Amelia V. Gallucci-Cirio Library: Find Primary Sources

About Primary Sources

What is a Primary Source?

• When you write a poem, paint a picture, create a blog. conduct an experiment, or give an interview you are creating a primary source. These are the original documents that people will use create their own research.
• They are used to help understand historical time periods or specific people'e perspectives of the world.
• Newspapers, when used to understand the history of an event or issue are often considered primary sources.

What is a secondary source?

• The critique or the poem or picture, the article writen about the experiment, the essay written about the historical time period are the secondary sources. These are often what students use as sources for their own research papers.
• Academic/Scholarly articles and books are secondary sources.
• They analyze or explain the primary documents.

Search Digital Library Collections

Use our custom Google search engine to find primary sources online.