Science

Primary Versus Secondary Sources

Science | Engineering | Nursing | Allied Health | Health and Human Performance | Writing Across the Curriculum | Primary versus Secondary Sources

Primary Sources

A primary source is an original object or document. It is the raw material or first-hand information.

Case Study: Dr. Jim Brown visits the special collections sections of Oklahoma Libraries to research Native American diseases.

Dr. Brown is researching diseases from the wilderness. The background research includes the diseases that Native Americans experienced before they encountered the White man. Most of these were passed down as oral histories or exist in the form of interviews. Oklahoma was originally an Indian territory until 1907 and was a repository for many of the Indian tribes as they were pushed off of their former lands.

Dr. Brown visits the Western History Collections in Monnet Hall of the University of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Historical Society during the Christmas breaks. Dr. Brown says "It is exciting viewing the actual original materials. There are many precautions you must take. For example, 'you may use pencils. The use of fountain pens, ball point pens, highlighters, or rubber fingers is not permitted. Materials shall not be written on, leaned on, folded anew, traced, fastened with rubber bands or metal paper clips, or handled in any other way likely to cause damage.' Despite these precautions, I highly recommend spending a day delving into your special collections sections of a library for a research paper."

Primary sources include historical and legal documents, eye witness accounts, results of an experiment, statistical data, pieces of creative writing, and art objects. In the natural and social sciences, the results of an experiment or study are typically found in scholarly articles or papers delivered at conferences, so those articles and papers that present the original results are considered primary sources.

First-hand documents presented during an experience or time period and offer an inside view of a particular event, for example: (1) Legal documents, such as U. S. Code, or court records, (2) Historical records, such as "The Declaration of Independence," (3) Interviews, Diaries, autobiographies, (4) personal journals, and (5) News reports.

Research results generated by experiments, investigations, surveys, studies, etc., for example: (1) Books or scholastic journal articles reporting original research results, (2) Books or papers about a specific theory, (3) Census data or (4) Statistics.

The original publications of literature in the print or electronic format, and art works, for example: (1) Poems, (2) Novels, (3) Films, music recordings, or (4) Paintings, sculptures, photographs.

Secondary sources

A secondary source is something written about a primary source. Secondary sources include comments on, interpretations of, or discussions about the original material. You can think of secondary sources as second-hand information. If I tell you something, I am the primary source. If you tell someone else what I told you, you are the secondary source. Secondary source materials can be articles in newspapers or popular magazines, book or movie reviews, or articles found in scholarly journals that evaluate or criticize someone else's original research.

Case Study: Dr. Jim Brown's research on the Encephalitis deaths outbreak in Ocean County

Dr. Brown was continuing his research on his book which will feature the 1959 Eastern Equine Enchephalitis outbreak that centered in Ocean County in the summer of 1959. He visited the Ocean County Library and NJ State Library and pulled the old newspaper accounts which followed the outbreak in great details.

Secondary sources are materials written about primary sources. These sources can be:

Interpretations of or discussions about firsthand documents, for example: (1) Law reviews, (2) Books or articles in newspapers, magazines or journals about historical documents, news, etc., (3) Biographies

Evaluations or analysis of someone's original research results, for example: (1) Books or papers in scholarly journals about original research reports, (2) Books and papers about a specific theory or thought, (3) Encyclopedias, (4) Handbooks.

Commentary or criticism of original literature and art works, for example: (1) Literary criticism, (2) Art criticism, (3) Book reviews, and (4) Movie reviews.

Modified from Ithica University Libraries

Sources of Bias

A great example of how secondary sources written about primary sources can inject a source of bias and can be found in my brother's biography featured on Wikipedia. My brother, Tom Brown is a naturalist who has written 17 books on "back to nature topics" and about his early life in the woods. In Wikipedia, people have written that his biography was questioned, and his claimed skills are also not accepted by all. It is interesting that none of his critics cite any references. I would be a primary source on Tom's early life because I witnessed first hand his actions, his relationship to his friend Rick and Rick's grandfather, "Staking Wolf."

You must be aware that people may slant history for their own agendas. There has been a new crop of wilderness survival "experts" fueled by the survival reality TV shows. These individuals may want to promote their own abilities at my brother's expense. The further away you get from using primary sources the more likely it is that you will pick up the biases and interpretations of others.

Dr. Jim Brown