Primary Sources and Secondary Sources

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Primary Sources and Secondary Sources

• Which one is better to use for research?

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What is a Primary Source?
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Primary sources are informational sources from
the time of the event.
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Examples of primary sources

• Autobiographies Newspaper articles
• Diaries Novels
• Documents Objects from the time
• Eyewitness accounts Oral histories
• Film footage Photographs
• Laws Poems, art, music
• Letters Speeches

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Whats a secondary source?

• Secondary sources are informational sources that
  analyze the event. These sources often use
  several primary sources and compile the
  information.

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Secondary Sources are found in

• Biographies
• Encyclopedias
• History books
• Textbooks

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Ask Important Questions

• When studying and learning, we must always be
  questioning the quality of our sources.
• Who wrote this?
• How do they know the information they are telling
  me?
• When did they write it?
• Why did they write it?
• Who did they write it for?

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Authors Bias

• We should never believe everything we read you
  should question everything.
• It is nearly impossible for an author to leave
  out some sort of bias, and it is your
  responsibility to determine their bias and to
  reflect on how it affected their work.

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Things to Consider

• For every source you use, you will need to
  evaluate it in order to determine which category
  they fit into - primary or secondary - and how
  much you can trust those materials.

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So which source should I use?

• Both primary sources and secondary sources of
  information are important
• Use as many authentic primary sources as possible
• Go to reliable secondary sources as needed and
  make sure to evaluate these sources for accuracy

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Side by Side Comparison

• Primary Secondary
• Personal experience Others experiences
• Eyewitness account Interpreted
• Historical evidence Based on evidence
• One sided Authors biases
• Historical biases Current biases
• Original document Copy of original
• First hand experience Second hand account