Primary and Secondary Sources

 

Primary and Secondary Sources

 Primary sources are the original words of writer novel, speech, diary, eyewitness account, letter, photography, interview you all results of original research. they are basic materials with little or no annotation or editorial alteration. feel free to court often from a primary source because it has direct relevance to your discussion.

Advantage: you are less likely to be affected by the biases of others who have filtered the material before presenting it; i.e., you will be depending on your own judgement rather than on someone else.

Disadvantages are:

1. The scope of a single source maybe narrow.
2. Primary sources in general often are hard to find.
3. Working with primary sources usually requires more time consuming research than does working with secondary sources.

 Secondary sources drive from primary materials and include analysis, interpretation, and commentary on primary materials.  secondary sources are writings about the primary sources and about the authors who produce primary material; in other words, they use primary sources or other secondary sources of it is basis. do not feel free to court liberally from secondary sources be selective.

Advantage and disadvantage:  The disadvantage of secondary sources that we mentioned-  that they usually present judgments about the source material-  is, at the same time, I’m also one of their most important advantages.  by reading a secondary source, you can find out that someone else thinks about your topic.  in addition, how many secondary sources compile details from several primary sources.

 

 The following comparison clarifies the differences between primary sources and secondary sources:

Primary sources	Secondary sources
Novel, poem, or story	Critical articles explaining this works
Napoleon’s diary transcript of a trial	biography of Napoleon article in Time Magazine about that trial

The best recommendation is to try to find as many primary sources as you can instead of relying entirely on secondary sources. but look for secondary sources too.  each type has it is own strengths.  and each will help you evaluate the other: details from primary sources can help you determine the worth of the judgement and secondary sources; the secondary sources can help you understand the material and your primary sources and can identify where you might look for additional primary sources.

References:

Atallah, Dhuha. (2011). A Course in Library and Research Work. College of Basic Education/ Al-Mustansiriah University.