidence, while secondary sources provide secondhand information and commentary from previous works. Table of contents When to use primary research Types of primary research Examples of primary research Advantages and disadvantages of primary research
Primary sources can be contemporary sources created at the time when the event occurred (e.g., letters and newspaper articles) or later (such as, memoirs and oral history interviews). Primary sources may be published or unpublished. Unpublished sources include unique materials (e.g., family papers) often referred to as archives and manuscripts.
A primary source is an eyewitness account of an event or data obtained through original statistical or scientific research. What are some examples of primary sources? Secondary Source. A secondary source interprets and analyzes primary sources. These sources are one or more steps removed from the event. Secondary sources may include pictures of ...
In the Sciences (biology, ecology, chemistry), primary source documents focus on original research, ideas, or findings published in academic journals. These articles mark the first publication of such research; and they detail the researcher's methodology and results. Plant or mineral samples and other artifacts are primary sources as well.
A guide to understanding the definition of a primary source, how to use them, and where to find them.
The particular primary sources you might use in your research, as well as how you find them, can vary a lot based on your field of study. This guide aims to provide helpful information on where to go about searching for primary sources, both at Duke and beyond.
What Is a Primary Source? A primary source is an original object or document created during the time under study. Primary sources vary by discipline and can include historical and legal documents, diaries, letters, family records, speeches, interviews, autobiographies, film, government documents, eye witness accounts, results of an experiment, statistical data, pieces of creative writing, and ...
Primary research involves collecting data about a given subject directly from the real world. This section includes information on what primary research is, how to get started, ethics involved with primary research and different types of research you can do. It includes details about interviews, surveys, observations, and analyses.
Finding Primary Sources Primary Sources from DocsTeach Thousands of online primary source documents from the National Archives to bring the past to life as classroom teaching tools. National Archives Catalog Find online primary source materials for classroom & student projects from the National Archive's online catalog (OPA). Beginning Research Activities Student activities designed to help ...
Primary sources A primary source provides direct or firsthand evidence about an event, object, person, or work of art. Primary sources include historical and legal documents, eyewitness accounts, results of experiments, statistical data, pieces of creative writing, audio and video recordings, speeches, and art objects.
Examples of primary sources are letters, manuscripts, diaries, journals, newspapers, speeches, interviews, memoirs, documents from government agencies, photographs, audio and video recordings, research data, objects, and artifacts. A primary source provides direct or firsthand evidence about an event, object, or person.
Common examples of primary sources include interview transcripts, photographs, novels, paintings, films, historical documents, and official statistics.
Use primary resources to obtain a first-hand account to an actual event and identify original research done in a field. For many of your papers, use of primary resources will be a requirement. Examples of a primary source are: Original documents such as diaries, speeches, manuscripts, letters, interviews, records, eyewitness accounts ...
However, if you cited from a magazine article for your research paper on airline safety, the magazine would serve as a secondary source. ... Primary Source Examples: creative works, diaries, interviews, news footage, maps: results of experiments, research and clinical trials.
General Guidelines By carefully documenting your sources, you acknowledge intellectual debts and provide readers with information about the materials you consulted during your research. Methods for citing primary sources (e.g., archival and manuscript collections) differ from those for published works.
Having a variety of sources gives you more insight and with different kinds of information you can make your research paper/ presentation that much stronger. Identify one primary source that would help investigate your research question (include the title, author, and link to the source).
This prospective study evaluates a clinically available Alzheimer disease blood test in primary and secondary care using predefined biomarker cutoff values.
Graduate students in the School of Education turned to primary source documents and artifacts at Syracuse University Libraries' Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) to discover enlightening—and sometimes startling—information and examples of the ways that people with intellectual disability have been treated over the past almost 180 years in the U.S, particularly in New York State.
Associating observed alkali elements in the lunar atmosphere with their sources is challenging because the atmosphere is dominated by recycled atoms that bounce multiple times on lunar surface, and only a small fraction (<10%) are primary atoms freshly released from the lunar surface .
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