History: Primary Sources  Tags: primary_source san_francisco_state_university sf_state sfsu history_research j._paul_leonard  

A PRIMARY SOURCE is generally defined as some kind of original material or data. Depending on your research topic and perspective, primary sources can include diaries and letters, interviews, speeches, business or organizational records, eyewitness accounts, photographs, video or film, government documents, newspapers or magazines, or even books.

A SECONDARY SOURCE is generally defined as something that analyzes, interprets, or comments on a primary source. Thus, if you are researching the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, a newspaper article that discusses the assassination could be considered a secondary source; if you are researching how the assassination of President John F. Kennedy was portrayed in newspapers of the time, those newspaper articles can become a primary source.

Primary sources are generally available to researchers in one of four ways:

• in the document's original format in a library or archive;
• scanned or transcripted reproductions available online via the SF State library subscription databases;
• scanned or transcripted reproductions available online via free websites;
• republished in book or microformat (microfilm/microfiche/ultrafiche).

General search tips:

• Remember to think about both the topics that you are researching as well as the types of primary sources that you would expect to contain information about your topics (for example, if you were interested in childbirth practices in 18th century Europe, what types of sources from that period might have that kind of data?)
• When reading articles and books related to your topic, pay close attention to footnotes/citations. You can use this information to track down the primary source material that the author used.
• Ask your professors and librarians for help in determining what kinds of primary sources are available or suitable for your research.

Online:

• Reading, Writing, and Researching for History: A Guide for College Student
• Historian's Toolbox
• Library Research Using Primary Sources

Books in the SF State Library: