Secondary sources are works
that analyze, assess or interpret an historical event, era, or phenomenon, generally utilizing primary sources to do so
. Secondary sources often offer a review or a critique. Secondary sources can include books, journal articles, speeches, reviews, research reports, and more.
Why is a secondary source useful?
Secondary sources
provide good overviews of a subject
, so are particularly useful if you need to find about an area that's new to you. They are also helpful because you can find keywords to describe a subject area, as well as key authors and key references that you can use to do further reading and research.
What is the purpose of secondary source in history?
Scholars writing about historical events, people, objects, or ideas produce secondary sources
because they help explain new or different positions and ideas about primary sources
. These secondary sources generally scholarly books, including textbooks, articles, encyclopedias, and anthologies.
What are two purposes of secondary sources?
It's a commentary on the law. A secondary source can be used for three different purposes:
it might educate you about the law, it might direct you to the primary law
, or it might serve as persuasive authority. Few sources do all three jobs well.
What is the purpose of using secondary sources in an essay?
Some literary secondary sources
provide background information on literary texts
, such as a text's reception by critics on its publication, or events in the author's life that may have influenced the text, and so on.
What are 5 secondary sources?
- Examples: Reports, summaries, textbooks, speeches, articles, encyclopedias and dictionaries.
- Person Reference Material.
- Interview Book.
- E-mail contact DVD.
- Event Encyclopedia.
- Discussion Magazine article.
- Debate Newspaper article.
- Community Meeting Video Tape.
What is the main distinction between primary and secondary?
Primary sources can be described as those sources that are closest to the origin of the information. … Secondary sources often
use generalizations, analysis, interpretation, and synthesis of primary sources
. Examples of secondary sources include textbooks, articles, and reference books.
Is it okay to use secondary sources?
Citing a source within a source (citing a secondary source) is generally acceptable within academic writing as long as these citations are kept to a minimum. You should
use a secondary source only if you are unable to find or retrieve the original source of information
.
Can a source be both primary and secondary?
Primary and secondary categories are often not fixed and depend on the study or research you are undertaking. For example,
newspaper editorial/opinion pieces can be both primary
and secondary. If exploring how an event affected people at a certain time, this type of source would be considered a primary source.
What makes a good secondary source?
Secondary sources are works that analyze, assess or interpret an historical event, era, or phenomenon, generally utilizing primary sources to do so. Secondary sources often offer a review or a critique. … Generally speaking, secondary sources are
written well after the events that are being researched
.
What are the best secondary sources?
- Bibliographies.
- Biographical works.
- Reference books, including dictionaries, encyclopedias, and atlases.
- Articles from magazines, journals, and newspapers after the event.
- Literature reviews and review articles (e.g., movie reviews, book reviews)
- History books and other popular or scholarly books.
What are examples of primary and secondary sources?
Examples include
interview transcripts, statistical data, and works of art
. A primary source 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, and academic books.
How do we use secondary sources?
- Support your thesis. One of the most basic things you can do with secondary sources is to find somebody who agrees with the argument you're making. …
- Present opposing viewpoints. A thesis is only interesting if it's open to interpretation. …
- Provide background information.
What is secondary source in your own words?
Secondary sources were created by someone who did not experience first-hand or participate in the events or conditions you're researching. For a historical research project, secondary sources are generally
scholarly books and articles
. A secondary source interprets and analyzes primary sources.
What are the four functions of secondary sources?
The function of these is to interpret primary sources, and so can be described as at least one step removed from the event or phenomenon under review. Secondary
source materials, then, interpret, assign value to, conjecture upon, and draw conclusions about the events reported in primary sources
.
What is a secondary source in academic writing?
Secondary Sources are
analyses based on the author's own reading of existing primary sources
. Scholarly works use peer-reviewed academic sources, such as journal articles, books, and book chapters for research.
